The Journal: Griping a little

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Griping a little * Still in class * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “[L]ibraries promote more reading, which creates more readers, which creates more book purchasers, which means publishers make more money.” The Passive Guy I’m griping a little today. I don’t like inaccuracy in writing instruction, and there’s a lot of inaccuracy out there. When I read or hear a blatant inaccuracy that is obviously not a typo in a blog post or a misstep in a writing class, it makes the hairs on the back … Read more

The Journal: More on Affinity Publisher

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * From Diane Darcy * More on Affinity Publisher * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “[T]he final product isn’t important to me. What is important is the fun of the process of telling a story. … I love writing. I can take or leave having written.” Dean Wesley Smith “I don’t like every song [short story, novel] I write, but I like that I wrote it.” Jeff Tweedy Professional indie fiction writer and Journal reader Diane Darcy recommends a book called Writing and Marketing Systems. You can find … Read more

The Journal: Very short post today

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Very short post today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.” PG Wodehouse Very short post today. I was going to publish this Journal entry yesterday, but we had a wide power outage in southeast Arizona and the power came back on a little too late to file this. As it turns out, I didn’t have a lot to … Read more

The Journal: Magic Realism, Writing, and the WIBBOW Rule

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * How I came to write magic realism * The WIBBOW Rule * A Note on Covers * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Writing to me is an advanced and slow form of reading. If you find a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it. … It took me a long time to do a short book; a long time to leave the world of language and the building up and shaping of the book, but once it … Read more

The Journal: Writing, and Story Ideas

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Not a lot * Thank you * What is a Y gate? * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Simply put, adding information, such as a message or data, to a particle in one location will make the data appear at the other location: the essence of teleportation.” Dan Hurley quoting on the forthcoming quantum internet Not a lot in today’s Journal. I’m posting today mostly for what’s in “Of Interest.” I wrote a little on the short story yesterday, but (again) I forgot to get caught up … Read more

The Journal: Better Than Usual

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Update on my construction woes * Better than usual * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “A successful runner doesn’t see the finish line in a race; he sees ten yards beyond it. That’s his goal and the visualization keeps him moving beyond the expected end. A good writer does the same thing – pushes beyond the obvious limit to ensure a successful conclusion.” Dan Baldwin in “The Long and Short of Endings” (To subscribe free email baldco@msn.com.) “Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let … Read more

The Journal: Just Chatting

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Just chatting * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Written stories belong to their individual creators as individuals. Copyright laws around the world reflect this belief and value. … Stories don’t belong to cultures or people who bear some similarity to the characters in a book.” David Vandagriff (as The Passive Guy) harkening back to my previous Journal post Just chatting this morning. I haven’t talked with you in a few days. That omission was unintented. But really, I haven’t had much to talk about, at least regarding … Read more

The Journal: Cultural Appropriation

In today’s Journal * “Cultural Appropriation”… whatever * Of Interest * The Numbers I’m a little under the weather and not in a good mood besides, so I’ll keep this short. In fact, I’m publishing it at all mostly to get the “Of Interest” stuff out to you. I was going to write a whole long rant on so-called “cultural appropriation” but I changed my mind. Aren’t you glad? Suffice to say, the actual purpose of a phrase like “cultural appropriation” is to intimidate and infuriate, not to effect actual change. To make that vein on the forehead bulge in … Read more

The Journal: October Already and TMI

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The first of… October? * The return of Blackwell Ops 8 * A little personal good news * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I make no conscious effort to be tough, or hard-boiled, or grim, or any of the things I am usually called. I merely try to write as the character would write.” James M. Cain in the preface to Three of a Kind “[M]y style is rural rather than urban; my ear seems to like fields better than streets. I am glad of this, for … Read more

The Journal: Start a Writing Career

In today’s Journal * Start a Writing Career * I finished one * Of Interest * The Numbers Start a Writing Career I’m one of those writers Dave Farland talks about in his article, linked in today’s “Of Interest.” I don’t worry a lot about sales. I follow Heinlein’s Rules. I write, submit to a market or indie publish, and write again. But marketing and sales? The very concept puts me to sleep, with the exception of two rules: 1. The opening of a book sells that book, and the end of a book sells the next book. So I … Read more