In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
* Of Interest
Quotes of the Day
“I’m too afraid to write.” Posted on reddit by u/OneRoundMate
Yes, u/OneRoundMate was honest enough to actually write that in public. If you’d like to see for yourself the critical mind at work ripping apart writers left and right, visit https://www.reddit.com/r/writing/comments/zslqqi/comment/j1c4jia/.
“Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.” Madam CJ Walker
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
Wishing you all a merry Christmas—I hope the day is good to you whether or not you celebrate it officially—and that all your holidays will be enjoyable.
As always, I also wish for all of you the upcoming new year will be a better one than the last.
I probably will take some time off from the Journal now.
There are Christmas gifts available for you at https://hestanbrough.com/the-daily-journal-archives/.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Note: I took all of these from the “Etcetera” section of the free, UNBIASED newsletter 1440 Daily Digest. (You can subcribe by sending an email to DailyDigest@email.join1440.com.)
See “NORAD’s annual Santa tracker” at https://www.noradsanta.org/en/index.html.
See “Mistletoe, a parasitic plant with a rich history” at https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/mistletoe/.
See “Old Saint Nick was a little creepier in past centuries” at https://petapixel.com/2022/12/22/creepy-19th-century-photos-show-what-santa-claus-used-to-look-like/.
See “The funniest Christmas-related local news bloopers” (via YouTube) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFbHhAgkEfg.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 230 words
Writing of WCG 7 Santa Fe 2 (novel tentative title)
Day 10… 2524 words. Total words to date…… 27438
Day 11… 3156 words. Total words to date…… 30594
Day 12… 1065 words. Total words to date…… 31659
Day 13… 2380 words. Total words to date…… 34039
Total fiction words for December……… 50453
Total fiction words for the year………… 265427
Total nonfiction words for December… 19990
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 218070
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 483497
Calendar Year 2022 Novels to Date…………………… 4
Calendar Year 2022 Novellas to Date……………… 0
Calendar Year 2022 Short Stories to Date… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 70
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. Because It Makes Sense, I trust my characters to tell the story that they, not I, are living. This greatly increases my productivity and provides the fastest possible ascension along the learning curve of Craft because I get a great deal more practice at actually writing. It will do the same for you if only you trust it.
Here’s one of my favorite Vicki Hinze quotes (similar to Madame CJ Walker):
“Don’t wait for your ship to come in ~ swim out to that sucker.”
😁😁😁
Thanks, Maggie. Good one.
Merry Christmas to you too, Harvey! And thank you for all you do. You have helped me so much with my writing, and I appreciate you more than I can say.
Best wishes,
Maggie
Thanks again. 🙂
Thank you for the links, and the thoughts invested and expressed. And because I believe the sentiment and the worth of it lasts beyond the day, though it is a bitter hill midnight where I am- but not exactly, for I am cozy-warm inside and out- Merry Christmas, to you and yours, too!
Thanks, Heather.