In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Process for (Genre) World Building * Stop Hitting Yourself * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “To be a champ, you have to believe in yourself when nobody else will.” Sugar Ray Robinson “Remember: Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations.” [emphasis added] Ray Bradbury Process for (Genre) World Building Yesterday I linked to the post “Process for Fantasy World Building” over at The Passive Voice. The article advocated ridiculous levels of control. Naturally, I left … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * From Distributor StreetLib * Using Smashwords Coupons Through Draft2Digital * Another Challenge: I Dare You * Of Interest Quote of the Day “Today I want to talk about ebooks. I want to show how their real popularity is often not fully reflected in the publishing industry reports we draw upon to assess our target book markets.” Giacomo D’Angelo, StreetLib CEO From Distributor StreetLib Although I do not distribute or aggregate through StreetLib, I do receive their newsletter, and I recommend it. Below is an excerpt from a recent newsletter from their … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting * Adios April * Of Interest Quote of the Day “I don’t plot. I don’t sit down and plot a book. It sort of unreels as I write.” Nora Roberts Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting Congratulations to the Challenge participants for another week of success moving forward, not hovering or looking back. You can still join in the challenge at any time. There’s no cost of course, and it’s a great way to both have some fun and jumpstart your writing. Tony DeCastro “Verlaine Shot Rimbaud” 3500 words … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Why I Write Into the Dark * Just for Grins: An Essay on Pope * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “[Y]ou have to have confidedence to be a champion and that is the only thing I ever wished to be.” Ernest Hemingway “Certainly, books should be judged by those who read them—not explained by the writer.” Ernest Hemingway “[I]t is … important for me to write in tranquility, trying to write as well as I can, with no eye on any market, nor any thought of what the stuff will … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Book Sale Redux * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “I can see how using our critical minds to revise a manuscript could spoil the original product. And yet, I think we have to use both sides of our brains to come up with the best story. If only I knew how to do that.” Kay DiBianca, in response to my second comment on her post at TKZ And my response: “In every case, Kay, the ‘best’ story is the authentic story. To find that you only have to trust the … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting * Wes Crowley Book Sale (in Paper) * My Comments on a TKZ Post * Of Interest Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting As you can see, the challenge is still ongoing for some. Of course, others probably still are meeting or exceeding the challenge as well but simply aren’t reporting numbers to me, which is perfectly fine. If anyone is having trouble with the challenge, I suggest you write the story for the week on the first day of the new week. Get it out of the way … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards * Want to be a Best Seller? * A Reminder * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “the internet’s and high tech’s steep and brutal downsides—political polarization for profit, the knowing encouragement of internet addiction, the destruction of childhood, a nation that has grown shallower and less able to think….” Peggy Noonan in “Artificial Intelligence in the Garden of Eden” in The Wall Street Journal “Hubris is one of the great renewable resources.” P. J. O’Rourke Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards Yesterday my wife forwarded me … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Ray Bradbury * If You Believe Writing Fiction Is Hard Work * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Though it cleared the launch pad, Starship’s first orbital launch attempt ended with a dramatic explosion, or as SpaceX put it, ‘a rapid unscheduled disassembly’.” Chris Young, for Interesting Engineering. Great spin, no? “Night is everything. The shadows come out from under the trees and shadows become night.” Ray Bradbury “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Creating Realistic Characters * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Don’t be a character assassin with your own characters. Even your villain can be noble.” David Farland “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” Mark Twain “In marketing you must choose between boredom, shouting and seduction. Which do you want?” Roy H. Williams There’s my problem right there. Boredom and shouting are, well, boredom and shouting. And seduction is dishonest. Creating Realistic Characters I almost launched into a whole long thing on characters. For example, that any … Read more

In today’s Journal * How Ernest Hemingway Wrote * The Writing * Of Interest How Ernest Hemingway Wrote That’s the plainest, best title I could have given this topic. Had I seen that title at ANY time during my life, I would have shoved through crowds to be sure I was allowed to read what was below it. Yet dozens of writers will glance at the title and not bother to read the text. Oh well. That’s why God invented Jim Beam and Jameson & Sons Irish whiskey. If you would like to learn a LOT about how Ernest Hemingway … Read more