Dean Wesley Smith

The Journal, Thursday, 7/20

Hey Folks, I’m so excited about this first bit I can barely breathe. Truly a drop-the-mic moment. Via The Digital Reader (Thanks, Nate!) you can now download and read — FREE — a huge archive of Amazing Stories magazines. They are available in several formats, and both Kindle and PDF downloaded quickly for me. If you like SF, this is a treasure trove. If you want to study masterful writers, this is an atomic treasure trove. (And please, if you think you have to want to write SF to learn from masterful SF writers, you shouldn’t have access to sharp … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, 7/19

Hey Folks, Hemingway has long been my major influence in my writing. The man just has a way with terse sentences, regardless of their length. I need to read some of his stuff. I thought I had most of his works, so I checked. I have his Complete Short Stories: The Finca Vigia Edition in both paper and ebook, and I’ve read it through several times. I also have a few of his novels. A few. My library was sorely lacking in that regard. Yesterday I did a quick inventory, then sat down and ordered The Old Man and the … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, 7/18

Hey Folks, If you aren’t distributing through Draft2Digital.com (D2D) yet, here’s another reason to do so. I received an email this morning saying D2D has partnered with Findaway Voices to provide audio books starting, actually, today. To read about this innovation, visit https://draft2digital.com/blog/d2d-partners-with-findaway-voices-to-provide-an-alternative-to-acx-starting-7182017/. Of special note, if you use Findaway Voices via D2D, the former even waives their normal $49 admin fee. Worth checking out. Best of all, it gives readers one more way to find your work, and it gives you one more trickling stream of income. Today, and Writing I did little or nothing but reading and researching … Read more

The Journal, Monday, 7/17

Hey Folks, For those of you following the saga of Bryan, I finally heard from him. He posted on Facebook yesterday. That worried me initially because I know he isn’t allowed a computer at Job Corps. So I immediately wondered whether he was still there, etc. I commented on his post “Bryan! You’re online? How’re you doing?” And this morning he responded with “Yeah, I’m online. My roommate gave me one of his old phones so that’s how I’ve been online. As far as job corps it’s been going great. I love it here.” Whew! (grin) So there you have … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, 7/15

Hey Folks, A realization dawned on me this morning. I’m the kind who always needs an adversary. More often than not, the adversary is a time-siphoning situation, not a person. One of my goals is to write at least one novel or novella per month this calendar year, and 15 on the year. I’ve whiled away half of July already. I still have to write a novel for this month to meet the “one per month” part of the goal. Beginning tommorrow, there are only 15 days left in this month. On several of those days I’ll be on vacation … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 7/14

Hey Folks, Probably another full day of editing in my camp today. Then that will be behind me and I’ll turn my hand back to fiction. Topic: POV—It Belongs to the Character, Not the Writer This is massively important. Summed into one sentence, Everything in every setting in your story or novel must be described through the POV character’s senses and flavored with the POV character’s opinions of the various aspects of that setting. The POV character’s description of a setting enables the reader to see (hear, smell, taste, feel) it. The POV character’s OPINION of that setting brings it … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, 7/13

Hey Folks, Wow. Again today I almost forgot to even start this Journal entry, much less post it. Not sure what’s up with that. I carried my new portable swamp cooler out to the Hovel, added water and fired it up. The thing works. It cooled the Hovel from arounf 94 down to 80 in about 15 minutes. Very comfortable. I have a very good topic for you that I stumbled across during the current edit. I started the Journal entry too late to include it today, but I’ll put it in here soon. Today, and Writing Today I’m pressing … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, 7/12

Hey Folks, Sorry. Just not much to talk about today, and I almost forgot to even file this report. (grin) So kind of a placeholder post today. Today, and Writing I worked on the edit today off and on. No fiction writing, but several ideas popping into my mind through the day. That’s a good sign. I think part of the problem is that I’ve been looking for ideas. A friend helped solve that problem earlier this afternoon when he tossed out a very vague, very general idea. I have an idea that’s what I’m gonna go with for my … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, 7/11

Hey Folks, I started the day a little after 3 with a soft rain falling. Very nice. As I posted on FB, I was sitting under the carport on a folding chair between my Tacoma and my wife’s Avalon. I had a lapboard on my lap, my ‘puter on it, a mug of coffee on the hood of the pickup, and a passably good cigar. And I listened to the rain pattering on the tin (these days, aluminum) roof. I was in hebben. Great start to the day. The landlord (and friend) is supposed to come over sometime this morning … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, 7/9

Hey Folks, Doing very little thus far this morning but relaxing my way into the day. And did very little the rest of the day so far too. Puttered around outside, a little yard work, a little more on the Hovel, some automotive stuff. The highlight was a trip to the store for tea and locking gas caps. (Hey. There’s a title for you. “Tea and Locking Gas Caps.) Today, and Writing Nothing today. Unless a plane lands on my house tonight and I’m in it (plane or house) I’ll be writing fiction tomorrow. Probably all day. See you then. … Read more