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The Journal: Post 5 on Heinlein’s Rules

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * A friend brought a truism home * Topic: Post 5 on Heinlein’s Rules * The Journey Home: Part 8 is finished * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Nine months later, I’d written and published 500,000 words and learned more from that process than I could have imagined.” Cat Sole in the AuthorsPublish article linked to below on writing FanFic (I suspect she was able to write so much so quickly because since it was fanfic it was easy to think of it as unimporant… just sayin’) A friend brought a … Read more

The Journal: Focusing Down, Revisited, Briefly

In today’s Journal * Topic: Focusing Down, Revisited, Briefly * I’m in a race * The Numbers Topic: Focusing Down, Revisited, Briefly Hmm. I think there might be a bit of a disconnect between what I mean and what you hear when I say “focus down.” When I say a writer should focus down, I’m going back to emphasizing that it’s the characters’ story as described through the physical and emotional senses of the POV character. It isn’t what the writer thinks (critical mind) to add-in, but what the POV character sees, hears, smell, tastes and touches and his opinions … Read more

The Journal: WITD, the Novel and Dean

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Despite the playful * Wow. The novel * Yesterday I mentioned * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Don’t get so obsessed with writing advice that you fail to write.” JR Murdock “But how do I do this? How can I type words to a story when I’m not sure what’s happening?” JR Murdock (Harvey, in the back of the classroom, arm raised, hand waving frantically: “Ooh, ooh! Pick me! Ask me!” (grin)) Topic: Despite the playful, tongue-in-cheek jab immediately above this paragraph, reading JR Murdock’s post this morning (see … Read more

The Journal: Practice in Writing

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * A Question for You * Topic: Practice in Writing * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” Louis L’Amour “Fiction writing can be learned, if one studies diligently and keeps practicing.” James Scott Bell “I don’t know how to tell if my writing’s any good while I’m writing it.” Greer Macallister A Question for You Given today’s topic. I have a question, and I’m serious. One of the most clichéd sentences in the writing profession is … Read more

The Journal: Character with a Problem

In today’s Journal * Topic: Character with a Problem * Additional References * The Numbers Topic: Character with a Problem Yesterday, I received a complimentary email from a writer. In it, he initiated two topics, one intentional and one peripheral. The more important is the peripheral one, so I’ll talk about that today. Many times, I’ve said all you need to start a story is a character with a problem in a setting. In his email, the writer wrote, “I have no trouble with the setting part. That’s what comes to me first. (Like the painting that has given you … Read more

The Journal: A New Nonfiction Book Is Coming

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Anyone can figure out * Are you one * Topic: A New Nonfiction Book Is Coming * I had a good day writing * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “One thing that apparently still has the power to infuriate people, though, is how many spaces should be used after a period at the end of an English sentence.” from an article sent to me by a friend via email “I’ve gotten lots of advice in my novel writing career. Some of it good. Much of it stupid. It just took … Read more

The Journal: Most generations are given a fight

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Most generations are given a fight * Taking a Break with JPS Brown * Finished the novel * Thank you * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Traditional publishing has a highly-conflicted view of libraries. They have the idea that a high percentage of borrowers would buy their books if it were unable to conveniently borrow them from a library.” The Passive Guy “[T]he impulse to silence the opinions of or “deplatform” others has experienced a troubling resurgence of late, at least in some myopic intellectual bubbles in the United States.” … Read more

The Journal: What the Journal Is Not

In today’s Journal * What the Journal is not * Why I didn’t post yesterday * The Numbers This Journal is not a political blog and it will never become a political blog. Nor will I ever ambush you with political commentary here. You come here expecting to read my ramblings about writing fiction and, to a lesser degree, nonfiction and poetry and my personal life as a writer. And that’s what you should find when you get here. Why I didn’t post yesterday Some will notice I didn’t post at all yesterday. There are two reasons for that: One, … Read more

The Journal: What We Keep

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * There are links to several * Topic: What We Keep * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Hahahahahaha!! What??? Me and you grumpy?” anonymous, a friend responding to yesterday’s Journal post “I have no trouble accepting my own flaws. It’s other people who have a problem with that.” Wes Crowley There are links to several very good articles in today’s “Of Interest” section. I hope you’ll take the time to click through and visit some of them. Topic: What We Keep For close to a year after I learned the technique … Read more

The Journal: Feedback and Thinking Out Loud

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * One astute reader noticed * Feedback on my negativity * I didn’t have as good a day * Just thinking out loud * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I think some aspects of writing can be taught. Obviously, you can’t teach vision or talent. But you can help with comfort.” Toni Morrison (via The Passive Voice) One astute reader mentioned she noticed that although I finished the recast of Book 4 of the FOH series earlier this month, my novel total for 2021 still indicates 0. That’s true, but it … Read more