Dean Wesley Smith

The Journal, Thursday, July 5

Hey Folks, Very long post today, but bear with me. I think you’ll be glad you did. I have a real treat for you today, via my friend, writer Christopher Ridge. Chris brought to my attention a presentation by Ray Bradbury to participants in a university writing program. You can find the link in “Of Interest.” The video is almost an hour long, but it’s Ray Bradbury, for goodness’ sake. Who can’t listen to Ray Bradbury for an hour? On writing? Of course, I was hooked at the name. Anyone who knows anything about me knows Ray Bradbury is one … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, July 4

Hey Folks, Happy Independence Day, folks. And happy Mmmphth birthday to my bride, Mona. Now you know the real reason behind all the parades and fireworks. (grin) As to her age, well, we’ve been married for 33 years, so according to my considered calculations, she was six when we were married. Close enough. (grin) There was nothing of interest to report yesterday. I did do a little writing but it was an opening that didn’t work. So I kicked it to the curb and am not counting the words. I won’t do anything today but celebrate, and the celebration might … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, June 30

Hey Folks, Adios, Junio! Dean’s post on what he learned from other writers (see “Of Interest”) started me thinking about influences on my own writing and my life as a writer. I’ll post more about those influences here in other posts, but for today, the six most important life-changing lessons I’ve learned from Dean and Kris over the years (counted down): 6. Heinlein’s Rules, 5. The importance of grounding the reader, 4. Use all five of the POV character’s physical senses and his/her opinion of the setting, 3. Put time in the chair, 2. Keep Coming Back, and (drum roll, … Read more

The Journal, Friday, June 29

Hey Folks, Only two days left before my new daily word count goal officially begins, today and tomorrow. I’m not even going to begin the “streak” portion of it until after I have the minor surgery to replace my pacemaker. Until then, the plan is to write as much as I can, tempered by the copyedit I’m currently doing. If you couldn’t tell, I’m excited about this. (grin) Meeting the new daily goal will be difficult while I have other professional things to do. So it’s exciting in that way. And when I don’t have other professional things going on, … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, June 28

Hey Folks, All right. For the past few days I’ve been practicing, putting together new habits. Today I’m ready to announce my new daily word-count writing goal. I picked a number that is easily attainable for me when I don’t have anything else professional going on, like copyediting, teaching, etc. When those things are going on, the number is a stretch. But it’s still attainable. Beginning on July 1 and running through June 30, 2019, my daily word count goal will be to write 2000 words of publishable fiction per day. Yesterday I exceeded that goal slightly. That’s fine. And … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, June 27

Hey Folks, Long post today. Below is the topic I’ve been promising. Dean’s back, sort of, with a post that proves he’s human. You’ll see it below in “Of Interest.” You all know Heinlein’s Rules. (To get an annotated copy, Click Here. Following Heinlein’s Rules is like riding a bicycle. Eventually, you’re going to fall off. And the only thing to do is climb back on. Topic: Take Your Time This is a bit of advice I’ve never heard specifically from any writing instructor. The nearest even good writing instructors come is when they say your readers can’t see what’s … Read more

The Journal, Monday, June 25

Hey Folks, Not a lot to report today, but at least I’m writing fiction again. After such a long layoff, it feels great. Awhile back I started my 9th Pulp detective novel. I’ll probably push through from here and finish it first, then either back to something else or forward to something new. My “novel goal” at the moment is to have two more novels finished by the end of July. That should be fairly easy to do. I’ve started three in the past few months that I allowed to lapse for one reason or another. Had a lot of … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, June 19

Hey Folks, Wow. Not posting on Sunday was intentional, but yesterday just slipped away from me. Had a good day on the edit yesterday. This morning I have to do a little real work, moving back a section of barbed-wire fence. Then a walk. Then back to the copyedit. Topic: Safeguard Your Credibility, Part 3 A long while back, in two parts, I published a post titled Safeguard Your Credibility. If you missed those, Here’s the Original Post and Here’s Part Two. Both posts were all about not displaying ignorance. Yet the only way to avoid displaying ignorance is to … Read more

The Journal, Friday, June 15

Hey Folks, Just thought I’d mention, I emailed Dean Wesley Smith a few days ago for advice re something I was considering. He responded right away, and his comments were very helpful. So I sent back a thank you and didn’t expect to hear from him again. After all, he’s smack in the middle of a huge cross-country move. He’s moving out of a 9-bedroom house on the Oregon coast and into a much smaller condo in Las Vegas. So he’s been packing all the stuff in Lincoln City, moved one truckload to Vegas, and several more truckloads to various … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, June 12

Hey Folks, I almost didn’t post a Journal entry today. Nothing in “Of Interest” today, and I didn’t write any new fiction. But I wanted to share with you. Wow. What a great day! Already! (It’s about noon as I write this.) It isn’t a great day writing-wise, at least not yet. And if it ends either way, that’ll be fine too. But it’s a great day in the realm of serendipity. Now understand, I’m in the middle (well, the first quarter or third) of a novel. The D.R.E.A.D. thing. Only I already know I’m going to change one character … Read more