In today’s Journal * Misplaced Modifier of the Day * A Foreword * The Top 7 Mistakes Writers Make, Part 1 * Of Interest * The Numbers Misplaced Modifier of the Day “[Name withheld] dies at age 31 while biking after being struck by a suspected drunken driver.” news tidbit, 1440 DailyDigest What’s wrong with that statement? (Try moving “while biking” to the end of the sentence.) A Foreword This is an update on an article I originally posted over on my author site way back in 2013. I brought it forward again in 2022, and now here it is … Read more

In today’s Journal * The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting * Re Marketing * The September Challenges * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Thought I’d take today to play a little catch-up with things that have been going on. The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting To take part, the only requirement is to write at least one short story per week. Then, if you want to share your success, submit the story title, word count, and genre to me each week for publication in the Journal on Monday. (Yes, you can also write a longer story and submit your … Read more

In today’s Journal * Carving Out Time for Your Writing * Time Mapping Exercise * Priorities Matter Too * WITD and the September Challenges * Of Interest * The Numbers Carving Out Time for Your Writing To give credit where credit is due, this is a trick I first learned from Dean Wesley Smith. I’m sure he probably learned it from someone else. Yesterday, I mentioned if you really want to write authetic fiction, you need to build a routine, a habit of writing fiction. To do that, you have to carve some time out of your day, preferably every … Read more

In today’s Journal * Note 1 * Note 2 * A New Short Story * First Things First * Of Interest * The Numbers Note 1 If you missed yesterday’s post, “The Inexorable Rule of Writing Fiction,” I’ve added it to the Gifts & Archives page on the Journal website. Or you can now download it right here in pdf. Note 2 Because I inadvertently failed to say yesterday that this series of posts will be only for paid subscribers, I’m sending this one to everyone too. If you’d like to continue receiving this series of posts, please consider switching … Read more

In today’s Journal * The Inexorable Rule of Writing Fiction * On the Other Hand * How-To Books for Suckers * A Simple Test * Of Interest * The Numbers The Inexorable Rule of Writing Fiction 1. If you want to be a fiction writer, you must write fiction. That’s it. That is the only inexorable, inviolate rule. That rule alone will knock out of the ring probably 95% of all those contenders who say they want to write fiction. If you’re still IN the ring, then you only have to decide whether you want to write AUTHENTIC fiction—what actually … Read more

In today’s Journal * No Fiction, and Non-Fiction * Marketing * Of Interest * The Numbers No Fiction, and Non-Fiction I didn’t write much fiction yesterday, so nothing to report. And I’ve removed “Thunder Road” from the numbers because it was annoying me. It might have fizzled. Which is fine. So instead I spent most of the day working up some things for the Journal, the first of which is below. I also played a bit with some earlier fiction fragments but nothing serious. Then I took off the last couple of hours of my normal workday. Remember, I’m resetting … Read more

In today’s Journal * Note * The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting * Had a Great Visit * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Note Yesterday I mentioned I was rejoining the Bradbury Challenge. The Challenge was integral in getting me started writing regularly back in 2014. In that streak, I wrote at least one story for 70 or 72 consecutive weeks before I finally, and intentionally (for some stupid reason), broke my streak. And I admit, as I wrote my story for this week yesterday, I experienced a little “pressure” on more than one occasion. Each time I … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Finger Wagging at the Guy in the Mirror * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” Paulo Coelho, from “The Alchemist” Finger Wagging at the Guy in the Mirror This is about personal challenges. I regularly challenge other writers to challenge themselves only because I know the value of challenges to a fiction writer’s success. When I first started writing fiction in earnest back in early 2014, I set a solid daily word count … Read more