Monday, and a Lesson

In today’s Journal

* Monday Was Monday, and a Lesson
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Monday Was Monday, and a Lesson

Well, I finished “Penthouse Bound.” Whatever. I’m not happy with it at all. To be honest, after flying through the opening I struggled with the story, and when I finished it, it felt flat to me. Like I just wanted to get it over with and off my plate. Which is probably true.

Okay, so even after 73 novels and all the rest, I’m not immune to the problems I faced and overcame at the very beginning. Probably because I’m at the very beginning again. The thing is, I cleared out critical voice and the myths once, so I know I can do it again. I have the tools and the awareness and the knowledge.

A Lesson—At this point, frankly, writing just isn’t as much fun as it was (and should be).

But I’m still compelled to write stories, so the lack of fun is only because I haven’t settled into a story yet that I really want to write. I will. I just haven’t yet.

Later, when I’m deep into a story and it inevitably slows, I’ll get through by reminding myself to trust the characters and just write the next sentence, whatever it is, then the next and the next until the story’s flowing again.

But for now I have to find the story I want to write, the one that’s fun for me. And the only way to do that is to keep poking around and writing different things until I get into one that grabs me.

After I finished “Penthouse Bound” I took a short break, then opened a file that I thought was the first chapter or two (opening) I wrote long ago for another Blackwell Ops novel. I remembered it was a good opening, but somehow the files were mixed up.

But what I opened wasn’t the Blackwell Ops opening at all. It’s the first chapter of a “body on the beach” crime/mystery opening. I’ll read over it again this morning to see whether it grabs me.

I also happened across an old Stern Talbot mystery start, a different (and much longer) one than the one that was listed under Numbers below. (That one was only 190 words, so I dropped it.) If the body on the beach story doesn’t grab me, I’ll read over the Talbot PI story start to see whether it grabs me.

I remember just enough about that old Blackwell Ops start to remember that I really liked it.

Early morning, a guy was walking on a white beach in an exotic location and near a beach house. Three helicopters, at first just loud dots against the sky, came around a point in the jungle up the coast. The choppers drew nearer and nearer, then began strafing him.

He escaped, of course, but the house was demolished. He soon figured out the who and why behind the attack and went on the offensive. (If that start grabs you, feel free to write it. Your story will be different from mine anyway.)

I spent a couple of hours looking for that start but I never did find it. I guess it’s gone. I hate when that happens. I don’t mind tossing out words if it’s my choice, but I hate simply losing them. That’s just annoying.

If I happen across it someday I probably will write it, but I probably won’t try to reconstitute it. That would be like writing from an outline (conscious, critical mind) and that’s a death knell for originality in a story.

Anyway, by the time all of that was over it was almost noon, and I took the rest of the day off to reset my brain.

This restart is going more slowly than I hoped it would. I sort of expected this, but I have to admit I hoped I would be up to speed more quickly.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “The Course is Completed…Sort Of (video)” at https://www.youtube[dot]com/live/z83QLbadpD4. Listen to this video. Some good recommendations re writing.

See “Some Copyright Value” at https://deanwesleysmith.com/some-copyright-value/.

See “Disconnecting From The World So You Can Create Your Own” at https://killzoneblog.com/2023/08/disconnecting-from-the-worldso-you-can-create-your-own.html. A helpful article.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 700

Writing of “Penthouse Bound”

Day 1…… 1485 words. Total words to date…… 1485
Day 2…… 1109 words. Total words to date…… 2594 done

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 August……… 10603
Total fiction words for 2023………… 125150
Total nonfiction words for August… 5350
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 155250
Total fiction words since August 1…… 10603
Total words for the year (fiction and nonfiction)…… 280400

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.