KillZone Blog

The Journal: A Lot of Stuff

In today’s Journal * Kris Rusch’s Birthday Party * Also in “Of Interest” * The Next Few Days * More Shared World Stuff * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Dean Wesley Smith is doing something really great for his wife, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, for her upcoming 60th birthday. He’s throwing her a card party, and all of you can be part of it. For details, see “Of Interest” below. Also in “Of Interest” is an article on how to “survive the chaos point” in a novel. A bit melodramatic, isn’t it? You aren’t charging across open ground under … Read more

The Journal: Why Helping Writers is Important

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Yesterday (and the Day Before) * Topic: Why Helping Writers is Important (and So Frustrating) * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day (Still bingeing on Bradbury) “Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for.” Ray Bradbury “The first thing a writer should be is — excited.” Ray Bradbury On the day before yesterday, I was … Read more

The Journal: Food for Thought

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Food for Thought * Yesterday * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day (I’m gorging on Bradbury) “The faster you blurt, the more swiftly you write, the more honest you are. In hesitation is thought. In delay comes the effort for a style, instead of leaping upon truth which is the only style worth deadfalling and tiger-trapping.” Ray Bradbury “Dandelion Wine, like most of my books, was a surprise… I simply got out of bed each morning, walked to my desk, and put down any word or … 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: Short Post Today

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Authors Give Back Sale * Yesterday * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” Albert Einstein (via The Passive Voice) For anyone who’s interested, I’ve just enrolled all my books at Smashwords in the Authors Give Back Sale. All my books are marked at 60% off through May 31. That means, again, that many of my short stories there are free. But all of my books there are at least 60% off. Great time to jump into a series or sample some … Read more

The Journal: On Goals

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: On Goals * Yesterday * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.” Orson Scott Card Topic: On Goals Yesterday after I posted the Journal, I hazarded a look at my short story goal spreadsheet. Since I started on January 1, I’ve written 12 short stories. Great fun. Then I missed. So I was thinking I was probably behind by … 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: Writing in a Shared World

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: Writing in a Shared World * Yesterday * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “No, it’s not a very good story – its author was too busy listening to other voices to listen as closely as he should have to the one coming from inside.” Stephen King Topic: Writing in a Shared World One writer asked about the limitations of writing in a shared world. Specifically, the writer wondered how a proponent of writing into the dark could write in a shared world. So I … Read more

The Journal: Today I’ll Finish

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Yesterday * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “People on the outside think there’s something magical about writing, that you go up in the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story. But it isn’t like that. You work, and that’s all there is to it.” Harlan Ellison “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented from the successful is a lot of hard work.” Steven King Yesterday, I rolled out around 2, and by 10 … Read more

The Journal: Coherence

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Writers’ Conferences * Discoverability, how it happens * Yesterday * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Reading at meals is considered rude in polite society, but if you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second-to-least of your concerns. The least of all should be polite society and what it expects. If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered anyway.” Stephen King “When an author discovers coherence for the first time, … Read more