The Journal: Some Fun, and Serious Stuff

In today’s Journal * Some Fun * Serious Stuff * Of Interest * The Numbers A little fun this morning. See Nathan Bransford’s “How a book goes from acquisitions to bookstore shelves” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/how-a-book-goes-from-acquisitions-to-bookstore-shelves/. But be sure to see PG’s comment at the end of the OP. And now, some serious stuff, including a serious look at how to get story ideas. Please go read “True Crime Thursday – A Small Town’s Loss of Innocence” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/09/true-crime-thursday-a-small-towns-loss-of-innocence.html. There will be a quiz. Okay, did you read it? I know, it’s horrible, frightening, etc. But as a writer it’s also rich … Read more

The Journal: A Day Out

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * A Day Out and a Short Progress Report * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Tell the Editor and Writer to take a walk and let the Child write whatever it wants.” Clive Matson “We’re writers. We write. If something gets in the way of the writing, it does not belong in our toolbox.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch Today we’re going out of town to estate sales, etc. More to spend a day out of our normal environs than for any other reason. A kind of treasure hunt. But … Read more

The Journal: Special Edition

In today’s Journal * Special Edition * Of Interest * The Numbers Special Edition This will be short. I’m publishing the Journal today only to urge you to read “Come Looking For Anger,” Dean Wesley Smith’s post from yesterday. Yesterday is the first time I remember being at my computer and not reading his post on the day it was published. Go figure. Anyway, it and the comments are must-read. And spread the word to your writing groups and writer friends. Then duck. You can find the post at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/come-looking-for-anger/. And if you want to see the post that caused … Read more

The Journal: An Opportunity for Writers

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * An Opportunity for Writers * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Quote of the Day “Hemingway … developed a technique that let him transfer from one point of view to another. He would simply start outside a character, describing the world and the character, and then move into dialog, which colors the world with emotion. Eventually, in a third paragraph, he would then move fully into the character’s thought processes. … To move out, he’d simply reverse the strategy.” David Farland For the record, this works, although I would argue that … Read more

The Journal: Good to Be Back

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Sorry I’ve been away * Updates * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Quotes of the Day “I don’t pay no attention to no kind of critics about nothing. If they knew as much as they claim to about what they’re criticizing, they ought to be doing that instead of just standing on the side lines using their mouth.” Cassius Clay in an interview with Alex Haley “Ninety percent of success can be boiled down to consistently doing the obvious thing for an uncommonly long period of time without … Read more

The Journal: The Novel Wrapped

In today’s Journal * The novel wrapped * Keeping Track * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ The novel wrapped yesterday. Weird. I put pressure on myself just before the end of this novel. I wanted to finish it yesterday, and I allowed that desire to translate into pressure to finish it. Pressure is never a good thing. As a result, I wrote three separate endings, only one of which I completed. (The right one, of course.) So when the smoke cleared (literally) I had written 1865 words that did not make it into the final novel. Oh well. It’s … Read more

The Journal: More on Ideas, and Introducing Tidbits

In today’s Journal * More on Ideas * Topic: Introducing Tidbits * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​More on Ideas Excerpted from an email to a potential new mentoring student. In his email he told me he was deluged with story ideas: I’m glad you’re deluged with ideas. I get so tired of would-be writers asking “Where do you get ideas?” My typical response is “Where do you NOT get ideas?” Just this morning during my walk, I passed through several swarms of flying ants. My imagination immediately went to an alien invasion. A little later, as I was eating … Read more

The Journal: From B&N and Reader Kudos

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * From Barnes & Noble Press * Reader Kudos * Of Interest * The Numbers ​​​ Quotes of the Day “Lack of courage sabotages more people than lack of ability. Don’t beat yourself before you start.” Farnam Street blog “I was successful in getting published that first time because I broke the rules and created something no one else was doing.” Reavis Wortham “If you’re an author and not familiar with Writer Beware, you probably should be.” The Passive Guy From Barnes & Noble Press, in case you’re interested FREE Marketing Webinars! … Read more

The Journal: SpaceRons, and Author Angst

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Novel Wrapped * Author Angst * SpaceRons * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “We have have been discussing how writers, editors, commentators, and academics have embraced rising calls for censorship and speech controls…” Jonathan Turley Well, my short novel wrapped yesterday at a little over 28,000 words. I was fine with that. Honestly, this one felt more like a really long short story than a novella or novel. (grin) That makes an even dozen novels this year so far, including novels 5-10 of the SF FOH … Read more

The Journal: David Farland and a Royal Model O Typewriter

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * David Farland * Royal Model O * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “[E]ventually the character’s story demands to be told in full.” David Farland If you get David Farland’s newsletter, you recently received one titled “Writing Your Series, Part 3.” But if you go to Farland’s Writing Tips blog, it doesn’t seem to be up yet. Actually, it is. So are Parts 1 through 6. But they were originally written in 2014. So to see the entire series of posts on “Writing Your Series,” visit https://mystorydoctor.com/?s=Writing+your+series. There … Read more