Professional Writer Series

The Journal: Bottom-Line Concerns

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Bottom-line concerns * Degrees of communication * Writing into the dark * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “In order to control myself I must first accept myself by going with and not against my nature.” Bruce Lee “Bottom line concerns have all but decimated the publishers’ promotional efforts….” Paul Dinas on Anne R. Allen’s blog “Bottom-line concerns.” Yes. Because today the major traditional publishers increase the value of their corporation NOT by publishing and selling books but by paying a pittance for IP, then valuating that IP … Read more

The Journal: An Intensive Learning Month

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * An Intensive Learning Month * Book Covers * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “In 1792, while Gustav III was attending a masquerade ball, he was shot and killed by someone who didn’t like him.” PG Well, it looks as if October 2020 will be my intensive learning month. (grin) The instructor of the Affinity Publisher for Beginners course also offers a couple of FREE courses on Affinity Photo. I’ve already signed up. To read about those, see * 10 Steps to Amazing Photos at https://courses.affinityrevolution.com/p/10-steps-to-amazing-photos. This will … Read more

The Journal: A Quick Primer on Cover Design

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: A Quick Primer on Cover Design * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “[I]n the online world, the cover is the single most important way to position the book.” Bigstock blog “When you browse the Amazon bestsellers in your genre, you should notice patterns in color schemes, fonts, layouts, and images.” Dave Chesson, Kindlepreneur Topic: A Quick (Very Basic) Primer on Cover Design If your immediate response to this is “I don’t need this because I have a cover designer,” well, good for you. But you’re throwing … Read more

The Journal: Save This Post

In today’s Journal * Save This Post * Of Interest * The Numbers Save This Post If you’re still on the fence about whether to purchase Affinity Publisher and/or the Affinity Revolution full course for how to use publisher, I recommend you keep this post. I might talk again about using or learning Affinity Publisher, but I probably won’t list the links again (see below). I’m still working my way through the so-called “beginners” course on Affinity Publisher. I’ve slowed down a little because as I come to things I don’t already know but that interest me, I’m applying and … Read more

The Journal: Griping a little

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Griping a little * Still in class * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “[L]ibraries promote more reading, which creates more readers, which creates more book purchasers, which means publishers make more money.” The Passive Guy I’m griping a little today. I don’t like inaccuracy in writing instruction, and there’s a lot of inaccuracy out there. When I read or hear a blatant inaccuracy that is obviously not a typo in a blog post or a misstep in a writing class, it makes the hairs on the back … Read more

The Journal: More on Affinity Publisher

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * From Diane Darcy * More on Affinity Publisher * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “[T]he final product isn’t important to me. What is important is the fun of the process of telling a story. … I love writing. I can take or leave having written.” Dean Wesley Smith “I don’t like every song [short story, novel] I write, but I like that I wrote it.” Jeff Tweedy Professional indie fiction writer and Journal reader Diane Darcy recommends a book called Writing and Marketing Systems. You can find … Read more

The Journal: Very short post today

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Very short post today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.” PG Wodehouse Very short post today. I was going to publish this Journal entry yesterday, but we had a wide power outage in southeast Arizona and the power came back on a little too late to file this. As it turns out, I didn’t have a lot to … Read more

The Journal: Better Than Usual

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Update on my construction woes * Better than usual * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “A successful runner doesn’t see the finish line in a race; he sees ten yards beyond it. That’s his goal and the visualization keeps him moving beyond the expected end. A good writer does the same thing – pushes beyond the obvious limit to ensure a successful conclusion.” Dan Baldwin in “The Long and Short of Endings” (To subscribe free email baldco@msn.com.) “Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let … Read more

The Journal: Just Chatting

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Just chatting * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Written stories belong to their individual creators as individuals. Copyright laws around the world reflect this belief and value. … Stories don’t belong to cultures or people who bear some similarity to the characters in a book.” David Vandagriff (as The Passive Guy) harkening back to my previous Journal post Just chatting this morning. I haven’t talked with you in a few days. That omission was unintented. But really, I haven’t had much to talk about, at least regarding … Read more

The Journal: Cultural Appropriation

In today’s Journal * “Cultural Appropriation”… whatever * Of Interest * The Numbers I’m a little under the weather and not in a good mood besides, so I’ll keep this short. In fact, I’m publishing it at all mostly to get the “Of Interest” stuff out to you. I was going to write a whole long rant on so-called “cultural appropriation” but I changed my mind. Aren’t you glad? Suffice to say, the actual purpose of a phrase like “cultural appropriation” is to intimidate and infuriate, not to effect actual change. To make that vein on the forehead bulge in … Read more