Professional Writer Series

The Journal: A Diary of Days, and Feedback

In today’s Journal * A Gap-Filling Diary of Days * Topic: Feedback * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers A Gap-Filling Diary of Days I thought it might be useful to make notes on these few days when I’m not publishing the Journal January 2 — Got a lot done in moving offices in preparation for transitioning StoneThread Publishing to a licensing company. And wow, am I ever excited! As always, tasks that are necessary but peripheral to the actual writing fill me with a strong desire to get back to the basics: * Learn more (learning the craft … Read more

The Journal: Fun with Numbers and a Blast from the Past

In today’s Journal * Topic: Fun With Numbers and a Blast from the Past * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Topic: Fun With Numbers and a Blast from the Past Recently on a blog I follow now and then (the writer doesn’t post often), a writer listed her fiction numbers for the past several years. I like that, so I stole the idea. (Thanks, L.) Now, I’m not comparing myself with L or with anyone else. We all have different lives with different priorities and with different time requirements levied on us. So I’m just jooking back to … Read more

The Journal: If It’s That Easy…

In today’s Journal * A quick roundup * The Coming Year * Topic: If It’s That Easy… * How I Came to Writing Into the Dark * Yesterday and Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Well, first a quick roundup since I was reporting fiction numbers a day late: Total fiction words for December……… 55128 Total fiction words for 2019………………… 452693 Total nonfiction words for December… 21570 Total nonfiction words for 2019………… 324830 Total words for 2019 (fiction and this blog)…… 777523 Calendar Year 2019 Novels…………………… 10 Calendar Year 2019 Novellas……………… 1 Calendar Year 2019 Short Stories… 4 Novels … Read more

The Journal: More on Word-Count Goals (a process post)

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: More on Word-Count Goals (a process post) * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “If you’re not productive in this new world, you’re done. You’re just done.” Dean Wesley Smith Topic: More on Word-Count Goals (a process post) I had a few questions about this, so I thought I’d revisit it. My daily word count goal is 3000 words per day beginning on January 1. Yesterday, I practiced. I started a short story that didn’t pan out, and I missed my goal. In fact, I … Read more

The Journal: On Daily Word-Count Goals

In today’s Journal * Topic: On Daily Word-Count Goals * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Topic: On Daily Word-Count Goals In case you don’t read the “My Own Getting Ready” in today’s “Of Interest,” I found it very interesting (and pleasantly surprising) that both Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch still use word-count goals. As I learned from Dean back in early 2014, a daily word-count goal is indispensible for several reasons: Whether you fall short or go way over on a particular day, the next morning the goal resets to zero and it’s a new day. … Read more

The Journal: Question Everything (and Safeguard Your Credibililty)

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: Question Everything (and Safeguard Your Credibililty) * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “In the face of misuse, it’s much easier to write a new definition than to teach the old one.” Me, on the dumbing down of English language usage America If you love the language and enjoy “tangential discussions,” see “Priorities” and the comments at https://prowriterswriting.com/priorities/. Topic: Question Everything (and Safeguard Your Credibililty) Yesterday (and through to this morning) I got into a discussion with some other folks about something silly. Is the … Read more

The Journal: Nonfiction Topics

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: Nonfiction Topics * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “[D]on’t let your opinion get in the way of sales.” Dean Wesley Smith You are the worst judge of your own work (we all are) when we think a work is “bad” as well as when we think it’s “good.” Hence, the quote above. Topic: Nonfiction Topics Now and again, professional fiction writers have complained to me, albeit mildly, that they find it difficult to come up with a new topic for a blog post every … Read more

The Journal: Paper or No Paper

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: Paper or No Paper * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “The freelance writer is a man who is paid per piece or per word or perhaps.” Robert Benchley, via The Passive Voice Topic: Paper or No Paper In today’s “Of Interest,” DWS talks about the fear of publishing. It’s a good article, and I recommend it. However, his article is tied to his Great Publishing Challenge. Seems he received a lot of comments that (to him) indicate fear of some aspect of publishing as … Read more

The Journal: Dual Days and Making Your Goals Public

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Dual Days * Topic: Making Your Goals Public * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “The only unacceptable short story is one that misses the deadline. A bad story is OK as long as it’s turned in – write a better one next week. No one cares about your bad story – and next week you [w]on’t have time to care about it. Read the bad story later and it probably turns out it’s not as heinous as you thought – besides, no one cares what … Read more

The Journal: A Lot of Stuff, and 2020 Goals

In today’s Journal * Thinking Out Loud * Pressure (Fear) * My Personal Writing Goals * The Rules and Caveats * My Patrons * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Thinking Out Loud If you’ve been thinking about jumping into Dean’s short story challenge (or the novel challenge, for that matter), be sure to see the first item in “Of Interest” below. Both challenges are an absolute win-win. Yes, it costs $600 to buy-in. But if you drop out anywhere along the line, you get $600 worth of credit toward his workshops. So you lose nothing. You also get … Read more