Daily Journal

The Journal, Friday, August 3

Hey Folks, Slowly working my way back to getting out to the Hovel for at least one session before my wife leaves for work. So we’ll see how that goes. The Hovel is like the house, with adobe walls three feet thick. In the wintertime it’s perfect, because the adobe walls retain the heat from the day before pretty much all night. And I have a portable swamp cooler out there for these hot afternoons in the summer. But seriously, the Hovel makes me look forward to the winter. When I was younger, I was a pure desert rat. Back … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, August 2

Hey Folks, Well, when the smoke cleared yesterday I had just over 3000 new words on the story. Feels great to be writing again. This one is in a different style than my pulp-noir mysteries or detective stories or mob stories. It has as much action, but the writing requires considerably more patience. It’s a good change of gears for me. Hmm. Maybe if I go back to reporting my daily/monthly/annual numbers at the bottom, I’ll report them on the day after (like I did in the first paragraph above) instead of the day-of. That will remove any pressure I … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, August 1

Hey Folks, Well, yesterday’s trip to Tucson was mostly a waste of time. The upshot was I have to go back in early September for another test. In retrospect, that is the test I should have had yesterday. But as with all things, it will be what it will be. Nothing to worry about. Just little annoyances, the largest of which is the putrid, festering intrusion of insurance company mandates into what should be purely medical decisions. Today, writing will be even more of a joyful escape than usual. *** The “first-page critique” offered by the Kill Zone blog has … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, July 31

Hey Folks, I’m posting this early so those of you who get it via RSS will get it sooner. This is one benefit of not reporting my numbers. I can post earier when necessary. Dean is back. See his post “Just About Clear” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/just-about-clear/. Scroll down in his post to “Short Story and Novel Challenge.” This is exciting, and an excellent opportunity to jumpstart both your writing AND your learning. If you’ve been thinking about signing up for some of Dean’s online workshops, this is an absolutely excellent value. I might even do it myself, though there aren’t many … Read more

The Journal, Monday, July 30

Hey Folks, First, thanks to writer friend Bob C. who sent a URL for an article for the “Of Interest” section. You will find it below. With it, Bob sent an email that read in part, “This struck me as a con artist who knew just the right buttons to push for a certain well-heeled market of aspiring writers. The lesson here is that there are a ton of people hovering around would-be authors looking to take their money.” From the article, “Today Anna March … offers private literary consulting — manuscript consultations for $1,600 to $3,000 and coaching for … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, July 29

Hey Folks, A lot in “Of Interest” today. Some of it’s spot on, and some of it, not so much. With the abundance of writing advice out there, I’ve taken to carrying a shaker of salt with me as I read, so I can take a grain as necessary. I receive James Scott Bell’s infrequent newsletter. In today’s edition, he notes that his stand-alone thriller, Don’t Leave Me, is on sale for 99 cents. But the tagline is what prompted me to add this entry: “When they came for him it was time to run. When they came for his … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, July 28

Hey Folks, Today’s Journal entry is all about writing advice, the Kill Zone blog, and the “Of Interest” section of this Journal. In my own hunt for writing advice, I seek out other professional writers who are farther along the road than I. Once I find them, I gauge whether their advice is valuable to me overall. If a blog post is rife with misspellings and wrong word usages, awkward phrases and misplaced modifiers, or if they display a certain level of ignorance about the language (for example, ignorance of the difference between “likely” and “probably” or “if” and “whether” … Read more

The Journal, Friday, July 27

Hey Folks, Yesterday, Amazon hosted a free webinar on Paperback Formatting Essentials. I was registered for it, but I missed it. Probably because taking my books to paper isn’t the priority it used to be. Anyway, Amazon was kind enough to send a link to a recording of the event. It’s in “Of Interest” today. If you’re interested in taking your books to paper (or even if you already do), I suggest you take a look. Even if you don’t want to use Amazon, I suspect you can still learn something about paperback formatting. Plus the video is only 20 … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, July 26

Hey Folks, A few decades ago I started writing aphorisms and definitions, more as a mental exercise than anything else. Be forewarned: Of the definitions, some are serious, some are attempts at humor (ala Ambrose Bierce) and all are cynical. Which, if any, you perceive as humorous will depend on your own life and experiences. So today, here are a few random thoughts, definitions and aphorisms. Except where noted, these are original to me. If any of them spur story ideas, please feel free: From a poster I saw on Facebook — “The past is in your head. The future … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, July 25

Hey Folks, Still not fully back up to speed with my writing. At times, I’ve found myself actually hoping “other things” (website construction, copyedits, etc.) will come up so I can delay it a little longer. It’s a conundrum. I want to write. I want to give myself wholly over to my stories and play with my friends. For me, there is no better feeling than being lost in a good story as it unfolds. And then there’s that legacy thing I talked about a couple days ago. And of course, if someone else said to me, “But I really … Read more