Professional Writer Series

The Journal, Sunday, 8/6

Hey Folks, Not sure what the day will hold, but at least I got some writing done and finished the story. Today, and Writing I rose way early, a little before 2, so the girls could spend some time outside before the kids and grandkids get up. (My babies spend all their time under my bed when anyone’s visiting.) I started writing at 4. Did a lot of cycling back to add in small details (verisimilitude, that) and wrote a little over 1400 words to finish the story. Probably no more writing today, and that’s fine. After the visit I’ll … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, 8/5

Hey Folks, Well, not a lot going on today. One of my sons and his family are visiting, so the day will flow as it’s supposed to. Today, and Writing Rose early, finally started writing at around 5, got around 800 words done before visiting started. I’ll get back to it later, depending on what the children decide to do. Well, not gonna get anymore writing done today. I’m a little annoyed with myself that I wasn’t able to find the end of the story today. Maybe tomorrow morning. See you then. Of Interest Nothing again that I saw unless … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 8/4

Hey Folks, Back in June when I was writing a short story every day, I had a few I wanted to turn into novels. I’m going to glance back over those today. If I find something that runs with me, I’ll write it. If I don’t, I’ll start writing a short story every day again (beginning today) until I hit on an idea that wants to be a novel. (grin) TOPIC: ISBNs, Copyright, etc. I’m astounded by the general lack of knowledge of writers about the writing business as evidenced by some of the questions I receive. This morning a … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, 8/3

Hey Folks, Well, the curator giveth and the curator taketh away. One of the bundles my work was going to be in was deleted by the curator. I think maybe he scheduled it too soon (August 15). Anyway… Topic: Creating .epub and .mobi Files… Uh, No In “Of Interest” today, Nate Hoffelder (The Digital Reader) mentions that Amazon has released a Kindle Create file creation tool as an add-in for Microsoft Word. He goes on awhile too about creating .epub files, for which there are various programs. Maybe I’m missing something, but I just don’t understand why this would matter, … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, 8/2

Hey Folks, There is a LOT of good information in “Of Interest” below. Be sure to check it out. A couple of days ago I announced here (to my friends) that I had another request for one of my books for a bundle. It happened again yesterday after I filed the Journal for the day. Too cool! And then today, I received requests to include three more of my books in bundles. WAY cool! (grin) By February, I’ll have books in Dystopia (current, A Rough New World); Guns of the West (current, No Kind’a Time and “A Turning Point for … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, 8/1

Hey Folks, Well, five are signed up for the writing intensive now. Three slots left, and one more would-be attendee is thinking about it. Today I’ll endeavor to finish my July novel. (grin) Whenever I finish, I’ll have 8 novels or novellas at the beginning of the 8th month of the year. With my annual goal of 15 novels or novellas on the year, I’m going to plan to write two novels per month for August, September and October. Absolutely no reason I shouldn’t be able to do that. During August also I’m prepping for and teaching the intensive, and … Read more

The Journal, Monday, 7/31

Hey Folks, The Last Day of July! Woohoo! Today I’ll finish my 26th novel. With any luck, I’ll begin the 27th. Well, I might wait until August 1 just to be honest about it. Today, and Writing Headed out to the Hovel at around 10. Struggling a little as I head for the end game on this one. The characters tossed up one more twist. Very weird. So I wrote awhile, then cycled back through almost the whole book to make sure everything fit. Then I wrote some more, cycled back some more, and wrote some more. Well, I found … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, 7/30

Hey Folks, Cool. I woke this morning to a request to include yet another of my books, Rise of a Warrior, in a bundle at BundleRabbit. Not only is it a good stand-alone novel, but it’s also the first book in the Wes Crowley series. Uh, yeah. I’ll do that. (grin) If you don’t have your work listed with BundleRabbit yet, why not? Check it out at http://bundlerabbit.com. The account is free, and every time your story or book is bundled, you gain access to new readers. And yes, you can upload short stories and collections as well as novellas … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, 7/29

Hey Folks, Well, the good new is, the intensive will go. We have four hearty souls signed up. There are four slots left. If anyone else wants in and you’re local, email me. (Please don’t fly in, etc. No need. If this goes as well as I expect, I’ll put it on audio later and make it available for sale to the public at something of a discount.) *** I went to bed and read for about an hour last night (Raymond Chandler stuff, of Philip Marlowe fame). Then some moron got his vehicle stuck on the dirt road that … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 7/28

Hey Folks, I get a lot of questions that I can answer, in general, with this one sentence: “In storytelling, no single aspect is more important than the ability to pull the reader into the story and keep him there.” I’m hoping to teach an intensive on how exactly to do that in the near future. The intensive will be geared for no more than 8 attendees. Two writers are already signed up. I’ll cover Openings, Hooks, Grounding the Reader in the Story, Physical and Emotional Cliffhangers, and Pacing. Given time, I’ll talk a little about Endings as well. The … Read more