Kristine Kathryn Rusch

The Journal, Monday, August 20

Hey Folks, No Journal for yesterday. We did a lot of yard work and other necessarys, and I did some editing but that’s it. There was nothing even for the “Of Interest” section. I did receive an email yesterday from Kris Rusch. Her website is being migrated from one ISP to another and the RSS subscriptions didn’t migrate with it, at least not yet. That just means for now it’s better to check the site manually. Which you can do at http://kriswrites.com. *** If you use dictation for your writing, PLEASE be sure to read it over afterward (preferably aloud) … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, August 16

Hey Folks, I’m writing this early (around 6), but probablly a non fiction-writing day today. It’s a half-day anyway, and a laundry day and I have a copyedito to work on. Some of you probably are rolling your eyes, but the plan “this time” is to write first in the morning on most days (beginning tomorrow, I hope) and to edit in the afternoons until the copyedit is finished. I know. Been there before, but my mindset is a little different this morning. As I was telling a friend earlier, I’m in a Hemingway-esque state of mind. I wrote the … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, August 15

Hey Folks, Well, first an update: A prolific young writer who was certain his blog post was the catalyst for my Journal post yesterday (maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t) emailed me to say he’s back on track and committed to writing again. Also he won’t be starting a Patreon account for a good while, if ever. His plan all along was to wait until he had plenty to offer subscribers. He also wrote that the “Time for excuses is over. Now is the time for me to put up or truly fade away and realize that [I] dont have … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, August 8

Hey Folks, Some great new (to me) memes on Facebook lately. One I saw read “How many grammar nazis does it take to change a light bulb?” The answer? “Too.” (grin) Another read, “I swallowed a dictionary. It gave me thesaurus throat I’ve ever had.” I know. Groan. But it’s still funny, so I thought I’d share. Another older one was, “The past, present and future walked into a bar. It was tense.” (grin) Okay, enough of that nonsense. *** To the Hovel early, three good sessions (with breaks) for a little over 3000 words, then up to the house … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, August 7

Hey Folks, According to an article I read this morning on Venezuela’s economy, you can now buy 3,500,000 liters (that’s 924,602 gallons) of 91-octane gasoline there for one US dollar (about 80,400 bolivars). Almost makes it worthwhile to consider buying a tanker truck and getting all the necessary permits, doesn’t it? But buy your eggs at home in the local grocery or from a farmer. In Venezuela today, a single egg costs 200,000 bolivars (about $2.49). This is not a rant on socialism. In my mind, the Prime Directive applies on Earth as it does in space fantasy. Citizens create … Read more

The Journal, Monday, August 6

Hey Folks, Wow. Not sure what’s going on with the Journal. I posted an entry early on Saturday, yet it didn’t “ship” through Mail Chimp until yesterday and it was dated for yesterday (though the actual post was dated correctly). Weird. And then I wrote a journal entry yesterday, but I forgot to post it. When I remembered, it was a few minutes after 5. So I’m leaving that post below. I’ll add minimally to it today and then post it. *** Well, no writing again today (Sunday). But knowing the novel will race along when I get back to … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, August 2

Hey Folks, Well, when the smoke cleared yesterday I had just over 3000 new words on the story. Feels great to be writing again. This one is in a different style than my pulp-noir mysteries or detective stories or mob stories. It has as much action, but the writing requires considerably more patience. It’s a good change of gears for me. Hmm. Maybe if I go back to reporting my daily/monthly/annual numbers at the bottom, I’ll report them on the day after (like I did in the first paragraph above) instead of the day-of. That will remove any pressure I … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, July 31

Hey Folks, I’m posting this early so those of you who get it via RSS will get it sooner. This is one benefit of not reporting my numbers. I can post earier when necessary. Dean is back. See his post “Just About Clear” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/just-about-clear/. Scroll down in his post to “Short Story and Novel Challenge.” This is exciting, and an excellent opportunity to jumpstart both your writing AND your learning. If you’ve been thinking about signing up for some of Dean’s online workshops, this is an absolutely excellent value. I might even do it myself, though there aren’t many … Read more

The Journal, Monday, July 30

Hey Folks, First, thanks to writer friend Bob C. who sent a URL for an article for the “Of Interest” section. You will find it below. With it, Bob sent an email that read in part, “This struck me as a con artist who knew just the right buttons to push for a certain well-heeled market of aspiring writers. The lesson here is that there are a ton of people hovering around would-be authors looking to take their money.” From the article, “Today Anna March … offers private literary consulting — manuscript consultations for $1,600 to $3,000 and coaching for … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, July 28

Hey Folks, Today’s Journal entry is all about writing advice, the Kill Zone blog, and the “Of Interest” section of this Journal. In my own hunt for writing advice, I seek out other professional writers who are farther along the road than I. Once I find them, I gauge whether their advice is valuable to me overall. If a blog post is rife with misspellings and wrong word usages, awkward phrases and misplaced modifiers, or if they display a certain level of ignorance about the language (for example, ignorance of the difference between “likely” and “probably” or “if” and “whether” … Read more