The Daily Journal, Tuesday, July 23

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: A Review of Google Play Books * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quotes of the Day “The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” Sylvia Plath “Don’t rewrite, except to editorial order. (And then only if you agree.)” Robert A. Heinlein (Harlan Ellison) See? If you rewrite, it’s because of self-doubt. The self-doubt instilled in you by nonwriters over years and years of so-called education. “An English teacher teaching you how to write fiction is like a fish teaching you how to ride a bicycle.” Harvey Stanbrough Topic: … Read more

The Daily Journal, Sunday, July 21

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: How to Learn to Write * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quotes of the Day “A lot of novelists start late—Conrad, Pirandello, even Mark Twain. When you’re young, chess is all right, and music and poetry. But novel-writing is something else. It has to be learned, but it can’t be taught. This bunkum and stinkum of college creative writing courses! The academics don’t know that the only thing you can do for someone who wants to write is to buy him a typewriter.” (Thanks to Bob Beckley … Read more

The Daily Journal, Saturday, July 20

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: My Typical Early Morning * Daily diary * Of Interest (a lot today) * The numbers Quotes of the Day “The subjective opinions of a certain group of people at a certain moment in time say nothing about the value of your work.” JA Konrath “My advice to authors is to do a POD print book directly with Amazon for Amazon and directly with Ingram Spark for bookstores.” Lee Foster (This agrees with advice from Reedsy in yesterday’s “Of Interest.” “Caroline [Todd] practically leapt out of her chair and slapped … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, July 16

In today’s Journal * Update * Topic: A Tale of Two Businesses * Don’t miss * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Update Light day yesterday. I watched/listened to one of the Pop-Ups I received through a Kickstarter reward (writing stuff). I also decided to invest in a second set of speakers for my computers. I’ll keep one set in the Hovel for those times when I’m studying writers’ stuff and one in the house for when my wife and I are listening to publishing and marketing and licensing stuff. Topic: A Tale of Two Businesses First and … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, July 15

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: 12 Ways to Make a Critique Group Work * Update * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quote of the Day “I don’t think in terms of genres. I think in terms of story.” David Gerrold Topic: 12 Ways to Make a Critique Group Work Versions of this article have been posted on my writer site in August 2013 and September 2017. Everyone here knows I don’t participate in critique groups. Nor do I recommend doing so. After all, I constantly battle to keep my own conscious, critical … Read more

The Daily Journal, Saturday, July 13

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * More on Licensing * According to Reedsy * Ebook aggregator PublishDrive * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quote of the Day “From my close observation of writers… they fall into two groups: 1) those who bleed copiously and visibly at any bad review, and 2) those who bleed copiously and secretly at any bad review. Isaac Asimov Which is why I generally don’t read reviews at all and recommend against it. What a reader thinks of your book is none of your business. *** Kris Rusch has just … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, July 11

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Update * A major new resource * Topic: A Toast to New Beginnings * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quote of the Day “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” Daniel J. Boorstin *** Yesterday, I moved the large monitor for my business computer back up to the house since that’s where we’ll be doing most of our learning. (See the topic below) My new partner and I also started some preliminaries: setting up a new web-based email address for the … Read more

The Daily Journal, Wednesday, July 10

In today’s Journal * Two topics today * Topic: Add-On Software * Topic: Ebooks and Print Books—A Comparison (reprint) * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers In a rare occurrence, we have two topics to cover today. The first is a little shorter, but important. The second is a little longer, but still important. So get your favorite beverage and settle in. Here we go. Topic: Add-On Software Add-on software, to my mind, is just silly. Why would any writer want extra distractions? A reader of this Journal directed me to Aeon Timeline, a company that makes Visual … Read more

The Daily Journal, Friday, July 5

In today’s Journal * Kris Rusch, Patreon and licensing * Writers should be paid for their work * Call for first readers * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers As writers, we’re entering a new and exciting age beyond publishing, and we’re being led (not surprisingly) by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch (see “Of Interest”). Frankly, I feel sorry for writers who are not currently signed up for this Journal or for Kris’ Business Musings posts. If you’re a friend to your writer friends, please share this post widely. Specifically because of how important Kris’ Business … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, July 1

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Recap * Topic: On Writing This Journal and Teaching * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quote of the Day Via the Passive Voice, “People are always asking me, ‘What do you want people to say about you a hundred years from now?’ I want them to say, ‘Dang, don’t she still look good for her age?’” Dolly Parton *** Yesterday I updated my production spreadsheet to get it ready for July. Then I looked over my notes from the Pacing workshop and decided I didn’t need to view … Read more