David Farland

The Journal: Thanks and More Of Interest

In today’s Journal * Yesterday * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers I’m still on hiatus. Just popping in mostly to share the items in “Of Interest.” Those of you who have commented or emailed, thanks for letting me know you’re still out there. I’ll be back before too much longer. At this point, I’m pretty sure my next novel will be Book 3 of the Othgygnrk Invastion series, mostly just to get the shared world going and illustrate to players some different ways they can play.  I hope to start that sometime in the next few days. I … Read more

The Journal: Dylan Thomas and Dorothy Parker

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * From David Farland * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” Ralph Waldo Emerson (via The Passive Voice) From David Farland, “I have a free writing workshop that I teach with award-winning authors Orson Scott Card and Tim Power, based upon our popular Writers of the Future Workshops. Find it online at https://www.writersofthefuture.com/register/online-workshop/.” I signed up for this workshop to see what it’s about. It feels to me like … Read more

The Journal: Nothing to See Here

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Nothing to see here * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Insanity is relative. It depends on who has who locked in what cage.” Ray Bradbury Nothing really to see here today. Yeah, there really isn’t, but ignore the earlier version of this post you might have received via RSS. Turns out I’m feeling pretty good so far this morning and hoping to finish the novel today. If I’m able to work on it, or work on it enough. We’ll see. I actually thought it would end yesterday … Read more

The Journal: Learn Copyright

In today’s Journal * Yesterday * Topic: Learn Copyright * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Yesterday. Just wow. This is basically an update of Monday’s Journal entry. Literally within minutes of posting that entry, I turned to the writing computer and realized I was actually finished with The Othgygnrks 2, which is mostly the alien viewpoint that was missing back in March. (If you’re curious, it’s pronounced Oth-gig-nurks.) The total word count for that one is on yesterday’s post (20697 words). From here on out, you’ll see only the numbers for the compiled novel, For the Good of … 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: Back to The Othgygnrkthers

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Back to The Othgygnrkthers * Yesterday * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “The world is visibly changing, and we have no idea what the outcome will be.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch “So release yourself from Outcome. Be unattached to Outcome, take a calming breath and just continue on.” My corollary Topic: Back to The Othgygnrkthers This will be another process topic, complete with a little waffling, so skip it if you want. Yesterday I said I was trashing the book. This morning, I thought Not … Read more

The Journal: On Having “Enough” Inventory, Supporting Readers, and Other Things

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Yesterday * Topic: On Having “Enough” Inventory, Supporting Readers, and Other Things * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “But the truth is, that pushing yourself often yields great results. If you push yourself and fail, at the very least you’ve exercised your writing muscles.” David Farland I expected yesterday to be a really big day, but it wasn’t. I diverted my efforts to helping my wife clear the yard of piles and piles of saltbush and mesquite tree trimmings. We transported four pickup-bed loads to … 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