Daily Journal

The Journal, Wednesday, June 27

Hey Folks, Long post today. Below is the topic I’ve been promising. Dean’s back, sort of, with a post that proves he’s human. You’ll see it below in “Of Interest.” You all know Heinlein’s Rules. (To get an annotated copy, Click Here. Following Heinlein’s Rules is like riding a bicycle. Eventually, you’re going to fall off. And the only thing to do is climb back on. Topic: Take Your Time This is a bit of advice I’ve never heard specifically from any writing instructor. The nearest even good writing instructors come is when they say your readers can’t see what’s … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, June 26

Hey Folks, Nothing really to report today. I took too many days off (got used to it). I’m glad I started working toward next month a little early. So this is mostly to send you the “Of Interest” stuff below. See you soon. ​ Of Interest See Sue Coletta’s “9 Ways To Build Suspense ~ Fiction Writing” at https://www.suecoletta.com/9-ways-to-build-suspense/. See Sue Coletta’s “Pinch Points In Fiction Writing” at https://www.suecoletta.com/pinch-points-in-fiction-writing/. See Sue Coletta’s “How To Craft A One-Page Synopsis Using Story Beats” at https://www.suecoletta.com/how-to-craft-a-one-page-synopsis-using-story-beats/. Fiction Words: 1816 Nonfiction Words: 90 (Journal) So total words for the day: 1906 Writing of Stern … Read more

The Journal, Monday, June 25

Hey Folks, Not a lot to report today, but at least I’m writing fiction again. After such a long layoff, it feels great. Awhile back I started my 9th Pulp detective novel. I’ll probably push through from here and finish it first, then either back to something else or forward to something new. My “novel goal” at the moment is to have two more novels finished by the end of July. That should be fairly easy to do. I’ve started three in the past few months that I allowed to lapse for one reason or another. Had a lot of … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, June 24

Hey Folks, No post yesterday. No anything else writerly either as I spent the day with my wife, celebrating 34 years together and wondering how she’s put up with me that long. Probably I won’t write today either, fiction I mean. I’ll start fresh on Monday, and that will give me a week to gear up to my new work ethic (fun ethic) and the coming challenge. Today that challenge got a little more difficult too. Another copyedit came in, and a few days ago another writer told me to expect his manuscript for copyedit also. I look forward to … Read more

The Journal, Friday, June 22

Hey Folks, Even when Dean Wesley Smith doesn’t write specifically about writing in his posts, I often glean something of value. His short post today is about a practice poker tournament. At the end, he turns it into a brief analogy about writing. That spurred my own thought process. Topic: Practice Is Important Part I — Rationale and a Harsh Truth About Hovering As it is in all art, practice in writing is important. Without practice, the writing craft and the writing itself goes stale. And as it is in all art, practice in writing is fun, if uncomfortable. Many … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, June 21

Hey Folks, Well, yesterday I spaced the Journal again. I think mostly it’s because I’ve been editing instead of writing. I’ll finish the copyedit today, and soon things will get back to normal for at least awhile. As a reward for your patience, here’s a very long look at tag lines, their uses, and words that should never be used to introduce or carry dialogue. Topic: Tag Line Verbs Okay, first, to get us on the same page, what I call a “tag line” is what some call a “narrative beat.” I guess there are other names for it too, … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, June 19

Hey Folks, Wow. Not posting on Sunday was intentional, but yesterday just slipped away from me. Had a good day on the edit yesterday. This morning I have to do a little real work, moving back a section of barbed-wire fence. Then a walk. Then back to the copyedit. Topic: Safeguard Your Credibility, Part 3 A long while back, in two parts, I published a post titled Safeguard Your Credibility. If you missed those, Here’s the Original Post and Here’s Part Two. Both posts were all about not displaying ignorance. Yet the only way to avoid displaying ignorance is to … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, June 16

Hey Folks, I’ve gotten in the almost-habit of turning out one long story per month, novel or novella. I don’t have a firm goal in that direction. It just sort of happens. That hybrid-novel-wrapped-around-ten-short-stories I wrote last month kind of screwed me up, I think. The process was so back-and-forth, so unintuitive, it addled my widdle bwain. Even my subconscious is reeling. But excuses aside, if I want to stay even close to turning out a long story every month, I need to get back on the stick. I have another Stern Talbot P.I. story in mind. Those usually come … Read more

The Journal, Friday, June 15

Hey Folks, Just thought I’d mention, I emailed Dean Wesley Smith a few days ago for advice re something I was considering. He responded right away, and his comments were very helpful. So I sent back a thank you and didn’t expect to hear from him again. After all, he’s smack in the middle of a huge cross-country move. He’s moving out of a 9-bedroom house on the Oregon coast and into a much smaller condo in Las Vegas. So he’s been packing all the stuff in Lincoln City, moved one truckload to Vegas, and several more truckloads to various … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, June 14

Hey Folks, Well, I think I’m taking off a few days. I just had a new copyedit come in, so I’m going to work on that. In the meantime, D.R.E.A.D. can rest while I decide whether to shoot it or hook it up to a resuscitation machine. When I return to it, probably I’ll backtrack to see whether I can find where it took a wrong turn. I’ve done that once already and didn’t see a place where it went wrong, so maybe I’ll have to set it aside for awhile and move on to something else. Hey, stuff happens. … Read more