Dean Wesley Smith

The Journal, Saturday, 9/2

Hey Folks, Well, the story I started yesterday will definitely be a short story, though longer than my usual short story. My short stories are usually around 3,000 words. This one will come in probably at around 5,000 or 6,000. It might also expand into a novel, but right now it’s about one event. So a short story. *** Finally checked Dean’s site (it’s not quite noon here) and I am stymied. See “Short Story Finished” at http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/short-story-finished/. Uncanny. Some of the parallels between his writing world and mine are just eerie at the moment. He wrote “only 25,000 words … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, 8/29

Hey Folks, In the interest of “fair and balanced reporting,” via The Digital Reader check out David Gaughran’s “The Visibility Gambit” at https://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2017/08/28/the-visibility-gambit/. Spoiler Alert: This is in favor of going with Amazon KDP Select, but be sure to read the comments too. Hey, whatever works for you. To learn more about KDP Select (this feeds Kindle Unlimited) and determine whether it’s right for you, visit https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/. Be sure to also read https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/A6KILDRNSCOBA?ref_=kdp_KDPS_faq/ and then click the link for KDP Terms and Conditions and read that. I decided today to take a chance, though really it isn’t much of a … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, 8/27

Hey Folks, Topic: Following Up on DWS’ “The Value of a Paperback” Yesterday Dean explained in his post why indie authors should publish to paper as well as ebook. He made some good points. (If you didn’t read it and would like to, click http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/the-value-of-a-paperback/.) It’s always good to have your books available to more people in more ways. Got it. But there are other considerations too, both positive and negative. On the positive side, when the reader comes across one of my titles on Amazon, B&N, et al, if I have both paper and ebooks editions out, the reader … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, 8/26

Hey Folks, Well, a Saturday. The sun is still a couple hours from coming up as I write this. I’ve done my daily rounds of the Internet, made my usual stops. If you enjoy a bit of history along with really great photos and some personal insights, check Linda Maye Adams’ blog at http://lindamayeadams.com/2017/08/26/a-veteranwriter-looks-at-history-leesylvania-state-park/. Over the past few days I’ve started several bits of fiction. Each time I let them go. I’m not sure whether they weren’t working or it was just that I wasn’t in the mood. Probably the latter. I mean, you don’t have to be in the … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, 8/23

Hey Folks, Well, yesterday (on Dean’s recommendation) I read the first 300+ pages of Patterson’s “Along Came a Spider.” I think it’s the first of his Alex Cross series. This morning I read the last 130 pages. It held my attention, but it wasn’t particularly well written. Several annoying “little” things kept me from being able to become deeply involved in the story. Things that involuntarily jump out at the reader like a really bad spelling error. He did use some of the pacing “tricks” I recently taught in a seminar, but surprisingly few of the grounding techniques. Of course, … Read more

The Journal, Monday, 8/21

Hey Folks, Had a great visit on Saturday night with a dear friend. Cigars puffed, movies discussed, philosophy slathered. Then a good session on Sunday morning on how to use the very intuitive Serif PagePlus to create book covers. *** If your books are offered for sale on Amazon, please read “Amazon Author Central: A Primer” at http://www.indiesunlimited.com/2017/08/13/amazon-author-central-a-primer/. I read it and there was a lot there that I didn’t know. For one thing, Amazon doesn’t automatically update your author page with new books when you publish more work. On my author page, only 33 books were listed. That was … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, 8/20

Hey Folks, Well, I had to smile at Dean’s post. See http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/a-non-event/. A few days ago he was annoyed, expecting a deluge of tourists in his little town to see the eclipse: From “A Fun First Day” on August 16, “Now if we can just survive this stupid eclipse, we will be fine. Shadow goes right smack over the top of us as it makes landfall. The actual center is about two miles from the new store. No telling what will happen here with that many people trying to cram into a 60 mile wide area. We just don’t have … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, 8/19

Hey Folks, I have a couple of nonfiction projects to knock out this morning and then a friend coming for a visit this afternoon and evening. So not sure how much writing I’ll get done today, if any. The story I was working on, I love the concept, but I might have to restart it yet again. Maybe not. Maybe I’ll just read back and find what went sour. My goal of writing a novel this month is fading fast. (grin) Then again, that’s what goals are for. And I’m in some sort of weird transition phase right now. Weird … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, 8/15

Hey Folks, Via The Digital Reader, The Huffington Post (whom I would never and am not now promoting) published an article titled “The 4 Great Myths of Book Publishing.” You can read the full article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-4-great-myths-of-book-publishing_us_5988e9ebe4b08a4c247f252d/, but I’ll save you the trouble. There are actually a lot more myths about traditional publishing than four, but we’ll go with the ones they list. According to the article, the myths are that a traditional publisher will aggressively promote your book to the widest possible readership, ensure your book gets on the shelves of all the nation’s bookstores, print your book’s text … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, 8/13

Hey Folks, Wow. I’ve done absolutely nothing today re writing. Not even on the handout for the upcoming seminar. Nada. Went to the grocery, then out to lunch, then back to the house to try to watch a ball game. But I have DirecTV so it’s blacked out when a game is being played within 10,000 miles of my house. So I watched a few episodes of Forensic Files instead. Then I came in here to post this. So nothing today, just a placeholder. Back at it tomorrow. Of Interest See Dean’s site. He’s talking about online workshops again. Fiction … Read more