Atlas Obscura

The Journal: The Long Road Back

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Long Road Back * A dear friend * By the way * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Some days things don’t line up quite right. That’s why they make tomorrows.” Wes Crowley The Long Road Back Other writers routinely take off a month or two or more. For me, having averaged almost 3000 words of publishable fiction per day every day for several years, this time of not being productive has been excruciating. So in that way, it’s been a long road back. But I also … Read more

The Journal: A New Bundle

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Talkwalker Alerts * Yesterday and Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Never try to outstubborn a cat.” Robert A. Heinlein (via his character, Lazarus Long) Wow. Yet again, I’m very glad I use Talkwalker Alerts. Otherwise I might never have known my work is now included in another bundle. BLOOD ON THE COBBLES includes work from several really good writers, including Rob Jeschonik, Russ Crossley and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. My novel Body Language is included. Fifteen tales of mystery and mayhem for $7.99. To check it … Read more

The Journal: Why Helping Writers is Important

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Yesterday (and the Day Before) * Topic: Why Helping Writers is Important (and So Frustrating) * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day (Still bingeing on Bradbury) “Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for.” Ray Bradbury “The first thing a writer should be is — excited.” Ray Bradbury On the day before yesterday, I was … Read more

The Journal: Why I Don’t Talk Much About CoVID-19

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Yesterday * Topic: Why I Don’t Talk Much About CoVID-19 * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “If it’s not on the page, your reader doesn’t know it.” Nathan Bransford Yesterday, I got sidetracked for awhile by a new (to me) source for royalty free photos. See Visual Hunt at https://visualhunt.com/ (via Jane Friedman). The daily word count continues to decrease (see Day 4, sigh). I’ll have to see whether I can do something about that. (grin) It has nothing to do with the novel. The … Read more

The Journal: Think

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Yesterday * Topic: Think * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Nothing will stop you from being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake.” John Cleese (from KillZone blog a day or two ago) Yesterday, I got up early to give myself more time on the novel, but that didn’t really work out. I was tired much of the day, and I wasn’t thinking quite right. Lesson learned. Maybe. I got just over 3600 words (see Day 3). At the end of the … Read more

The Journal: Probably a Full 99%

In today’s Journal * Probably a full 99% * Yesterday * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Probably a full 99% of the writers on Planet Earth right now are considering writing a novel about a plague or a pandemic. Unless you have a truly unique twist on it, I advise you to forget it. With all that’s going on, it’s too easy to involve the critical mind right now. If you’re determined to go ahead anyway, at least consider applying Kate Wilhelm’s Law. (See a great description of Wilhelm’s Law in the second paragraph at https://www.kboards.com/index.php?topic=220083.msg3074229#msg3074229.) Yesterday I … Read more

The Journal: The Value of an Opening

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Affinity * Yesterday * Today * Topic: The Value of an Opening * Today redux * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Reacher has remained a loner and a drifter, which allows Child the freedom to put his protagonist in virtually any role and in any setting and still continue the series.” Rick Pullen in an interview with Lee Child (see “Of Interest” below) “Advice to Writers: Ignore all advice because you’ve got to imagine here’s your book and that book is going to be competing with several … Read more

The Journal: Dave Farland and Poetics

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Dave Farland and Poetics * Everything I’ve ever written * Topic: Sometimes Comparisons Are Useful * Yesterday and Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “The most durable thing in writing is style, and style is the single most valuable investment a writer can make with his time.” Raymond Chandler “Scarcely anything in literature is worth a damn except what is written between the lines.” Raymond Chandler In his post today, Dave Farland talks about the importance of eloquence and originality in writing in “Poetics” at https://mystorydoctor.com/poetics-2/. … Read more

The Journal: Standing Up a Street Team

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Yesterday * Just a reminder * The 50%-off sale continues * Topic: Want to be part of my street team? * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.” Voltaire (via The Passive Voice) When the day was over yesterday I’d added around 1600 words to the novel and ended the day with a little over 5,000 words of fiction. So a good day. And I actually remembered to switch the posting time from … Read more

The Journal: My Advice for Writers re CoVID-19

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: My Advice for Writers re CoVID-19 * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “For some people, curiosity will lead to greater stress, and that stress will cripple their creativity. Instead of focusing on their novels, they’ll be focusing on the spectacle.” David Farland Topic: My Advice for Writers re CoVID-19 Since everyone else seems to be handing out advice, I thought I’d take a shot at it too. This advice, naturally, is for writers. First, here’s the all-but-mandatory disclaimer: I am not, have never been, … Read more