The Journal: On Process

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the day * On Process * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day Via the Passive Voice, “A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.” Italo Calvino “Wayne Gretzky said, ‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.’ The core of any unusual profession … is embodied in that quote: You can’t succeed if you don’t try.” Kristine Kathyrn Rusch On Process Yesterday I mentioned I thought the WIP was stalled. I opened it this morning, looked it over, and realized it … Read more

The Journal: The Good and Bad of Critique

In today’s Journal * Quote of the day * Today’s “Of Interest” * Today and tomorrow * Of Interest * The Numbers Most of the items in today’s “Of Interest” are all about selling ebooks. Don’t miss those. There’s a ton of good information at those links. The last item in “Of Interest” illustrates why inviting critique on your work can be a bad idea. In fact, it can be detrimental to your work. The simple fact is, some critiquers go too far, and how screwed-up your work can become depends on how much you trust your critiquer. I recommend … Read more

The Journal: It’s Easier to Fool People…

In today’s Journal * Quote of the day * What’s Coming * I was completely underwhelmed * I got a review * I’m on the verge * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” Mark Twain Yesterday I wrote a blog post for HarveyStanbrough.com for 18 February, then moved another one to 25 February. And my current thinking is, that will be that. Beginning in March, the blog over there will effectively become my author newsletter. I plan to alternate posts every … Read more

The Journal: An Exciting Time and Short Story Done

In today’s Journal * An exciting time * Topic: * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers The next few weeks will be an exciting time for me. To start it off, I have to write a short story today to meet this week’s goal. (grin) Yep, I put it off again. I think I did that (subconsciously) because it makes meeting my goal more of a challenge. No idea at the moment what I’ll write about. And as I mentioned here recently, I suspect toward the end of February or early March, the current weekly blog post at my … Read more

The Journal: All About Challenges

In today’s Journal * All About Challenges * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers In the first “Of Interest” link today, DWS talks about and clarifies his Great Challenges (Publishing, Novel Writing, and Short Story Writing). If you want to jump-start your writing, I can’t recommend them strongly enough. In fact, if I had the funds, I’d jump into all three, and at least two (Publishing and either of the others). But with my current level of production, I’d also feel like I was cheating. After all, to satisfy the requirements of the Publishing challenge, you have to publish … Read more

The Journal: Free Stuff

In today’s Journal * Topic: Free Stuff * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Topic: Free Stuff Because I expect my production to really soar this year, from time to time I’ll be giving away a free novel or novella. I know not everyone reads this drivel every day, so I’ll try to remember to keep the giveaway in place for a week. When I give away anything, I’ll also try to remember to offer an advance glimpse at it with a description so you can gauge your interest. You can still get my latest, The Cazadores Lounge and … Read more

The Journal: No Seriously, Nobody Cares

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: No Seriously, Nobody Cares * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Nobody cares.” Dean Wesley Smith Topic: No, Seriously, Nobody Cares This morning, Kris Rusch wrote a kind of rambling Business Musings post titled, “Nobody Cares.” When it goes public in a few days, I’ll link to it in “Of Interest” so you can see it for yourself. I suspect it was rambling because she was tired from just having finished teaching a live workshop in Vegas. (I wanted badly to tell her she could … Read more

The Journal: If You Want to See a Good Topic, and Kind of a Topic

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * If You Want to See a Good Topic * Topic: Kind of a Topic * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “If an indie author is publishing a book across a variety of different national borders via Amazon, even if the use of an image might pass muster under US law, the laws of other nations might give rise to claims for damages.” The Passive Guy If You Want to See a Good Topic I’m being lazy today. If you want to see a good topic, … Read more

The Journal: Finished My Drawings and…

In today’s Journal * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers I finished up my drawings yesterday, basically one overall map of the ship and three close-up views of individual rooms, in about two hours. Now as I’m writing, I can glance up at the overall view and not have my characters going the wrong way to get someplace. (grin) I remembered I’d already mapped out the subsurface moon colony back when I wrote another novel, either The Thirteen-Month Turn or In the Siberian Fields, so I didn’t have to do that again. The colony was built to last, I … Read more

The Journal: Fear, and What to Do About It

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: Fear, and What to Do About It * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “And of course, there’s the fear that I’ll never be able to write decently, much less prolifically, again.” New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Russell Blake in “Taking a Break” on 9 July 2019https://russellblake.com/taking-a-break/ Topic: Fear, and What to Do About It Notice the Quote of the Day above. If you go read the blog post, you’ll see that the conscious, critical mind has pretty much stilled Russell Blake, … Read more