CrimeReads

The Daily Journal, Saturday, February 9

In today’s Journal ▪Topic: The Secret to Success… ▪ The daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Probably another short edition of the Journal today. UPDATE: Nope. Long Journal entry, short writing day. (grin) Topic: The Secret to Success as a Writer (If You Define “Success” as Yearning to Get Back to the Story) Okay, that’s a crappy title. It’s too long and maybe too restrictive and it has nothing to do with money. At least directly. Bradbury and countless other luminaries have said if you write what you love, the money will come. I assume the corollary is … Read more

The Daily Journal, Wednesday, February 6

Hey Folks, In today’s Journal ▪ Tigritude ▪ First readers abound ▪ On process ▪ I didn’t keep a reverse outline ▪ The daily diary ▪ A LOT in Of Interest ▪ The numbers From The Passive Guy, “A tiger does not shout its tigritude, it acts.” ~ Wole Soyinka I’m not sure, but I believe “tigritude” is my new favorite word. *** I’m amazed (but very pleased) to report I had four positive responses to my request on the Pro Writers blog for first readers yesterday. Should any of them happen to read this, Thank You. Of course, I … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, February 5

Hey Folks, In today’s Journal ▪ First readers (revisited, briefly) ▪ Looking for experts ▪ On being a grouch ▪ Topic: How I Hit on What to Write Next ▪ I added the “Eight Tricks” link… ▪ The daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers As usual, I overexplained about first readers. Let me try to fix it. All it takes to be a good first reader is to read for pleasure, as if you aren’t supposed to give any feedback. You aren’t a teacher reading an assignment. You’re a reader, reading for enjoyment. You aren’t editing or proofreading. … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, January 29

Hey Folks, A rather troubling topic today, one of those things for which, before you pick it up, you should pull on a pair of latex gloves. And so much in “Of Interest” that I almost want to apologize. A thought struck me last night. Things are looking good so far for the challenge. I’m almost certain to finish this one before February 4, putting me ahead of schedule once again and keeping spare days in the safe. *** Topic: Crap, This Is All About Racism and (Other Forms of) Prejudice Racism, bias and prejudice, whether intentional or subconscious, run … Read more

The Daily Journal, Sunday, January 27

Hey Folks, Be sure to click through and read the whole post. Some great “Of Interest” items, not to mention a topic and the other stuff. Yesterday, Scott Thrall commented that he hopes Dean keeps drinking the water in Vegas that’s making him go nuts with prizes for his KickStarter campaign. Apparently he drank another tall glass. Read about it in “Of Interest.” A great deal, not to be missed. *** Topic: Are You a Self-Saboteur? Have you ever sabotaged yourself? I don’t mean with the usual conscious mind stuff: doubting your abilities, feeling you’re a pretender, worrying about where … Read more

The Daily Journal, Saturday, January 26

Hey Folks, I think maybe the water in Vegas is affecting Dean’s brain. For as little as a $20 pledge to his KickStarter, you can now get a credit for a $150 classic workshop as well as two books. And at least one of those books is chock full of blog entries that can’t help but be informative. Check it out in “Of Interest.” I recommend making a $20 investment in your writing. *** Well, I bought a computer, an HP ProBook 11. It’s basically the same machine as my writing ‘puter but with a tiny, 11.6″ screen that I’ll … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, January 17

Hey Folks, Oof. Rough night. The moon was big outside I guess, seeping through and around the venetian blinds that cover all our windows. So the ladies (our two cats) played tag all night. Most often the tag consisted of the tagger pouncing unnannounced and landing on the taggee as if dropped from six feet up. And most often it occurred right next to my midsection. When I am jarred awake, I usually can’t get back to sleep for an hour or so, and last night was no different. So I think I got maybe 4 hours of sleep last … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, January 15

Hey Folks, Well, Consequences released today. Woohoo! I got an email from Amazon letting me know that, so it released at D2D and Smashwords as well. I’ll upload it to BundleRabbit later today. Frankly, I’d forgotten what day it was, and at the moment I can’t remember what the story was about, except that it’s in the Nick Spalding series. How’s that for not making a particular book “special”? (grin) *** While I’m rambling, let me recommend Linda Maye Adams’ newsletter again. In it she occasionally drops a real gem. You can sign up by visiting her website at https://lindamayeadams.com/. … Read more

The Journal, Friday, January 4

Hey Folks, Yesterday, I went to D2D and found I already had an author page set up. That was kind of neat. Then I realized hardly any of my books were grouped together. Most of my novels were grouped with my short stories in “Other Books.” I’d failed to put the series tags and numbers on actual series, and the other books were just all over the place. So I put series tags and numbers on the books that are in actual series. Then I started lumping all the mysteries together into a Mystery “series” (group), SF into an SF … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, December 16

Hey Folks, Quote of the day (to consider, on distractions): “…email [is] an infinite hamster wheel powered by other people’s priorities.” — Jake Knapp on Medium (see “Of Interest”) And another: “…write excellent books. That’s the only ironclad, long-tail secret to a career.” — James Scott Bell (see “Of Interest”) And one more: “Don’t let being a writer interfere with actually writing.” — John Gilstrap (see “Of Interest”) *** Just in case seeing my own reckoning with this “test” of December might help you, I’ll lay it out here each day in detail (when the detail matters). I rolled out … Read more