In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Challenge Writers Reporting
* The Writing
* Recommendation
* Of Interest
Quotes of the Day
“The really frightening thing about middle age is the knowledge that you’ll grow out of it.” Doris Day
“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters.” Ernest Hemingway
Challenge Writers Reporting
For this week, the following writers wrote the indicate short stories. You can still join in the challenge at any time. There’s no cost. It’s a great way to jumpstart your writing.
Chynna Pace, “Mirrors,” Middle Grade suspense, 7600 words
Balázs Jámbor, “A warning letter,” weird fiction, 3200 words
Frank Theodat, “Head Count,” 1250 words
Christopher Ridge, “Not in My House You’re Not,” humor, 3000 words
Bill Sinclair, “A Busy Morning,” 1095 words (writing as Haarlson Phillipps)
K.C. Riggs, “Adios,Violeta,” 5000 words
Tony DeCastro, “Goode’s Field Road,” 6000 words
Alexander Teut, “Maxime Lestat vs Forces of Evil,” 2121 words (writing as Alexander Nakul)
Alexander Teut, “Maxime Lestat, advisor of Stalin,” 2285 words (writing as Alexander Nakul)
Harvey Stanbrough, Baby Fat, 1457 words
The Writing
Gaa! I decided earlier in the week not to write my short story for the challenge until Sunday, remember? That was a little extra oomph I added to my personal challenge.
Yeah. I won’t be doing that again.
Before he left to head back to Flagstaff yesterday, my son and I decided we wanted to go ahead and finish installing the gate. Only it turned out to be a lot more than that.
Eventually it entailed cutting out two saltbushes, rerouting about forty feet of fence, and sinking two new t-posts. What we expected to be about a one-hour job tops took five or six hours in the Arizona sun.
Probably needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway) I was exhausted. I even opted to wait until today to put away the tools we used. I don’t remember ever doing that before. (One of my personal guiding mantras: “The job isn’t finished until the tools are cleaned and put away.”)
Then lunch and TV for a couple of hours, and I didn’t start my story for the challenge until around 3 p.m. on Sunday. I seriously considered recording a zero for this week and restarting my own challenge next Sunday.
But something inside me kept whispering, “Um, that’s why they call it a challenge.”
So I wrote the story, which thankfully turned out to be a short-short at well under 2000 words. I didn’t care. I was just glad I met the challenge and, by the tiniest possible mental margin, kept the streak alive.
The whole thing reminded me of another personal mantra to which I’ve always subscribed: “Do it now. You never know whether you’ll have time later.”
Talk with you again soon.
Recommendation
I very much recommend Dean Wesley Smith’s online workshops, lectures, etc. There’s a half-price sale going on right now, and it was extended until Wednesday.
I literally owe my career to what I learned from Dean and then practiced and expanded upon.
If there’s a craft item you need to learn about, I urge you to invest in yourself and check out the half-price sale. See the first item in “Of Interest.”
Of Interest
See “Sale Extended Until Wednesday Night” at https://deanwesleysmith.com/sale-extended-until-wednesday-night/.
See “Writing Etiquette Redux” at https://killzoneblog.com/2023/04/writing-etiquette-redux.html. Yup, I left a comment. Sigh.
See “Florida man serving 400-year prison sentence walks free after being exonerated of robbery charge” at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sidney-holmes-exonerated-400-year-sentence-florida/. Story ideas?
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 540
Writing of “Baby Fat” (short-short story)
Day 1…… 1457 words. Total words to date…… 1457 (done)
Writing of Wes Crowley: Deputy US Marshal 2 (WCG9SF4)
Day 1…… 3231 words. Total words to date…… 3231
Day 2…… 2990 words. Total words to date…… 6221
Day 3…… 1805 words. Total words to date…… 8026
Day 4…… 2025 words. Total words to date…… 10051
Day 5…… 1451 words. Total words to date…… 11502
Day 6…… 1886 words. Total words to date…… 13388
Day 7…… 2002 words. Total words to date…… 15390
Day 8…… 1060 words. Total words to date…… 16450
Total fiction words for April……… 1457
Total fiction words for 2023………… 67645
Total nonfiction words for April… 2720
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 64980
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 132625
Calendar Year 2023 Novels to Date…………………… 1
Calendar Year 2023 Novellas to Date……………… 0
Calendar Year 2023 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 72
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 220
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
Disclaimer: Because It Makes Sense, I preach trusting your characters to tell the story that they, not you, are living. See https://hestanbrough.com/the-daily-journal-archives-gifts-dvds/ for free stuff on writing.