In today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* Story Ideas
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” Nelson Mandela
Story Ideas
Nothing much today. I was browsing my “Blueprint,” the Interesting Engineering newsletter I receive almost daily, and it struck me that the current issue is chock full of story ideas.
Many issues are. You don’t even have to read the articles, though I advise it. You can take one or more story ideas suitable for any (or all) of several genres from only the title of many of the articles.
For example, one title in this morning’s edition read, “Harvard scientist ‘obsessed’ with anti-aging creates a youth cocktail.” From that title alone you could write one or more stories in SF, Mystery, Crime, Thriller, Action-Adventure, Psychological Suspense, etc. The link is in today’s “Of Interest.”
You could even experiment, or challenge yourself. Write the same story in every genre in which you write. (If you write into the dark, it won’t really be the same story anyway.)
To subscribe to IE newsletters (it’s free) visit https://interestingengineering.com/newsletters and make your selection. And no, I get no consideration for this recommendation. IE is simply a great source I want to share.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “The Writer’s Life Mindset Course” at https://vincentzandri.substack[dot]com/p/introduction-to-the-writers-life. I understand the first lecture is already “in the can.”
See “Using Books2Read as a Marketing Tool” at https://killzoneblog.com/2023/07/using-books2read-as-a-marketing-tool.html. A rare good post by Terry Odell.
See “Pulphouse Kickstarter Is Live” at https://deanwesleysmith.com/pulphouse-kickstarter-is-live-3/. Take a look at the courses you can get cheaply as stretch rewards.
See “Harvard scientist ‘obsessed’ with anti-aging creates a youth cocktail” at https://interestingengineering.com/science/harvard-scientist-anti-aging-reverse-youth-chemical-cocktail. There you go. Several story ideas that can be written in any (or all) of several genres.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 280
Writing of “Marvin McTavish Decides”
Day 1…… 326 words. Total words to date…… 326
Day 2…… 346 words. Total words to date…… 672
Writing of “A Midnight Sketch”
Day 1…… 1341 words. Total words to date…… 1341
Writing of Rose Padilla (WCG10SF5)
Day 1…… 4283 words. Total words to date…… 4283
Day 2…… 3963 words. Total words to date…… 8246
Day 3…… 1463 words. Total words to date…… 9709
Day 4…… 2445 words. Total words to date……12154
Total fiction words for July……… 2013
Total fiction words for 2023………… 112035
Total nonfiction words for July… 12290
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 143840
Total words for the year (fiction and nonfiction)…… 255875
Calendar Year 2023 Novels to Date…………………… 2
Calendar Year 2023 Novellas to Date……………… 0
Calendar Year 2023 Short Stories to Date………… 4
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………… 73
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………… 221
Short story collections…………………………………………. 31
Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark, adherence to Heinlein’s Rules, and that following the myths of fiction writing will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.