Response to a Mentoring Student

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Response to a Mentoring Student * On Paid Book Reviewers * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “[I]f your fidelity to perfectionism is too high, you never do anything.” David Foster Wallace Topic: Response to a Mentoring Student Here’s a response I sent to one of my mentoring students yesterday morning. I did change it a little or add to it here and there. But since it was already largely written, I had only to copy and paste it, then schedule the post to release this morning. The whole process, … Read more

The Journal: Synopses and Writer’s Block

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Synopses * Topic: Writer’s Block * Yesterday * Today, etc. * Of Interest Quotes of the Day On writing synopses “I hate even the idea of a synopsis. When stories are really working, when you’re providing subtextual exploration and things that are deeply layered, you’re obligated to not say things out loud.” Shane Carruth “A synopsis is a cold thing. You do it with the front of your mind. If you’re going to stay with it, you never get quite the same magic as when you’re going all out.” J. … Read more

The Journal: Rushing This Out

In today’s Journal * The Indie Author Mindset * Something to Bear in Mind * Of Interest Rushing This Out I came to the Journal late this morning. I have a lot about writing to talk about, but that will be for later. For now, for those of you who are interested in marketing, I suggest Adam L Croft’s The Indie Author Mindset and maybe more specifically to marketing, David Gaughran’s book, Amazon Decoded: A Marketing Guide to the Kindle Store. In full disclosure, I have not read either of these books, but both come highly recommended from a trusted … Read more

The Journal: Two Very Important Posts

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Important Post 1 * Important Post 2 * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “There are nearly 20 million titles available for delivery tomorrow in today’s world; there were certainly well under a million available 20 years ago. And with most customers not reached through inventory in stores, it is usually not relevant where a potential customer is: in your country or someplace else.” Mike Shatzkin “[T]here really are only two companies that define the book business today. … Amazon and Ingram comprise the global infrastructure of the … Read more

The Journal: Staring at the Sun, and Revisiting Hemingway

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * If you ever wanted to stare at the sun * I’ve been reading * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Before reading the OP, PG might have characterized himself as a cynic, but afterwards, he thinks he’s more of a practitioner of targeted skepticism.” The Passive Guy Yup, that’s me: a Practioner of Targeted Skepticism. Nice to know I’m not alone. “We set goals to help ourselves, not to harm ourselves.” a writer closely related to Wes Crowley “Goals change over time — and that’s okay!” Joanna Penn … Read more

The Journal: Of Interest

In today’s Journal * Today * Off for a Few Days * Of Interest * The Numbers Some good stuff in “Of Interest” today. This morning I received the final bit of feedback from my first readers on Book 2 of the Othgygnrk Invasion series, which will release on July 1. I’ll make those changes today, then finish the copyedit I’m working on. Listen, I’ll probably be off here for a few days. I have a feeling nobody’s reading this recently anyway, and I don’t blame you. I need to regroup a little, focus on some things I’m putting together … Read more

The Journal: What’s Going On

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Yesterday and what’s going on * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “St. Augustine tells the story of a pirate captured by Alexander the Great. The Emperor angrily demanded of him, ‘How dare you molest the seas?’ To which the pirate replied, ‘How dare you molest the whole world? Because I do it with a small boat, I am called a pirate and a thief. You, with a great navy, molest the world and are called an emperor.’ St. Augustine thought the pirate’s answer was ‘elegant … Read more

The Journal: Stores, Distributors and Aggregators

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Here Be Brave New Worlds * Topic: Stores, Distributors and Aggregators * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Fiction is a lie, and good fiction is the truth inside the lie.” Stephen King in On Writing A new bundle just released: the Here Be Brave New Worlds bundle is now available at your favorite store. To read about it, visit https://bundlerabbit.com/b/here-be-brave-new-worlds. Thirteen novels by thirteen very good writers for only $4.99, including my SF novel The Consensus. To see all eight bundles my work is current … 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: Another Brief Lesson on Trust

In today’s Journal * Yesterday * Topic: Another Brief Lesson on Trust * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Yesterday I had a less-than-stellar day and finally stopped struggling and let myself drown at around 2700 words (see Day 20 below). As I wrote earlier, typical for me as I near the end-game of a novel. Topic: Another Brief Lesson on Trust Wow. A lot going on in the novel. Even as I approach the end, a little voice has been nagging me throughout about a “fatal flaw” way back in the basic premise of the story. I recognized … Read more