Dean Wesley Smith

The Journal: Find Your Passion

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Farewell and welcome * Topic: Find Your Passion * Goal talk * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “When you’re too focused on making money you lose touch with the person you want to be.” Anonymous from an article I read “Staying home for the entire year was sort of a vacation for me, and I had more time to write.” Kay DiBianca Farewell to subscriber “canyonwhispers” and welcome to Ellen in the Phillipines. Glad to have you with us. If I can ever help in any way … Read more

The Journal: One Writer’s Process

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: One Writer’s Process * Yesterday, I stopped writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “In Greek tragedy, they fall from great heights. In noir, they fall from the curb.” Dennis Lehane (via The Passive Voice) Topic: One Writer’s Process A few days ago, bestselling thriller writer and author John Gilstrap talked in the KillZone blog about his process. It was very informative. Dean Wesley Smith often also talks about his process, or his day, mostly to keep his blog streak alive. On John’s post, I was … Read more

The Journal: Challenges

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Challenges * Later today * My own writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “The private detective of fiction is a fantastic creation who acts and speaks like a real man. He can be completely realistic in every sense but one, that one sense being that in life as we know it such a man would not be a private detective.” Raymond Chandler “The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us.” Bill Watterson “Light travels … Read more

The Journal: A Note About Consistency

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Today (a forewarning regarding content) * Yesterday * Topic: A Note About Consistency * A Personal Note (this is the content I warned you about) * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.” Franklin D. Roosevelt “No writer I know thinks they write enough on any given day or week or month or year. It is a broken record almost every writer repeats over and over and over and over and over.” Dean Wesley Smith “Characters are not created by … Read more

The Journal: A Change to the Journal

In today’s Journal * Yesterday’s Journal * You’ll notice I’ve switched * Authors in My Novels * The writing slowed again today, but * Of Interest * The Numbers The Journal that went live on Nov 12 I actually posted on Nov 11. Not sure why it didn’t go out until the 12th. Anyway, I thought it was an important one. Frankly, I’m surprised I got such a small response on that one. (Thanks, Patrick.) I thought everyone would find it useful if not illuminating. Mark it up to reader taste, I suppose. Who knew reader taste worked for writing … Read more

The Journal: A New Use for Reverse Outlines

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Happy Birthday * Topic: A New Use for Reverse Outlines * The Value of Cliffhangers * Tomorrow * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “The faster the action, the more the writer should slow down the description.” Debbie Burke Yes. In the heat of battle, the POV character will notice far fewer aspects of the setting, but he will focus on that one aspect (or those few aspects) with a heightened sense of awareness because those aspects are crucial, as if time has slowed almost to a crawl. … Read more

The Journal: A Great Motivator

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: A Great Motivator * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Write about what you know, and what do you know better than your own secrets?” Raymond Carver Topic: A Great Motivator This will be a little rattled and fragmented, but I think the advice is there and sound, so bear with me. One of the articles I linked to recently contained some good advice on writing, but it also offered some advice that I thought was not so good. One of the things the author thought was … Read more

The Journal: Halloween, CovID-19 and a Great Writing Day

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Happy Halloween! * Another Perspective of CovID-19 * A great writing day * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I feel shy of saying this, because to non-writers it sounds so lazy—but if, seven days a week, you can cut out two hours for yourself, when you are undistracted and on-song, you will soon have a book.” Hilary Mantel “Writing is a long game and you have to be patient with yourself and your material. A great deal happens in the dark, as it were; work goes on … Read more

The Journal: Quanta Magazine

In today’s Journal * Quanta Magazine * Of Interest * The Numbers Not a lot to talk about today, but I wanted to get the “Of Interest” items out to you. But before I do that, I strongly recommend a free subscription to Quanta Magazine’s free newsletter. Did I mention it’s free? To find the subscription form, click the link to the first article in “Of Interest.” Then click the small menu icon to the right of the search icon in the upper right corner. When the new page loads, enter your email address under Newsletter on the right and … Read more

The Journal: A Writing Tip

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * A Writing Tip * The writing has slowed a bit * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “For reasons of high aesthetic principle, I do not write on a computer. Writing on a computer makes saving what’s been written too easy. Pretentious lead sentences are kept, not tossed. Instead of sitting surrounded by crumpled paper, the computerized writer has his mistakes neatly stored in digital memory. P.J. O’Rourke (via The Passive Voice) A Writing Tip If one or more of your characters in your novels or short stories … Read more