Professional Writer Series

The Daily Journal, Wednesday, January 16

Hey Folks, I learned from Linda Maye Adams’ newsletter that the 2019 Superstars Seminar will run from February 7-9 this year. So I looked it up. (grin) The seminar focuses on the business side of writing, but according to the website they’ll also have a separate writing craft day on February 6. You can attend that as well, or separately. According to Christine Mandeville, the conference co-director, some sessions are full but there are a lot of extras. I recommend it. To see the lineup of instructors. the curriculum and the schedule, click http://superstarswriting.com/. To see the fees, visit http://superstarswriting.com/fees/. … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, January 15

Hey Folks, Well, Consequences released today. Woohoo! I got an email from Amazon letting me know that, so it released at D2D and Smashwords as well. I’ll upload it to BundleRabbit later today. Frankly, I’d forgotten what day it was, and at the moment I can’t remember what the story was about, except that it’s in the Nick Spalding series. How’s that for not making a particular book “special”? (grin) *** While I’m rambling, let me recommend Linda Maye Adams’ newsletter again. In it she occasionally drops a real gem. You can sign up by visiting her website at https://lindamayeadams.com/. … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, January 14

Hey Folks, In today’s “Of Interest” DWS talks about trusting your character(s). As usual, he’s spot-on, and with a very timely post. And there’s an absolute must-read from The Kill Zone blog. Enjoy. Topic: Averting a Conscious-Mind Attack Yesterday, in addition to what I wrote and reported here, I also took a wrong turn in the story and wrote 560 words that I didn’t report. How did I know it was a wrong turn? Because the writing began to trudge along. I’d write a sentence, then stop. Then I’d think “Just write the next sentence,” and I did. And then … Read more

The Daily Journal, Sunday, January 13

Hey Folks, Some good stuff in today’s “Of Interest,” as in the purloined topic, “Crappy First Drafts,” which I blatantly stole from my friend, Dan Baldwin and his Writing Tip of the Week. One note on James Scott Bell’s examples at the Kill Zone blog: Nobody, and I mean nobody, says “ta” for “to” or “ya” for “you.” Folks in Minnesota say “ya” occasionally for “yeah,” but even they never say “ya” for “you.” When writing intelligently (meaning with the reader in mind), dialect and accents are not rendered “over ta the saloon” or “What ya doin’?” (Read them aloud. … Read more

The Daily Journal, Saturday, January 12

Hey Folks, First, to new subscriber M. Shephard, thanks for jumping in! Good to have you along. *** I made a new friend (well, acquaintance) early this morning. A guy wrote me out of the blue to request all six books from my current special offer. He went on to say he graduated high school a year before I did (different school) and knew several people from my hometown. He also said he’d only recently found my books and had just finished reading The Wes Crowley Saga (all ten books in one edition) and loved it. Talk about a great … Read more

The Daily Journal, Friday, January 11

Hey Folks, You’ll notice above it says The Daily Journal. That’s right. I have a new goal. The goal is to make this a truly “daily” journal again. That will ensure I write something every day, even when it’s only this little Journal. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you’ll come along for the ride. Or continue the ride. You know, whatever. (grin) The last time I missed a day was back on October 12, 2018. (Closer than I remembered.) So the plan is not to do that anymore. *** I started the day with a marketing effort. … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, January 10

Hey Folks, Wow. I rolled out at 3:45 after the first really good night’s sleep I’ve had in a while. Almost 9 hours. (grin) I breezed through the stuff in the “Of Interest” section (a GREAT section today, by the way), then took a short break, and I’m turning to the novel at 5. Topic: Some Special Book Deals I interrupt our regularly scheduled topics to offer you, my readers, a special deal on some brand-new books. (grin) Yesterday I got everything finalized for Blackwell Ops: Jack Tilden (action-adventure thriller novel) and got it up for pre-publication sale. It’s scheduled … Read more

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, Monday, January 7

Hey Folks, A fairly short Journal entry today. I’m sure you’re relieved after the past few days. (grin) Wow, what a day. A dear friend asked yesterday for a copy of a short story I wrote a couple of years ago titled “Ila and the Piñon Tree.” She wanted to review it for me. So I sent it to her. This morning, she emailed to say some of the text was missing. She was right. What made it even worse is that this edition also contained the Spanish translation by the editor of EstePaís magazine. After about a 20-minute search … Read more