In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * A Hastily Offered Correction * “All Promo All the Time” * Clarified Ordering Instructions for Writing Better Fiction * Seeking Blurbs and Reviews * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “A rising tide lifts all boats.” Attributed to John F. Kennedy in an October 1963 speech A Hastily Offered Correction In yesterday’s Journal, for some reason I reported the wrong title of my own book. The correct title is Blackwell Ops 20: Soleada Garcia: Into the Future. Not “Looking to” the Future. Not a major difference, but Soleada … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting * Writing Better Fiction * The Novel’s Dragging * In Other News * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “”You take people as far as they will go, not as far as you would like them to go.” Jeannette Rankin “I ended up selling a story which was written because of this challenge. I encourage anybody that may be thinking about doing this but may be afraid for various reasons to do themselves a favor and do it. Ray Bradbury is right. It … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Reminder * Tools Are Important * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Committee: A cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured, and then quietly strangled.” Sir Barnett Cocks, New Scientist Magazine (as reported by Dr. Mardy Grothe in his newsletter) Reminder All you folks in the Bradbury Challenge get your story info in to me sometime before the Journal goes live tomorrow morning. The correct format is Title of Story 1234 Name of Genre Thanks. Tools Are Important Writing Surface For me, the ideal height for a writing surface … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Thought of the Day * Correction (the Case of the Missing Photo) * A New Word for My Personal Dictionary * A New Story * I Love Comments * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Everything is habit-forming, so make sure what you do is what you want to be doing.” Wilt Chamberlain Thought of the Day When I read work that’s new to me, I don’t expect anything but to be entertained. That’s up to the writer. If s/he doesn’t pull me into the story, I stop … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Note on Heinlein’s Rules Free Download * Addendum to Writing Fiction * Affidavit * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “My concern with this opening is that it feels a bit choppier than it needs to because information and context is dribbled out rather than just situating us cleanly the first time a concept is described. There’s not much to be gained by forcing the reader to piece everything together. Err on the side of being clear the first time around.” Nathan Bransford Note on Heinlein’s Rules Free … Read more

In today’s Journal * Short Post * On Heinlein’s Rules 4 & 5 * Of Interest * The Numbers Short Post Only a short post today, mostly to pass along the stuff in Of Interest. I started a new novel a couple days ago, but I didn’t add to it yesterday. Did other things, and then a rare big thunderstorm came up so I went up to the house early. On Heinlein’s Rules 4 & 5 What Robert A. Heinlein called his “Business Habits for Writers” was first published in 1949. Rules 4 & 5 read 4. You must put … Read more

In today’s Journal * Thought of the Day * How to Continue Learning Craft * On Pacing * Of Interest * The Numbers Thought of the Day If any of you who read and enjoy or learn from Writing Fiction have a blog, please share the news about the book. It never hurts to help your fellow writers. As someone once said, a rising tide lifts all boats. If you want to write a review on your blog or leave a review at Amazon or Goodreads or wherever, I appreciate that too. Gracias. How to Continue Learning Craft As I’ve … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Thought of the Day * A Few More Notes on Writing Fiction * Write When You Are Able * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.” William Pollard Thought of the Day According to Frank Theodat, a writer and Journal reader, In the Heart of the Fire (a Dean Koontz novella) is worth reading and then studying for hooks, openings and pulling the reader into … Read more

In today’s Journal * Note * The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting * Special Journal-Only Promo for Writing Fiction * Promo Doc for Writing Fiction * Of Interest * The Numbers Note Yesterday under Numbers I added a line for “Additions to the nonfiction book” but I forgot to add the number. I corrected that omission in today’s Numbers. Also, one more major change to the book. I retitled it. The title is now Writing Fiction. I know. Haughty of me, isn’t it? I don’t care. All fiction is character-driven. Some of you probably don’t like me saying that, but it’s … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Reminder * Note * Updated TOC for Writing Character-Driven Fiction * That’s It! * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Welcome to my world. When it comes to climbing the sheer rock face of a mountain or sky diving or giving birth to another human being, would-be writers are fine, but faced with putting words on the page, they’re a trembling mass of fear. That’s how strongly imbued the myths are in society.” Me in response to a comment on yesterday’s post (also included in Writing Character-Driven Fiction) … Read more