In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Shameless Self-Promotion
* Vella Correction
* Workshop Sale
* Reflection on Editing
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“It’s not what WE see in the setting or know from research that matters. It’s what the CHARACTER sees and knows AND cares about enough to mention that matters.” Professional novelist Dawn Turner
“With all of the qualities of the scene-setting, the dialogue, the place and time and the time and place in which your characters move. And I want to move with the characters, move with them and describe the world in which they are living.” Gay Talese
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Yogi Berra (grin)
Vella Correction
A reader told me yesterday the link I’ve spreading around to my Vella account didn’t work. I checked, and he’s right.
If you go to Amazon, then in the Search box key in “Vella, Blackwell Ops 10: Jeremy Stiles (The Way Things Go),” it will take you to the story.
Or you can just click https://www.amazon.com/Blackwell-Ops-10-Jeremy-Stiles/dp/B0CHNMBDJ3/. Again, the first three chapters are free.
Sorry for any inconvenience.
Workshop Sale
Yesterday I mentioned a bit about Dean’s Depth workshop. This morning he talked about a new workshop sale.
I didn’t read the post, but usually all workshops are 50% off. Get ’em while you can. See “Of Interest.”
Reflection on Editing
Short post today. I’m working on a rare copyedit yesterday and today and probably tomorrow morning, so no playing with my characters.
I’ve done this hundreds of times before, but it’s only just dawned on me how every different it is from writing.
I do get to enjoy the story I’m working on, but even that isn’t the same as writing or even reading.
Instead of playing with the characters in the creative subconscious — which is the mode I’m in when I write and the mode all of us are in when we read and are immersed in Story — I’m in critical mind all day, trudging along, reading carefully, “looking for” things.
It struck me that many writers still do this sort of thing with their own work, forcing it word-by-word into some preconceived notion of what it “should” be. Frankly, I don’t know why writers would ever want to do this to their own work, when instead they can run and play freely with their characters, simply enjoying the story as it unfolds all around them.
At the end of a day of copyediting, I’m not just pleasantly tired, like after playing with my childhood friends all day. Instead I’m exhausted. Remember how you felt after that one day of school when there were no real classes and you had to take tests all day? It’s like that.
Don’t do that. Run, play, and come home at the end of the day tired but smiling and filled with memories of your wonderful adventures with your characters.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Tell Matt Perryman about your online reading habits — Help a brother out.
New Diving Store and Workshop Sale!
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 510
Writing of
Day 1…… XXXX words. To date…… XXXXX
Fiction for September…………………… 52650
Fiction for 2023………………………… 204959
Fiction since August 1………………… 110199
Nonfiction for September……………… 17360
Nonfiction for the year……………… 191830
Annual consumable words………… 396789
2023 Novels to Date……………………… 4
2023 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2023 Short Stories to Date……………… 4
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………… 75
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)… 232
Short story collections…………………… 31
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.