In today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* First Livestream Delayed
* Speaking of Writing Fiction
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“The publishers and the printers are making more money than you are, and you’re the writer. They vacation in the Hamptons while you struggle to pay the rent. Tell me that makes sense.” Vincent Zandri on traditional publishing
First Livestream Delayed
I was playing around with my internal camera’s video settings and didn’t like what I saw on the screen. Then I realized it was “broadcasting” at only 720p. I’ll never hit studio quality, and I don’t need to, but c’mon. I don’t wanna transmit something all that grainy either.
My slate-grey t-shirt looked sort of grey with black, blue and red sparkles. And whatever you think of me, rest assured I do not wear sparkles.
Anyway, I found out I look better (better color, etc.) on my smaller 11.5″ HP writing puter even though it also is only 720p. BUT the image is reversed, flipped horizontally. That’s just annoying. I tried updating the driver, etc. I also looked all over the place for the settings recommended online (“mirror image” and “flip horizontal”) but I’m telling you, they don’t exist on either of my computers.
So I drove to a local store and bought a separate 1440p camera. Installed in a snap, but couldn’t find where to use it (and its mic) instead of the on-board laptop camera and its mic. (I finally disabled and later re-enabled the on-board camera.) PLUS the image was STILL reversed. So same boat, and thirty bucks lighter in the billfold.
I also tried the new webcam on the 14″ HP, thinking at least I’d get a clearer picture. Sure enough, the picture was clearer, but the camera reversed the image on THAT laptop too. That was enough. Me having a separate web cam simply wasn’t meant to be. I took it all down and will return it to the store probably later today.
Just so you know, I’m usually like a dog on a bone for quality. I write the very best I can the first time through, and I was the best version of a Marine at every level and a cop and a landscaper and a cowboy and an oilfield hand and an editor that I could be the first time through. But this camera debacle has convinced me it’s time to relax a little.
So when I livestream for the first time here in a day or two, you might get a halfway decent but reversed video from my little 11″ HP, or you might get a grainier but at-least-not-reversed video from this 14″ HP. You’ll still get the best I can do at the moment, but it won’t be as good as I had hoped it would be.
And I figure for the first one, I’ll talk about something that should be of interest to both my readers and my writing friends: my writing space, AKA The Hovel. And whatever happens will happen.
In addition to everything else, the pump in our well quit yesterday. The well guy was out and it looks like there’s a direct electrical short down at the pump, meaning the pump will have to be pulled, etc. Wish us luck.
I’m looking very forward to getting back to writing fiction again. Soon.
Speaking of Writing Fiction
Pro writer Dawn Turner left a great comment on Dan Baldwin’s guest post on writing crappy first drafts:
“‘My process is to write a good first draft. Before writing Chapter Two, I read over Chapter One and clean up any problems such as typos or factual errors, and then I move on. I repeat that simple process chapter by chapter.’
“Such a perfect explanation of my own process, Dan. So simple, and yet, it seems to baffle so many authors. I still don’t get that.
“I remember participating in an online editing group several years back. (Eesh, gotta be 15 years ago now, since it was before I published my first book. Yikes! Where does time go?) We were supposed to send the first draft of each chapter to the group as we finished. I always seemed to get the same comment: ‘You’ve edited this. It’s too clean.’
“First, no. I did what we were supposed to. I wrote it, read it over to make sure there weren’t any glaring typos, and sent it. Moved on to the next chapter. No editing. I just wrote like I normally do.
“Second, those comments left me feeling like I was doing something wrong by writing WELL in my ‘first’ draft. Which is stupid in the extreme. Why should ANYONE feel bad because they write well in the initial draft? If anything, the writers who aspire to write ‘crap’ for their first draft should be the ones who feel bad, for wasting so much time, since they then have to edit that drivel. LOL
“Needless to say, it didn’t take me long to realize those editing groups were a waste of MY time, and I stopped doing that to myself.”
Extremely wise thoughts, Dawn, and thanks for sharing your experience.
Talk with you later.
Of Interest
See “We Have a Ghost.. Movie” at https://deanwesleysmith.com/we-have-a-ghost-movie/. A bit about licensing.
See “Going Rogue! *(video)” at https://www.youtube[dot]com/live/X6Dla06r4Zwhttps://www.youtube.com/live/X6Dla06r4Zw.
See “If Not Big Names, Then What?” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/if-not-big-names-then-what/.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 890
Writing of Rose Padilla (WCG10SF5)
Day 1…… 4283 words. Total words to date…… 4283
Day 2…… 3963 words. Total words to date…… 8246
Day 3…… 1463 words. Total words to date…… 9709
Day 4…… 2445 words. Total words to date……12154
Total fiction words for June……… 12154
Total fiction words for 2023………… 110022
Total nonfiction words for June… 15060
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 124480
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 234502
Calendar Year 2023 Novels to Date…………………… 2
Calendar Year 2023 Novellas to Date……………… 0
Calendar Year 2023 Short Stories to Date………… 4
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 73
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………… 221
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark, adherence to Heinlein’s Rules, and that following the myths of fiction writing will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.