Lee Lofland

The Journal, Thursday, December 13

Hey Folks, Well, the would-be novel previously (and tentatively) titled Dread is now finished and titled Situation Solved. It’s a hard-nosed police procedural mystery. It came in at 58,000 words. See the numbers below. I completed the “second draft” (spell check) in about ten minutes and it’s now winging its way through the ether to my first reader, a retired Tucson police detective. She’s also a woman, which helps since my protagonist this time around is a woman. (grin) Topic: On (My) Manners A few days ago I mentioned that when you are invited to present sessions at a writers … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, December 9

Hey Folks, YAY! (grin) Reading “Of Interest” items can be SO valuable in SO many ways! In reading The Passive Guy’s recent post about troubles with his website, I stumbled across a post that mentions a new WordPress plugin called “Classic Editor,” which apparently enables WordPress users to go back to posting without those ugly, time-consuming “blocks” (Gutenberg). I also found “Disable Gutenberg.” I installed that one. Then I clicked Add a New Post and voila! my old posting screen was restored in full. I can’t say enough what wonderful news this is. If you like “blocks” for some things … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, December 6

Hey Folks, Tomorrow is Pearl Harbor Day, though I think, sadly, it’s no longer taught in schools. Here’s a quote for the day: The carrier Enterprise sailed into Pearl Harbor the day after the attack. Surveying the wreckage from the bridge, Adm. William Halsey could not hide his anger. “When this war is over the Japanese language will be spoken only in hell.” For an excellent article about that fateful day, see https://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-japan-failed-pearl-harbor-18638. *** Wow. Remember I released Book 2 of the Nick Spalding series, Transitions, back in November? One of my donors, a voracious reader, sent me an email … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, December 5

Hey Folks, Topic: A Realization or Epiphany Dangerous as it sounds, sometimes I feel as if I’ve been through it all as a writer. “Dangerous” because such a feeling is the surest way to stop learning and reach a plateau. Which is to say it’s the surest way to death as a writer. When we reach a plateau, a flattening-out of the attempt to keep learning, little things we’ve learned but haven’t yet tried tend to sift down through the holes and cracks in our knowledge. Without having practiced them, we forget them and have to be reminded. That’s the … Read more

The Journal, Monday, December 3

Hey Folks, Another good quote: “I am what I am. To look for reasons is beside the point.” — Joan Didion And another one from Chandler: “I have a sense of exile from thought, a nostalgia of the quiet room and balanced mind. I am a writer, and there comes a time when that which I write has to belong to me, has to be written alone and in silence, with no one looking over my shoulder, no one telling me a better way to write it. It doesn’t have to be great writing, it doesn’t even have to be … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, December 2

Hey Folks, This morning (to my delight) I was pleased to note James Scott Bell mentioned yours truly in the Kill Zone blog (in “Of Interest”). The article is all about Heinlein’s Rules (Heinlein’s Business Habits for Writers). Of course, I replied. Couldn’t help myself. (grin) Not a lot else to talk about this morning. It’s Sunday, and the outside temperature is perfect. It’s in the mid-40s, so cold enough to stand-up your nerve endings and make you feel very much alive, but not so cold that a grave, by comparison, might feel warm. Yet another quote: “Had my books … Read more

The Journal, Friday, November 30

Hey Folks, Last day of the month already! In November! In 2018! What in the world happened? How is it not still the 1980s? Okay, long post today. But I think you’ll find it interesting. My new favorite quote: “Stages of development’ are for people who write one book a year.” — Robert J. Randisi (who is one year older than I and has written over 600 novels). Topic: Genre Structure Recently my first reader made a few recommendations that, had I applied them, would have switched the first two genre tags of my novel Consequences. The genre tags are … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, November 29

Hey Folks, Well, yesterday was a very productive day, though not in writing. The trip to Sierra Vista took only a couple of hours. When I got back I activated my new phone, which is about the size of the flight deck on a small aircraft carrier. (grin) Then I played around with it for a little while. Afterward I read over the very valuable comments of my first reader on Nick 4 (Consequences) and applied most of them. Finally I uploaded the document to D2D, Amazon and Smashwords. It’s available at all three places for pre-ordering, and it will … Read more

The Journal, Monday, November 26

Hey Folks, I thought I’d found a new writers resource in an “author and writing teacher” named Marilynn Byerly. So I went to her blog. No books were listed, so I did a search for her name on Amazon. I found only 6 novels listed. That kind of put a damper on things. I returned to her blog and read a few articles. Frankly, I was hoping lightning would strike and that I would find it a valuable resource. Umm, nope. Just regurgitation of the same old stuff I’ve heard for years in public school, stale writers’ groups, etc. Nor … Read more

The Journal, Friday, November 23

Hey Folks, Another short day, probably. No worries. I was in the Hovel by 3, though after the gorging yesterday around noon, I wasn’t in much of a mood to do anything productive. (grin) But I do mean “gorge,” at least for me. We ate Thanksgiving dinner around noon yesterday, and after that had a couple of hours to settle over some TV. (I still can’t get back into the NFL after all the flap, so that was off the table.) We watched a few episodes of a Brit mystery/comedy, and then I got up to get dessert. Understand, as … Read more