KillZone Blog

The Journal, Monday, July 2

Hey Folks, Well, that was a short-lived experiment. Embarrassment sometimes is the result (and is always the risk) of sharing one’s writing life. But that’s just the way it goes sometimes. If you’re going to be an open book, occasionally a reader will find a bug smashed between your pages. A few days ago I announced my new daily word count goal. Then I announced I was going to see how long I could hit it in a row, day after day, to create a streak. Then reality started to set in and I backed off on the streak aspect … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, July 1

Hey Folks, Long post today. Yesterday I published a list of the top six things I’d learned from Dean and Kris about writing fiction. In retrospect, it wasn’t really a countdown list. It was actually a list of things I’ve learned that all vie for number one in importance. (grin) I’m even thinking about putting them in a nonfiction book. One writer commented that she would’ve added “Have fun with your writing” to the list. I agree with that, except that having fun with writing is something I kind of take for granted. And that gave rise to this topic. … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, June 27

Hey Folks, Long post today. Below is the topic I’ve been promising. Dean’s back, sort of, with a post that proves he’s human. You’ll see it below in “Of Interest.” You all know Heinlein’s Rules. (To get an annotated copy, Click Here. Following Heinlein’s Rules is like riding a bicycle. Eventually, you’re going to fall off. And the only thing to do is climb back on. Topic: Take Your Time This is a bit of advice I’ve never heard specifically from any writing instructor. The nearest even good writing instructors come is when they say your readers can’t see what’s … Read more

The Journal, Monday, June 25

Hey Folks, Not a lot to report today, but at least I’m writing fiction again. After such a long layoff, it feels great. Awhile back I started my 9th Pulp detective novel. I’ll probably push through from here and finish it first, then either back to something else or forward to something new. My “novel goal” at the moment is to have two more novels finished by the end of July. That should be fairly easy to do. I’ve started three in the past few months that I allowed to lapse for one reason or another. Had a lot of … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, June 24

Hey Folks, No post yesterday. No anything else writerly either as I spent the day with my wife, celebrating 34 years together and wondering how she’s put up with me that long. Probably I won’t write today either, fiction I mean. I’ll start fresh on Monday, and that will give me a week to gear up to my new work ethic (fun ethic) and the coming challenge. Today that challenge got a little more difficult too. Another copyedit came in, and a few days ago another writer told me to expect his manuscript for copyedit also. I look forward to … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, June 21

Hey Folks, Well, yesterday I spaced the Journal again. I think mostly it’s because I’ve been editing instead of writing. I’ll finish the copyedit today, and soon things will get back to normal for at least awhile. As a reward for your patience, here’s a very long look at tag lines, their uses, and words that should never be used to introduce or carry dialogue. Topic: Tag Line Verbs Okay, first, to get us on the same page, what I call a “tag line” is what some call a “narrative beat.” I guess there are other names for it too, … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, June 19

Hey Folks, Wow. Not posting on Sunday was intentional, but yesterday just slipped away from me. Had a good day on the edit yesterday. This morning I have to do a little real work, moving back a section of barbed-wire fence. Then a walk. Then back to the copyedit. Topic: Safeguard Your Credibility, Part 3 A long while back, in two parts, I published a post titled Safeguard Your Credibility. If you missed those, Here’s the Original Post and Here’s Part Two. Both posts were all about not displaying ignorance. Yet the only way to avoid displaying ignorance is to … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, June 14

Hey Folks, Well, I think I’m taking off a few days. I just had a new copyedit come in, so I’m going to work on that. In the meantime, D.R.E.A.D. can rest while I decide whether to shoot it or hook it up to a resuscitation machine. When I return to it, probably I’ll backtrack to see whether I can find where it took a wrong turn. I’ve done that once already and didn’t see a place where it went wrong, so maybe I’ll have to set it aside for awhile and move on to something else. Hey, stuff happens. … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, June 10

Hey Folks, If you’re a writer, you don’t want to miss this post. Yesterday, I rolled out at 3 for a change. Felt good. I used the early morning for admin time. I was led to that by a good review of my 10-story collection Mobster Tales that I received via email yesterday. When I went to add the review to the page for that book over at StoneThread Publishing, I realized I hadn’t yet created a page for that book. So I did that, then pasted the review in. You can see it at http://stonethreadpublishing.com/mobster-tales/. Then the day fell … Read more

The Journal, Monday, June 4

Hey Folks, Wow. Nothing but whole lot of nothing going on yesterday in a writerly way. Did a little work around the yard, did some reading, but very little else. My business computer was all messed up (the last Lenovo I’ll ever buy) so I spent a few hours messing with it. Finally got it working again, or at least limping along. I did spend a little time online finding things for “Of Interest” and they’re below. Nothing time sensitive, so I figured it would keep until today. Hence no Journal yesterday. I stayed up too late on Sunday night, … Read more