Professional Writer Series

The Journal: A Cornucopia

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * I hadn’t planned * In a break from my own norm * Just in case anyone’s interested * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be until finally I became that person. Or he became me.” Cary Grant “Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.” Cary Grant “Write the truest version.” Kathleen McCleary “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know. So finally I would write … Read more

The Journal: Susan Ellison

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The Passing of Susan Ellison and a Story * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “If you aren’t getting better, you’re getting worse.” Lawrence Welk on practice “Wit does not always mean funny. Many times it is, but the real basis of wit is sharpness. It gets the point across crisply, memorably.” James Scott Bell The Passing of Susan Ellison, and a Story I was late coming to this, but I thought it worthy of sharing in a special post. First, read Neil Gaiman’s touching post at https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2020/08/susan-ellison-rip-and-love.html. … Read more

The Journal: Dropping by for a Visit

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * How are you? * Weather update * Well, I’m still writing, but * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Some days things don’t line up quite right. That’s why they make tomorrows.” Wes Crowley Yeah, I know that’s the same quote from the last time I posted, but I like that one. One of the best things Wes ever said. How’re ya’ll doing? I hope you’re doing better than I am. My brain’s still twisting in a wind of its own making (grin), with occasional heavy gusts from … Read more

The Journal: The Long Road Back

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Long Road Back * A dear friend * By the way * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Some days things don’t line up quite right. That’s why they make tomorrows.” Wes Crowley The Long Road Back Other writers routinely take off a month or two or more. For me, having averaged almost 3000 words of publishable fiction per day every day for several years, this time of not being productive has been excruciating. So in that way, it’s been a long road back. But I also … Read more

The Journal: A Few Things

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * On Construction and Pronoun Agreement * Ideas Again * Update on My Silliness * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “So, in the interests of survival, they trained themselves to be agreeing machines instead of thinking machines. All their minds had to do was to discover what other people were thinking, and then they thought that, too.” Kurt Vonnegut ​ “You can do many things by yourself. You have freedom to create things. I think that’s the fascination of computers.” Chang Yiming, founder of ByteDance and TikTok “Writing … Read more

The Journal: I’m Back

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can’t allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative.” [emphasis added] Elmore Leonard “Without translation, we would be living in provinces bordering on silence.” George Steiner (just beautifully written) I’m Back It’s been a struggle, and it isn’t over yet, but I’m over the hump. I won’t bore you with details, BUT: … Read more

The Journal: The Difference Between Rewriting and Cycling

In today’s Journal * How weird is that? * Topic: The Difference Between Rewriting and Cycling * Of Interest * The Numbers How weird is that? Two Journal entries in two days. I’m still not writing fiction, but I’m getting closer. I have a couple of major projects in mind. Once I settle on one, I should be off and running again. But for now, this Journal entry is necessary. Not for me or a handful of others I know, but for some of you maybe. Topic: The Difference Between Rewriting and Cycling This is a followup to the topic … Read more

The Journal: WITD Has Two Parts

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The current crisis * Topic: WITD Has Two Parts * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “By really getting into your work, the nonessential stuff drops away.” Bill Murray “Bill’s whole life is in the moment,” says Ted Melfi, who directed Murray in the movie St. Vincent. “He doesn’t care about what just happened. He doesn’t think about what’s going to happen. He doesn’t even book round-trip tickets. Bill buys one-ways and then decides when he wants to go home.” Gavin Edwards in “Being Bill Murray” in Rolling … Read more

The Journal: Not Tag-Line Verbs (Update)

In today’s Journal * Welcome * Topic: Not Tag-Line Verbs (Update) * Of Interest * The Numbers Welcome Here I am, barely blogging along after having written a post almost every day for years, and a new reader subscribed yesterday. Welcome, my new friend from Melbourne. While my blogging is less frequent than before, I invite you to use the tag cloud or search box to check for posts on topics that might interest you. A few more folks have joined us over the past couple of weeks too. Welcome, all. Topic: Not Tag-Line Verbs (Update) A couple of posts … Read more

The Journal: Update and Lessons Learned

In today’s Journal * Topic: Update and Lessons Learned * Of Interest * The Numbers Topic: Update and Lessons Learned Just to let you know what’s going on and share the experiece as I pull out of the doldrums, I think I’m over most of the internal stuff. Some of the external crap remains (and it’s all crap), but I have no control over that. As Barbarosa (Willie Nelson) says in the film by the same name, “The Mexicans have a saying down here: What cannot be remedied must be endured.” A more elegant version of “It simply is what … Read more