Daily Journal

Inside No. 9 and AI Writing

In today’s Journal * Inside No. 9 * AI Writing * Seriously, What Gives? * Of Interest Inside No. 9 I keep forgetting to mention, if you want to see some really great short stories in film, take a look at Inside No. 9, a British black-comedy anthology. According to the internet, the anthology is “available on NOW TV, BBC iPlayer, Amazon Prime, Netflix, iTunes and YouTube.” I get it through my BritBox subscription. So what does this have to do with writing? Well, the writing (storytelling) for Inside No. 9 is excellent. And the scripts are available to purchase … Read more

One Alternative to TinyLetter

In today’s Journal * Topic: One Alternative to TinyLetter * Mentorships and More * Of Interest Topic: One Alternative to TinyLetter I’ve been looking around at other newsletter services. I’ve found several “up there” with MailChimp with all the marketing and email-collection tools, etc. But I haven’t found even one that compares directly with the no-BS, no-frills TinyLetter. Then a thought occurred: Most email programs enable you to create “groups” (or whatever name your email program calls them). The idea is, you can gather contacts that are interested in a particular topic into one group. For example, you might have … Read more

Dare to Be Bad

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Dare to Be Bad * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration. The rest of us just get up and go to work.” Stephen King (Amen. Preach it, brother.) “Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.” Ralph Waldo Emerson Topic: Dare to Be Bad Anyone who’s followed Dean Wesley Smith very long has heard him use this admonition in his blog. According to Dean, it’s something he and Nina … Read more

A Note on Traditional Publishing

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * A Note on Traditional Publishing * I’ve Been Fretting * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “[O]f the 58,000 trade titles published per year, fully half of those titles ‘sell fewer than one dozen books.‘ (Not a typo, that’s one dozen.) More broadly, 90 percent of titles sell fewer than 2,000 units. Even a small advance of a few thousand dollars would not earn out at standard royalty rates.” Dean Wesley Smith, quoting directly from the Hot Sheet (emphasis added). “The story so far: in the beginning, the universe was created. … Read more

The Secret to Being Prolfic

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: The Secret to Being Prolfic * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “If you wish to advance into the infinite, explore the finite in all directions.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe “Sure you can, Harvey. ‘Can’t’ never did anything.” My stepmom, about 65 years ago when I complained that I couldn’t do something. I owe her my Marine Corps career, and I owe her my writing career. “May your future be limited only by your dreams.” Christa McAuliffe Topic: The Secret to Being Prolfic First, the secret to being a prolific … Read more

The Value of Having a Place to Report

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The Value of Having a Place to Report * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give lustre, and many more people see than weigh.” Lord Chesterfield “You know how I mentioned before that I had written this entire novel without stopping and that I was currently cycling back on the entire book? … As I returned to each chapter and cycled back on it, there was extremely minimal work for me to do. My creative voice had gotten it right from the onset.” Monica Arac … Read more

End of the Hiatus

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * End of the Hiatus * TinyLetter? Um, No * About Paid Reviews * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the wish to find out, which is its exact opposite.” Bertrand Russell “Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward.” Princess Diana End of the Hiatus I seem unable to stop playing with the Journal. There’s just too much to pass along, whether positive thoughts on writing, interesting posts by other writers, or warnings like the one below … Read more

Response to a Mentoring Student

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Response to a Mentoring Student * On Paid Book Reviewers * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “[I]f your fidelity to perfectionism is too high, you never do anything.” David Foster Wallace Topic: Response to a Mentoring Student Here’s a response I sent to one of my mentoring students yesterday morning. I did change it a little or add to it here and there. But since it was already largely written, I had only to copy and paste it, then schedule the post to release this morning. The whole process, … Read more

The Hiatus Explained

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Hiatus Explained * Of Interest Quote of the Day “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.” Mark Twain The Hiatus Explained To anyone who’s annoyed at my announcement yesterday that I’m taking a few days away from the Journal, sorry about that. In a way, your annoyance is a compliment, but I promise, my intention is to be away only temporary. Oh, and to my mentoring students, I will still respond to you during this hiatus. No worries there … Read more

Getting It

In today’s Journal * Possibly A Brief Hiatus * Last Day of Dean’s Workshop Sale * Topic: Getting It * Of Interest Possibly A Brief Hiatus There’s a good chance I’ll take a brief hiatus from posting to the Journal for a few days to reset my fiction-writing schedule. I was reminded recently of how very prolific I was a year ago. I want to get back to that all-consuming joy. I also want to reset my Journal-writing, mentoring (seriously considering adding another level), and other-stuff schedule. Of course, I’ll continue to make my rounds of the internet, and sometimes … Read more