Linda Maye Adams

The Journal, Wednesday, January 9

Hey Folks, Well, the beat goes on. Just as I ended last year with the passing of my lifelong friend Kenneth Flowers in late December, this month was marred by the passing of my dear friend Penny Porter. Probably you’ve never heard of Penny, but she was a major help to writers around the globe as well as an excellent writer herself. Penny, along with her friend Dale Adams, was intrumental in starting the Society of Southwestern Authors (SSA) in Tucson Arizona. In its heyday, the SSA held an annual conference rivaled by few others in size and quality. In … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, January 8

Hey Folks, Numbers, numbers, numbers… I just realized, since I adjusted my goal from writing 10 novels in 100 days to writing 10 novels in 150 days, I don’t really need the daily goal of 4000 words per day. (grin) Most of my novels are in the 35,000 to 50,000 word range. For example, if I write at least 3000 words per day (on average) for 150 days, that’s 450,000 words. More than enough. But I’m gonna stay with the 4,000 words per day goal anyway because it stretches me a little. And if I can write 4,000 words per … Read more

The Journal, Friday, January 4

Hey Folks, Yesterday, I went to D2D and found I already had an author page set up. That was kind of neat. Then I realized hardly any of my books were grouped together. Most of my novels were grouped with my short stories in “Other Books.” I’d failed to put the series tags and numbers on actual series, and the other books were just all over the place. So I put series tags and numbers on the books that are in actual series. Then I started lumping all the mysteries together into a Mystery “series” (group), SF into an SF … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, January 2

Hey Folks, Our second snowfall of the year (yes, here in the desert) started this morning. Creating, of course, the illusion that the world has shifted on its axis and it’s going to snow every day during 2019. (grin) This is a “real” snow, with about 4″ on the ground at the moment and plenty more coming. My wife’s considering granting herself a 2-hour delay if she goes in at all. Fortunately, my own commute to the office is only about 200 feet outside my back door. (grin) *** We have one little hummingbird who stays with us year-round. He … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, January 1

Hey Folks, Be patient. There’s a LOT in today’s Journal and in the “Of Interest” section. I hope you will find most of it entertaining and/or useful. Happy new year, everybody! May we all have a year filled with peace and good health. I don’t mention prosperity because, after all, we really can’t take it with us. My strongest personal urge is to live as long as I can and leave a legacy of sorts. As they say down south, can I get a big “Hell yeah!”? Like so many, I’m personally glad 2018 is behind us. Without belaboring the … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, December 27

Hey Folks, I got into a short email discussion with a fellow novelist who also writes off into the dark. The upshot was, he wondered whether maybe — when a character does something that’s unexpected and out of character — it’s all right or even necessary to create a history for that character that would explain the unexpected action, a kind of character sketch (my term, not his). I decided to copy my response here as a topic. Topic: Writing Into the Dark, Take 2 I did a post on Writing Off Into the Dark over on the Pro Writers … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, December 26

Hey Folks, Good morning! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas. I’m looking forward to the new year, and I hope it will be a prosperous and healthy one for all of you. Of course, the new year (or anytime, really) is a great time to learn new techniques. I was listening this morning to part of Dean’s workshop on Secondary Plot Lines. I’ve written 36 novels. I’ve used secondary plot lines a lot. But there’s always something new to learn. And the course was basically free. I bought one of the Writers Gift boxes ($50) from WMG … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, December 19

Hey Folks, J. L. Parker left a myth-riddled comment on Dean’s post about traditional publishing a few days ago (see the second item in “Of Interest”). Dean addressed a couple of points in his response. But J. L. aso wrote “if you want your book available in book stores and libraries as well as online … [you] have to go the traditional route.” This is the kind of misinformation that drives me crazy and can send untold numbers of writers awry. So in response, I left the following comment: For J. L., I can also say recently a LOT of … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, December 18

Hey Folks, Wow. I stayed up to watch about 3/4 of the football game last night. It was difficult to watch the Saints pitted against both the Panthers and the referees (grin), so I finally gave up. But by then it was late. I couldn’t sleep, so I stayed up even later and didn’t roll out this morning until almost 5. Ugh. So a late start to the day. No Internet in the Hovel this morning, so I did the preliminary “Of Interest” stuff and this bit of the Journal up at the house with my first cup of coffee. … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, December 12

Hey Folks, I’m a little depressed. I post regularly here and over on my Pro Writers blog about writing, both Story and Mechanics. I post regular warnings, too, about the endless abyss that is traditional publishing today. But this little Journal reaches fewer than 100 readers that I know of. Even my “big” Pro Writers blog reaches only several hundred. Frankly, you who read this Journal have a much better deal. You get a lot more information. That’s why many of the posts on the Pro Writers blog are reprinted topics from the Journal. Yet every day, as I scour … Read more