Jane Friedman

The Journal: Yesterday and Today

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Yesterday and Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “By living well, by observing as you live, by reading and observing as you read, you have fed your most original self. By training in writing, by repetitious exercise, imitation, good example, you have made a clean, well-lighted place to keep the Muse.” Ray Bradbury Yesterday was a very good day (see Day 15) even though I didn’t make my new word count goal. The end of the novel is in sight. In fact, I expect to finish … Read more

The Journal: Yet Another Use for a Reverse Outline

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Thanks to my patrons * Topic: Yet Another Use for a Reverse Outline * Yesterday * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Conjure the nouns, alert the secret self, taste the darkness. Your own Thing stands waiting ‘way up there’ in the attic shadows. If you speak softly, and write any old word that wants to jump out of your nerves onto the page, your Thing at the top of your stairs in your own private night may well come down.” Ray Bradbury A special thanks … Read more

The Journal: A Very Short Topic

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Yesterday * Today * Topic: A Very Short Topic * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled. You’ve got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it.” Ray Bradbury “Eventually, everyone will be quarantined to their houses with no sports to watch… and in nine months a boom of babies will be born… and we will call them Coronials.” Creative Talent Agency (via The Passive Voice) … Read more

The Journal: Why I Don’t Talk Much About CoVID-19

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Yesterday * Topic: Why I Don’t Talk Much About CoVID-19 * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “If it’s not on the page, your reader doesn’t know it.” Nathan Bransford Yesterday, I got sidetracked for awhile by a new (to me) source for royalty free photos. See Visual Hunt at https://visualhunt.com/ (via Jane Friedman). The daily word count continues to decrease (see Day 4, sigh). I’ll have to see whether I can do something about that. (grin) It has nothing to do with the novel. The … Read more

The Journal: A Little More on Shared Worlds

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Yesterday * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.” Louis L’Amour “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” Stephen King Wow. Yesterday I did no writing to speak of, but I did develop a cover for the novel, which is now titled For the Good of the Galaxy | The First Nine Days. I also put … Read more

The Journal: A Short, Early Post

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Dean Wesley Smith * Yesterday * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.” William Faulkner So yesterday, in addition to writing and posting the Journal, I dropped a note to my friend Dean Wesley Smith. It isn’t like he and I hang out. I consider him a friend because without all I’ve learned from him, I wouldn’t be even a shadow of what I am today as … Read more

The Journal: The Reverse Outline (RO) Revisited and Shared Worlds

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * From James Scott Bell * Yesterday * Topic: The Reverse Outline (RO) Revisited * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” E. L. Doctorow From James Scott Bell’s newsletter, ” how about some old-school pulp fiction… free! My favorite genre is crime/detective fiction from the golden era, 1920-1950. Here’s a treasure trove, including issues of the most famous pulp … Read more

The Journal: Learn Copyright

In today’s Journal * Yesterday * Topic: Learn Copyright * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Yesterday. Just wow. This is basically an update of Monday’s Journal entry. Literally within minutes of posting that entry, I turned to the writing computer and realized I was actually finished with The Othgygnrks 2, which is mostly the alien viewpoint that was missing back in March. (If you’re curious, it’s pronounced Oth-gig-nurks.) The total word count for that one is on yesterday’s post (20697 words). From here on out, you’ll see only the numbers for the compiled novel, For the Good of … Read more

The Journal: A Mishmash of Info

In today’s Journal * Final day to get * As I browse the internet * Yesterday * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Final day to get ANYTHING on WMG Publishing’s (Dean Wesley Smith’s) Teachable account at 50% off. The sale closes at 5 p.m. today. For my money, there is no better, more knowledgeable, or more honest writing instructor than Dean Wesley Smith. Some have said I clarify things that Dean muddles. That’s simply because different instructors can get through in different ways to different students. But if it weren’t for Dean, I literally wouldn’t be where I … Read more

The Journal: Stores, Distributors and Aggregators

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Here Be Brave New Worlds * Topic: Stores, Distributors and Aggregators * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Fiction is a lie, and good fiction is the truth inside the lie.” Stephen King in On Writing A new bundle just released: the Here Be Brave New Worlds bundle is now available at your favorite store. To read about it, visit https://bundlerabbit.com/b/here-be-brave-new-worlds. Thirteen novels by thirteen very good writers for only $4.99, including my SF novel The Consensus. To see all eight bundles my work is current … Read more