In today’s Journal
* Reminder
* Changes Coming to the Journal
* Re “No Activity”
* Coming Soon
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Reminder
You Bradbury Challenge participants, remember to get your story info in to me sometime today or tonight, before the Journal goes live on Monday.
Anyone else want to jump in, feel free. A challenge is a great way to get your writing going again.
Changes Coming to the Journal
Some changes are coming to the Journal. For one thing, soon I’ll probably begin publishing it a little less often. We’ll see.
Anyway, I definitely will continue publishing at least every Monday so I can report the Challenge results.
I’m even thinking about monetizing the Journal. (Donors, monthly and otherwise, you have nothing to worry about.) I’ve been giving this thing away free as well as fiction and nonfiction books and even the audio lectures, but very few have taken advantage of that.
I do what I do only to pay forward what I’ve learned and made my own through practice. But I can only assume some folks are equating value with $$$. So maybe I need to start charging a nominal fee for subscriptions to the Journal itself.
I’ll work on that and let you know.
As always, your thoughts are welcome in comments or via email.
Re “No Activity”
Yesterday I noticed a lot of “no activity” notes among subscribers. Later I realized Substack’s methods for counting such things is flawed. Badly.
I was on the verge of removing around 30 email addresses from my list of subscribers for “no activity” for the past month.
But when I emailed those folks to let them know, I started getting responses like “I read the Journal every day” or “I check in when I can. Please don’t remove me” etc.
That’s what told me Substack’s machinery is off somewhere between its ears.
So let me just say this: If you personally do not find the Journal worthwhile and a help in your efforts as a fiction writer, please click the unsubscribe button at the bottom of this email.
It’s tiny, and it’s located just below my address. I promise, you won’t hurt my feeilngs or anything like that. I’m trying to help here, but the Journal is an offer, not a suppository.
Coming Soon
I was reminded yesterday of what I do. I promote writing into the dark and attempting to adhere to Heinlein’s Rules. I also fight the writing myths in all shapes and sizes.
I think when I started offering (free) all those giveaways on the Free Archives & More tab on the website, I kind’a got away from that. It was right there available for download, so why should I talk more about it?
But I’m going to get back to it. I have a lot of new subscribers, and they deserve to hear the truth about writing at least once.
In addition to those primary topics, along the way I’ll also talk about characters; setting and scene (major, lesser, and transitory); world building; openings, hooks and cliffhangers and so on ad nauseam. Chances are, it will be a take you’ve never heard before on those topics.
So if you need a refresher or if you’ve never heard about some of this stuff, stay tuned.
I also suggest you stay tuned if you’ve heard those topics discussed only by folks who outline, revise, rewrite, populate critique groups and are mired in the other myths.
I read a ridiculous quote by an unidentified “bestseller” only this morning. It’s included in the one item in Of Interest. The rest of the article is pretty good, but item #2 in the article falls flat, and here’s the ridiculous quote:
“Writing a book takes a long time. You have to come back to it every day for months.”
My argument is with the author’s use of “you.” If s/he had written “I” then I would have no argument. Maybe s/he does have to take months to write a book.
It takes me about two weeks. It took me longer than one month only one time. That one took 32 days. And I’ll gladly share, free of charge, any of my recent novels with anyone who wants to see whether the writing suffered because I have an actual work ethic.
To witness my work ethic in action, see Numbers below. But then, I actually get up and go to work. Like carpenters and cops and plumbers and everyone else, including you.
And of course, should the anonymous author of that article want to comment or respond, s/he is welcome to do so.
If what I’m doing with this Journal helps you in some way with your writing, consider setting up a recurring monthly donation by clicking this link.
If you can’t do that, please at least share this with other writers.
And gracias.
I’ll talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Bad Writing Advice: 21 Terrible Tips You Should Ignore I disagree vehemently with #2. The others make sense. Note that the “bestseller” does not mention his or her name.
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 840
Writing of Blackwell Ops 18: Soleada Garcia: Settled
Day 1…… 4078 words. To date…… 4078
Day 2…… 4194 words. To date…… 8272
Day 3…… 4277 words. To date…… 12549
Day 4…… 4916 words. To date…… 17465
Fiction for January……………………. 46771
Fiction for 2024…………………………. 46771
Fiction since October 1…………… 349816
Nonfiction for January……………… 14060
Nonfiction for 2024…………………… 14060
2024 consumable words…………… 60831
2024 Novels to Date……………………… 1
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………… 83
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)…… 238
Short story collections…………………… 31
Note: If you find this Journal of value and want to make a one time or recurring donation, please do not pledge through Substack. I don’t use Stripe. Instead click this link. If you can’t donate, please consider sharing this post with friends.
Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Unreasoning fear and the myths of writing will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.