Garry Rodgers

Substack and the Novel

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Substack * The Novel * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn of falsehoods.” Robert A. Heinlein (Thanks to Dan Baldwin) “Common sense is not so common.” Voltaire “Re common sense, what’s common to some is a luxury to others.” Yours truly Substack I’m setting up a substack again to see what I can do with it. As a result, this Journal will be coming to your email inbox again. I hope that’s more convenient for those of you who still … Read more

Adobe Walls, and Great Marketing Advice

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Adobe Walls * Market Your Work * Of Interest Quote of the Day “A Positive Indie Author/Publisher Mindset — This is the most important factor of all. Once I made the decision (February 17, 2020) to treat my indie writing and publishing as a business, things really changed. It takes time and persistence, but it’s worth it.” Garry Rodgers Adobe Walls My wife found a couple of pics of me in and near Adobe Walls. If you’d like to see them, I added them to the Old Promo Pics page on … Read more

Grasping the Most Difficult Basic Technique

In today’s Journal * Slow Start * A New Routine * Topic: Grasping the Most Difficult Basic Technique * Of Interest Slow Start With the daily news updates and the succession of events that will take place between now and Monday, September 19, I’ll make a slower start than I anticipated in getting back to writing fiction. No matter. It will come. I’d rather my progress is slow than not at all. A New Routine As part of my attempt to reboot myself as a fiction writer, I’m also starting something new with my own daily routine. Instead of researching, … Read more

The Journal: Promotion — Read This Post

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: Promotion — Read This Post * Of Interest Quote of the Day “Adam [Croft]’s book, The Indie Author Mindset, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FZ3X349/ is a MUST-READ for any indie who intends to ‘make it’ in this biz.” Garry Rodgers Topic: Promotion — Read This Post From a promotion standpoint, this might be the most important post I’ve ever written for the Journal. I mention several invaluable resources below. But be forewarned: reading about the resources or even reading the actual resources themselves won’t help unless you actually do what they recommend. Good luck. … Read more

The Journal: Indie Publishers — Exclusive or Wide?

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Indie Publishers — Exclusive or Wide? * Of Interest Quote of the Day “[I]t amuses me that people sometimes accuse me of writing the YA books to ‘cash in.’ Um, no, my friends. I earn less on those. Not significantly less, but still. I write them because they are stories I want to tell.” Brandon Sanderson Indie Publishers — Exclusive or Wide? Over at KillZone blog, Garry Rodgers asked, “Indie Publishers — Exclusive or Wide?” I suggest you read the post and the comments. They are enlightening. Then go whichever way … Read more

The Journal: Know What Stuff Is

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Know What Stuff Is * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were.” Marcel Proust I like that quote. I’ve often told others that memoir is closer to fiction than to nonfiction because it’s a writer remembering what happened at a point in time. Fiction is a writer remembering something that could have happened at a point in time. “If you’re a good writer and want to write literary magazine material, start a blog, tell all your friends … Read more

The Journal: Rushing This Out

In today’s Journal * The Indie Author Mindset * Something to Bear in Mind * Of Interest Rushing This Out I came to the Journal late this morning. I have a lot about writing to talk about, but that will be for later. For now, for those of you who are interested in marketing, I suggest Adam L Croft’s The Indie Author Mindset and maybe more specifically to marketing, David Gaughran’s book, Amazon Decoded: A Marketing Guide to the Kindle Store. In full disclosure, I have not read either of these books, but both come highly recommended from a trusted … Read more

The Journal: Critical Voice vs. Creative Voice

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Critical Voice vs. Creative Voice * Dean’s put out a call * In today’s post at the Kill Zone blog * * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “[N]othing important, or meaningful, or beautiful, or interesting, or great ever came out of imitations. The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.” Anna Quindlen “I plucked hissing, thrashing, horned tomato worms off the plants and tossed them in a bucket, secretly terrified of their alien aggression. Every … Read more

The Journal: Deep POV and Garry Rodgers

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Um, yeah. * In today’s “Of Interest” * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “In Deep POV, you’re writing AS the [POV] character instead of about them. The reader experiences the story as the character experiences the story to create an immersive effect. The reader can only know what the point of view character knows, sees, hears, intuits, learns, etc. Every word written comes from the POV character’s perspective.” Lisa Hall-Wilson Um, yeah. As I wrote in the Journal yesterday, “Deep POV” is just a new name for … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, February 18

In today’s Journal ▪ Update on the challenge ▪ Update on Pro Writers Writing ▪ Topic: Ignore Name Calling ▪ The daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Today would be the last day of writing for book 3 of the challenge if I didn’t have a day in the bank. (grin) As it stands, I have today and tomorrow to finish the book on time. And it looks as if I’ll make it. I’d like to finish it today and carry over that bank day, but we’ll see. Everything depends on the characters. As it is, I expect … Read more