Daily Journal

The Journal, Monday, December 11,

Hey Folks, Well, before I even think about returning to my own fiction, I’ve decided to power-through the first half of my latest copyedit to get it finished. The author of the novel and I have agreed that I’ll finish the prepaid first half, then bow out of the project. It’s just too rough. In related news, I’ve recently added several “new” inappropriate tag line verbs to my list. I’ll be publishing those in a topic here soon, and in my ProWriters blog in the future. Not sure when this Journal will go “daily” again, if ever. But I do … Read more

The Journal, Friday, December 8,

Hey Folks, Just some important info for you today, mostly in the first listing below. Via The Passive Voice, see Passive Guy’s comments toward the end of “The Contributions of Publishing’s Conference Contrarians” at http://www.thepassivevoice.com/2017/12/the-contributions-of-publishings-conference-contrarians/. Very informative and heartening. Also of possible interest, see “Astronauts Get Writer’s Block, Too” at http://www.thepassivevoice.com/2017/12/astronauts-get-writers-block-too/. Imagine what Astronaut Scott Kelly could write if only he had learned to trust his subconscious and write off into the dark. Sigh. (Frankly, I’m kind’a ticked off that Margaret Lazarus Dean felt a need to stick that comma in before “too” in the title of the article. Ten … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, December 5,

Hey Folks, A few days ago, a friend sent me an email: “You think too much.” I could only respond with a smiley face. I do understand why “you think too much” would appear to readers of this Journal to be true. After all, the point of the Journal is to bare the most intimate details and thought processes of my writing life, with the ultimate goal of maybe cutting the learning curve a bit for you, the subscribers. But I assure you, I only think “too much” here, in this Journal. And really, I don’t know that I’m thinking … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, December 2

Hey Folks, I didn’t plan to post again this soon. With my return feeling imminent, though, I figure what harm could it do. A friend wrote to me privately. In his email, he mentioned the desk, said he’d like to see it and wondered whether maybe it has magic powers. Actually, it might have. I thought I’d share my expanded response to him with you. My Desk As I mentioned yesterday, my desk is walnut, stained naturally in a warm medium brown. The finish on the leading edge of the large surface shows some wear, primarily in four places: where … Read more

The Journal, Friday, December 1

Hey Folks, An Accounting of Days I closed out this Journal on November 18. I didn’t want the unnecessary pressure of that daily deadline while I was working out whatever problem derailed my writing. That was only twelve days ago, but it seems as if months have passed. Anyway, for whatever it’s worth, it worked. Or more specifically, it’s working. Sometime in the last few days, I realized there is no specific one thing that “derailed” my writing habit. Instead, I seem to have reached a merging of life events and factors. I also realized that convergence has been building … Read more

The Journal, Friday, November 17

Hey Folks, Topic: On Describing Setting How much description in setting is “too much”? Here’s a rule of thumb: If the description is something you, the author, are adding, it’s too much; you’ll bore the reader to death. If it’s the POV character’s opinion of the setting that he absorbed through his own physical senses, it will be just right and the reader will be hooked. Every character (like every human) has a unique POV that is determined by his or her physical senses (including any limitations or enhancements of those senses) and filtered through his or her past experiences. … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, November 16

Hey Folks, Okay, so my challenge is a copycat of Dean’s current short-term effort. UPDATE: Not a copycat, not quite. My short-term challenge is at least one short story per day for the rest of November. If I miss one day, my challenge is busted. Dean’s challenge apparently was to write 20 short stories in the last 20 days of November. Not quite the same thing as having to write one per day. If he misses a day, he can simply make it up later. (See “Of Interest” below.) In my case, I’m doing this primarily to jumpstart my writing … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, November 15

Hey Folks, I started the day (and this Journal) with a brief write-up about an interview with Andy Weir, best-selling author of The Martian and now Artemis. Some of his responses in the interview put me in mind of the film Idiocracy. If you haven’t seen it, I strongly recommend it. More of the world that’s conveyed in it becomes real every day. But the write-up sounded curmudgeonly even to me, so I replaced it with this. Frankly, I thought the guy sounded like a moron, and I decided I probably don’t want to risk buying his books. But you … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, November 14

Hey Folks, Well, again today I’m not going to publish my upcoming challenge. Frankly, I’m not certain yet what form it will take. For the new folks who’ve recently joined us here on the Journal, welcome. To bring you up to speed, I’ve been a very prolific writer (by most standards) but have experienced something of a slump off and on for the past few months. This morning, like a jolt of electricity, I realized the reason for the slump. More on that in a bit. The last story I finished was a novel titled Loose Ends. That was in … Read more

The Journal, Monday, November 13

Hey Folks, Well, this should be an interesting week. This is a convergence week for me, when several different events, sequences, and changes are coming together to consume blocks of time. I went to Benson this morning to renew my driver’s license and combined that with a shopping trip to settle our cupboard and refrigerator accounts after this past weekend. By the time that and a couple other necessary chores were done, that was the morning. It’s now approaching noon. On Wednesday morning, I have to head for Sierra Vista (Fort Huachuca) to renew my military ID card, and while … Read more