The Journal: The Novel Wrapped

In today’s Journal * The novel wrapped * Keeping Track * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ The novel wrapped yesterday. Weird. I put pressure on myself just before the end of this novel. I wanted to finish it yesterday, and I allowed that desire to translate into pressure to finish it. Pressure is never a good thing. As a result, I wrote three separate endings, only one of which I completed. (The right one, of course.) So when the smoke cleared (literally) I had written 1865 words that did not make it into the final novel. Oh well. It’s … Read more

The Journal: The novel will wrap today

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The novel will wrap today * Talking numbers * It doesn’t happen * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Quotes of the Day “I view my life as a novel in progress. As I awoke this morning, I anxiously turned the 27,373rd page to see what happens next.” Lars Bagman I love this quote. In my mind, it’s absolutely true. That’s why I often refer to the difference between “my life/story” vs. “my characters’ life/story.” I assume the characters’ life (and story) is ongoing even when I’m not checking in on … Read more

The Journal: New Releases

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * New Releases * Of all the blogs I visit and read * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Quotes of the Day “[Y]our words are how you see yourself, your actions are how other people see you.” Farnam Street blog “Talent sets the floor, character sets the ceiling.” Bill Belichick “If you’re too busy to read the fine print and figure out what it means, don’t enter the contest.” The Passive Voice New Releases Well, Wes Crowley: The Final Chapter went live yesterday. You can see it at https://books2read.com/u/3Lw9le. That’s the … Read more

The Journal: Why I Post Every Day

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Why I Post Every Day * The Novel * An interesting newsletter * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Quotes of the Day “It is as if these authors were in a dark prison cell, pulled up by the bars to look out the window at Armageddon, and fail to look behind them to see that their cell door is open. … It’s really hard to feel pity for those who willfully disregard changing reality.” Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt on tradpubbed authors who can’t believe indie publishing works “[T]hese companies are now … Read more

The Journal: Desperately Avoiding the Adverb

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: Desperately Avoiding the Adverb * On Tidbits * Marketing Tidbit * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Quote of the Day “On a different subject, “… head shaking with rue” sounded odd. Is this just me or is the author desperately avoiding the adverb?” Mike Hall, in a comment on a post on The Passive Voice Topic: Desperately Avoiding the Adverb For many years, I’ve kept a running list of verbs writers use in dialogue tags to replace “said” and thereby, they reason, to “spiff up” the tag and make … Read more

The Journal: Just Write Something Already

In today’s Journal * An astute reader * On the cigar front * Tidbits * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ An astute reader caught an egregious typo in yesterday’s Journal (Thanks, Russ). In the Numbers section, I reported 60031 total words of fiction for the year. Let’s play with that for a moment. That would mean on average in the first 208 days of 2021 I’ve written a rip-roaring 289 words per day. Yeah, somehow I managed to omit a numeral. That number should have read 600381, which it now does. Which means on average, I’ve written 2889 words … Read more

The Journal: Three Kinds of Fiction Writers

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Three Kinds of Fiction Writers * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Being ‘good at things’ is not the point. Enjoying the ride is. [R]emember to take joy in the process.” PJ Parrish “Given the growth in the audio market, I use far more dialogue tags than I used to. On the page, I believe they become invisible, and on audio, it keeps the listener on track.” John Gilstrap Topic: Three Kinds of Fiction Writers I used to say there are two kinds of fiction writers, but … Read more

The Journal: More on Ideas, and Introducing Tidbits

In today’s Journal * More on Ideas * Topic: Introducing Tidbits * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​More on Ideas Excerpted from an email to a potential new mentoring student. In his email he told me he was deluged with story ideas: I’m glad you’re deluged with ideas. I get so tired of would-be writers asking “Where do you get ideas?” My typical response is “Where do you NOT get ideas?” Just this morning during my walk, I passed through several swarms of flying ants. My imagination immediately went to an alien invasion. A little later, as I was eating … Read more

The Journal: Writing Routines

In today’s Journal * Writing Ritual and Routine * Of Interest * The Numbers​​​ Writing Ritual and Routine Over on TKZ today, Sue Coletta posted an article on writing ritual and routine. Interesting post, and she asked toward the end about others’ rituals and routines. I thought mine would make a good post over here on the Journal. I rise at 2 or 3 a.m. (I take my 6-8 hours from a different part of the day), grab a mugga coffee, and walk about 150 feet to my Hovel, an adobe shack with 3-foot thick walls. That gives me the … Read more

The Journal: From B&N and Reader Kudos

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * From Barnes & Noble Press * Reader Kudos * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Quotes of the Day “Lack of courage sabotages more people than lack of ability. Don’t beat yourself before you start.” Farnam Street blog “I was successful in getting published that first time because I broke the rules and created something no one else was doing.” Reavis Wortham “If you’re an author and not familiar with Writer Beware, you probably should be.” The Passive Guy From Barnes & Noble Press, in case you’re interested FREE Marketing Webinars! … Read more