Dean Wesley Smith

The Journal, Wednesday, April 18

Hey Folks, A long post today, so you might want to grab a beverage. (grin) Topic: The Power of Streaks Revisited I talked here awhile back about the power of streaks. A “streak” means repeatedly hitting a certain regularly scheduled goal without missing. When you miss, the streak ends. For example, say you’re determined to write 1000 words per day every day. The more days you do that in a row, the more powerful the streak becomes because you won’t want to miss. As a nice aside, and if you did do that for 100 days in a row (just … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, April 15

Hey Folks, Well, happy Shearing Day. No fiction writing yesterday or today, as expected. Yesterday I edited for a few hours in the early morning, then a little more later on. I was going to publish an edition of this Journal yesterday, but I had nothing even for the “Of Interest” section so I didn’t. This morning too I edited for a few hours. I should finish the edit over the next two days. *** Back when I presented sessions at writers conferences and conventions and in private seminars, every now and then I’d hear some version of “Well, the … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, April 11

Hey Folks, Sorry I took off yesterday from posting the Journal. The first day of a copyedit is always the most difficult with the most concentrated effort. As a result, I totally spaced posting an edition of the Journal. So to today… Well, I’m writing again. The current copyedit is a long one. It will probably take me the better part of two weeks, and I didn’t want to go that long without writing. In fact, on my recent two and a half-day camping trip, I was already jonesing to write on the morning of the second day. So this … Read more

The Journal, Monday, April 9

Hey Folks, I hope to get started on my next novel soon. Probably another noir mystery. We’ll see what appeals to me. Probably no writing today. An edit came in, though it’s a re-read so it won’t take more than two or three days. I don’t like doing re-reads, but if the writer insists, I’ll do it for half the price of the original edit. I don’t personally recommend revising an edited manuscript, but when I’m wearing my copyeditor hat, the customer is always right. In the meantime, my recent camping experience proved I can walk (rugged terrain) three miles … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, April 8

Hey Folks, Hmm. Somehow, I was thinking Friday’s post was Saturday’s post and hadn’t gone out yet. So I amended Friday’s post. Mark it up to a very good case of exhaustion. Anyway, we didn’t get back until yesterday (Saturday) morning and then I didn’t post a Journal. Not a lot going on today. Weird. The morning of the second day of the camping trip, I was jonesing for writing. From now on when I go, I’ll take my laptop along. Just in case. But now I’m back, and this morning I didn’t feel like writing. Since it’s Sunday, I … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, April 4

Hey Folks, All right. Well, I finished the novella this morning. I’ll go over it one more time (reading aloud to myself) before I publish it, but the final word count will be very near what’s posted below. *** A few days ago, a subscriber asked in a comment about my after-writing process. Do I send my work to my first reader before I read it aloud? Do I print it before I read it aloud or read directly from the screen? Just as importantly, the commenter wrote “I’m working on getting better writing a clean [first] draft….” I was … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, April 3

Hey Folks, Well, the current WIP is going to be a novellette or a novella. I don’t usually write to a particular length, but I know this one won’t get into the short-novel range. Something occurred to me after I wrote yesterday’s post. Write This Down: The only real difference between a short story and a story of any other length is that a short story is about One Event. Not two, not a few and not several. One. This story is about two cases, a new one and a cold case that all but mimics the new one, and … Read more

The Journal, Monday, April 2

Hey Folks, I might as well let you in on a secret. In writing my current WIP, I’m doing something I’ve never done before. And actually, I’m doing something I don’t enjoy. At all. At less than 6,000 words in (as of yesterday) I already know most of the plot points and the satisfactory resolution of the novel. Ugh. How in the world does anyone write from an outline? Seriously, I don’t understand. If they already know the story beforehand, how are they not bored out of their mind as they put it on paper? It seems to me that … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, April 1

Hey Folks, Long post today. Hope you had or are having a happy and uneventful April Fools Day and Easter. I’m finding if I can avoid the Smashwords blog on this day, I come through pretty much unscathed. Mark Coker got me (and a great many others) two or three years ago when he used the Smashwords blog to announce that Amazon was doing something very harmful to writers. They would soon announce they’d come up with an intelligent program that churned out novels, thereby negating the need for writers. Something like that. And yeah, I bought it. I emailed … Read more

The Journal, Friday, March 30

Hey Folks, This is a process post. I started reading my latest novel to Mona yesterday morning. Reading aloud is the best possible way to proofread. The ears process words less quickly than the eyes, so you catch more stupid mistakes. Also, this morning, I remembered there was one chapter (one I haven’t read aloud yet) in which the two detectives are in the bullpen. As they work on preliminary computer stuff for a few upcoming cases, the POV character relates an overview of two cases they’ve recently closed. One was a very odd suicide and the other was a … Read more