Dean Wesley Smith

The Journal, Friday, November 10

Hey Folks, This is mostly a placeholder post, but with some good stuff in “Of Interest.” It’s early morning and cold (well, chilly at 40°). Let the ladies outside for awhile since they’ll spend most of my sons’ visit hiding under the bed. Anyway, posts for today, tomorrow and Sunday probably will be pretty sparse. Thanks for hanging in there. Back tomorrow. Of Interest I’ve been remiss recently in posting items of interest from James Scott Bell. See “Be Productive, Persistent, and Professional” at https://killzoneblog.com/2017/11/be-productive-persistent-and-professional.html. I also recommend “What is Originality?” at https://killzoneblog.com/2017/10/what-is-originality.html. See “Adventures Around The Web November 4-10, … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, November 9

Hey Folks, Tomorrow marks the 242nd birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Happy Birthday and Semper Fi to any Marines out there. Sometime tomorrow, I’ll get off by myself and drink a toast (probably a shot of Beam Devil’s Cut) to those brothers and sisters who are no longer with us. To those who are still around, May your days be vibrant, your evenings calm, your heart safe and warm at home. Semper Fi *** The air is damp and chilly this morning. Probably around 40-some degrees, but damp so it feels colder. We got 3/10ths of an inch … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, November 8

Hey Folks, Well, I believe (knock on wood) the worst of the cigar madness is behind me. Something in my mind sort of snapped late yesterday, leading to a lot more clarity than I’ve enjoyed in a while. I hope it stays that way. *** I wrote for a little while, just some dialogue between two wise guys over a poker hand, something to get my hand in. One wise guy is complaining that his associates think he doesn’t understand the concept of LOL all that well. The other asks him for an example. The first one says, “Oh. Well, … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, November 7

Hey Folks, A mild morning for a change, at the cusp of 50°. If I took a photo straight up at the moon in the high mist, it would make a great horror or romance cover. Funny how those two genres can be so closley related in the images they invoke. Or maybe it isn’t. *** Well, self-publishing platform and distributor Pronoun is shutting down. See “Epilogue” at https://pronoun.com/. I never got around to using them because of the extremely condescending language on their interface. However, in other news, my preferred distributor, Draft2Digital, now distributes to Amazon. I am in … Read more

The Journal, Monday, November 6

Hey Folks, I am annoyed to no end when some machine or program thinks it knows better than I what I want. Of course, the machine can’t be held to fault. Nor, these days, can the humans behind the machines because there’s no way to contact or, ahem, engage the humans directly. Of course, if I were regularly screwing up people’s lives that much just as if it were a pleasurable past time, I wouldn’t want anyone to be able to get hold of me either. Increasingly, “updates” (ostensibly “improvements”) are foisted upon us whether or not we want them. … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, 11/2

Hey Folks, Hmm… a meandering, personal-thought journey in today’s Journal…. I’ve still been thinking about challenges, but I think that’s almost over. I thought about a challenge in which I would write at least one opening per day during the month of November. If the opening took off, I’d write it. If not but if it piqued my interest, it would go into my Openings file. Either way, I’d still have to write a new opening every day. But something didn’t feel quite right about that. Mostly it felt too contrived, probably because it was. The main thing, I think, … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, 10/31

Hey Folks, Happy Hallowe’en. I’d planned to return to my WIP novel today, but didn’t. Other things took priority, but it was still a good day. No more pushing it. I’ll write when it’s time. In the meantime, a brand new bundle launched today. The Trouble Comes Calling bundle contains my mystery novel, The Platinum Blond Perturbance. You can see the ad for the bundle at the top of the left sidebar on my website. The photo will take you to the bundle page. *** “I’m not really that knowledgeable about police work. The real story is in the psychology … Read more

The Journal, Monday, 10/30

Hey Folks, This morning, in a piece I was reading online, I saw this: “In my opinion, less is more, just as it is when you’re writing, period.” Oh dear god. I can almost see him primping. Every time I hear a writer say “Oh, in writing, less is more,” I want to suggest they write nothing at all then. Based on their reasoning, their canon of work should expand exponentially. But I can’t bring myself to do it. The vacant-eyed, slack-jawed stare that would ensue as the moron wondered whatever in the world I was talking about might be … Read more

The Journal, Monday, 10/23

Hey Folks, I was going to talk about Dean’s age-based challenge frenzy, but you can see it for yourself in “Of Interest” and draw your own conclusions. I’ll turn 65 in a few weeks. I tried to set up an interesting goal that has something to do with the numeric designation of my age, but I kept coming back to “Why?” I mean, if setting such a goal increased my actual productivity and made writing fun again, that could be something. The closest real challenge I could come up with was to write 52 short stories (one per week) during … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, 10/22

Hey Folks, Tomorrow — Another Memorial Day — On October 23, 1983 the Barracks in Beirut was bombed. Please remember. *** I didn’t roll out until 4:15 this morning after watching the Yankees sigh their last for the season last night. Oh well. What a powerhouse they have for the next few to several years. We have a trip to Sierra Vista scheduled for today. I’ve already decided (at 8:20 a.m.) that I won’t write any fiction today. Still in deck-clearing mode. I wouldn’t want to bump into myself in the fog. Soon, as a friend would say, all will … Read more