Daily Journal

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Practice Makes Perfect * Stupid (or Lazy) Mistakes * Writing * Of Interest * Ahem. Sorry, but I don’t buy it. Quotes of the Day “Life is tough, but it’s tougher if you’re stupid.” John Wayne “The fact that I was a girl never damaged my ambitions to be a pope or an emperor.” Willa Cather (Specifically to address the last item in “Of Interest”) Practice Makes Perfect We live in a world in which experience rules and practice makes perfect. Not that we can ever actually achieve perfection because what … Read more

In today’s Journal * A Great Comment on Estate Planning for Writers * Of Interest A Great Comment on Estate Planning for Writers This was important enough to spread the word through a new edition of the Journal. I’ve been keeping up with comments on Dean’s post from a few days ago on “Copyright Valuation.” One great comment was from C.E. Petit, whom I believe is an IP attorney. C.E. writes in part, “One other very important note (this is general advice, not legal advice…): “Don’t be Andre Norton. “If you set up an IP holding entity …, be complete … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Interested in AI Audio? * Extended Sale * Of Interest Quote of the Day “Always read for pleasure first. Then if you want to go back and analyze [a passage] that’s fine.” Dean Wesley Smith Interested in AI Audio? If you’re interested in AI Audio, see “The Research (Part Two) AI Audio” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/the-research-part-two-ai-audio/. I posted this one so you can see PG’s take. However, I recommend clicking through to Kris Rusch’s original post at https://kriswrites.com/2023/03/08/business-musings-the-research-part-two-ai-audio/. Be sure to read the comments. One commenter mentioned that she got “Blakify … for … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Copyright Valuation and Half-Price Workshops * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.” Dave Barry Copyright Valuation and Half-Price Workshops I hadn’t planned on publishing the Journal today but Dean wrote an arguably good “sort of rant” on copyright valuation. For that, see https://deanwesleysmith.com/copyright-valuation-a-sort-of-rant/. Also, a reminder that his half-price sale on everything on Teachable expires late … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Italics, and Who’s Talking? * The Hypocrisy of Writers’ Organization Magazines * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “After you learn to write your whole object is to convey everything, every sensation, sight, [smell, sound, taste,] feeling, place and emotion to the reader.” Ernest Hemingway “When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters.” Ernest Hemingway “Prose is architecture, not interior decoration…. For a writer to put his own intellectual musings… into the mouths of artificially constructed characters… does not make literature.” Ernest Hemingway Italics, and Who’s … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * An Easter Egg from DWS * Back to Writing Fiction * Of Interest Quotes of the Day from Ernest Hemingway on “The Writer’s Life” “I don’t think there is any question about artistic integrities. It has always been much more exciting to write than to be paid for it….” “I only think about writing truly. Posterity can take care of herself.” An Easter Egg from DWS I used to read Dean Wesley Smith’s blog every day. More recently, I read the headline. If it seems more advertising than substance, I skip … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * What’s the Point? * Voices of the West Podcast * Something That Might Have Happened * Did You Know… * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Even if it turns out that time travel is impossible, it is important that we understand why it is impossible.” Professor Stephen Hawking I believe time travel is impossible because there is only Now. Time is a human construct, something invented by our consciousness to compare and contrast our experiences. That said, I look forward to writing my next time-travel novel. “Plot is no more … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Create or Construct: Your Choice * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “[Imagination] is the one thing besides honesty that a good writer must have. … If he gets so he can imagine truly enough, people will think that the things he relates all really happened and that he is just reporting.” Ernest Hemingway “[S]imiles are like defective ammunition (the lowest thing I can think of at this time).” Ernest Hemingway Interviewer: “Do you know what is going to happen when you write a story?” Hemingway: “Almost never. I start to … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Going for an MFA? * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “You take people as far as they will go, not as far as you would like them to go.” Jeannette Rankin “I know I was writing stories when I was five. I don’t remember what I did before that. Just loafed, I suppose.” P.G. Wodehouse Going for an MFA? A writer asked me awhile back whether I would recommend attending an MFA program. No, I wouldn’t. Listen, if you’re thinking about going for an MFA so you can write fiction, … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Welcome * LaMotte vs. Hemingway * Comment Policy * Story Ideas Abound * Stay Tuned * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “When he could stand it no longer, he fired a revolver up through the roof of his mouth, but he made a mess of it.” Ellen N. LaMotte, opening sentence of “Heroes” from The Backwash of War “The strange thing was, he said, how they screamed every night at midnight.” Ernest Hemingway, opening sentence from “On the Quay at Smyrna” “That night we lay on the floor in the … Read more