In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* More on Christmas Gifts
* The Writing
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.” Carl Sagan
“A good novel shows how life can and ought to be lived. It not only entertains but energizes and uplifts readers.” Terry Goodkind
“I suggest you look back, see how you did with your goals. Don’t tell anyone, just write it down for yourself and figure out what you did right if you hit your goals or wrong if you missed them. And remember, don’t look at how much you missed a goal, but instead look at how much you got done. … That is called FAILING TO SUCCESS.” Dean Wesley Smith (see Of Interest)
“Study finds all major AI models were trained on datasets containing some amount of explicit images of children….” headline in 1440 Daily Digest
Yeah! (fist pump) Let’s hear it for AI and those good folks who train or use it! Jerks.
More on Christmas Gifts
If you take advantage of my offer in yesterday’s post, please be patient. It takes time to attach and send the files, and I do so only during my breaks.
Also, please do not write telling me what you disagree with from the lectures. I no longer agree with some of it myself. (grin)
As a result, I teach some of these subjects differently now. You can find that updated information in the free Journal Archives.
The lectures I’m sending you, including the PDF handouts (when appropriate), are some of the lectures I’ve taught over the years in person.
Thus far, only five subscribers — which I define as writers whom I assume want to learn something about writing from me (otherwise why are they subscribed?) — have taken me up on my offer of free audio lectures.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not disappointed or anything like that. But I am considerably confused.
I would have done almost anything to get something like this from Dean back in the day. Instead, I paid $300 a pop to get a small bit of information packed in a lot of fluff.
Sorry, but that’s the truth of it, and if you’ve taken his courses, you know it. The first two to three weeks of a six-week course comprise a teaser, a lead-up to the meaty information. The fluff pads-out the course.
Again, don’t misunderstand. I’m more than grateful for what I learned from Dean, especially his blogs but also the courses. Nestled gently in the fluff was a lot of good information. But if he’d been publishing his WMG writers’ guides back then, I would have bought those instead of paying $300 each for the online courses.
This Journal and my audio lectures comprise a no-fluff zone. As I wrote above, for the most part, the lectures are exactly as I taught them in live seminars on the sunny slopes of long ago. All solid stuff.
Ah well, to each his or her own. Less work for me. (grin)
The Writing
My writing on the novel was delayed for a couple of hours yesterday morning as my persona, Gervasio Arrancado, shouldered his way in to write a new short story.
I am very glad he did. It was great to hear his voice again.
The story will be published for the first time on the Stanbrough Writes substack (free short story every week) on Friday, March 8.
The info on the story is in Numbers below.
I also added more to “The Love of Soleada,” an erotic short story. I also put it back in the line-up below.
Then I used about an hour total to send MP3 (audio) files to those who requested some or all of my lectures. It takes about 15 minutes to send all 66 lectures. But then, only one person asked for that, and one other asked for all but one.
I also added some words to the novel, though not as many as I would have liked. Honestly, I think I’m dragging my feet a little on this one because I don’t want it to end. When I’m enjoying a story a great deal, I tend to do that.
Anyway, when the smoke cleared and I totaled everything, it had been a banner day totaling well over 5000 words of fiction. I’ll take it. (grin)
Of Interest
Step One: Getting Ready for the New Year A Must Read
“Funner” vs. “More fun”: History and Recommended Usage I’ve never had a character who used “funner,” but if one said that I would write it.
Publisher drops author for using fake accounts to ‘review-bomb’ peers Sometimes apologies just don’t matter. This is one of those times.
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 790
Writing of Tarea-Garcia 1
Day 1…… 4968 words. To date…… 4968
Day 2…… 3677 words. To date…… 8645
Day 3…… 3307 words. To date…… 11952
Day 4…… 4467 words. To date…… 16419
Day 5…… 4193 words. To date…… 20612
Day 6…… 2061 words. To date…… 22673
Day 7…… 3250 words. To date…… 25923
Day 8…… 2036 words. To date…… 27959
Writing of “Little Bit: A Cautionary Tale of Love”
Day 1…… 1661 words. To date…… 1661 (done)
Writing of “The Love of Soleada”
Day 1…… 1079 words. To date…… 1079
Day 2…… 1444 words. To date…… 2523
Fiction for December…………………… 81194
Fiction for 2023…………………………. 482028
Fiction since August 1………………… 366404
Nonfiction for December……………… 16280
Nonfiction for the year……………… 271860
Annual consumable words………… 750381
2023 Novels to Date……………………… 10
2023 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2023 Short Stories to Date……………… 8
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………… 81
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)…… 236
Short story collections…………………… 31
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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.