Sue Coletta

The Journal, Thursday, May 31

Hey Folks, I keep hammering away at this. But as an instructor, I know some folks “get it” when they hear information one way, and some get it when they hear it another way or from another source. With that in mind, see Kris Rusch’s “Business Musings: An Agent Nightmare Revealed” at https://kriswrites.com/2018/05/30/business-musings-an-agent-nightmare-revealed/. Yep. It’s so important I added it to the main body of the Journal. And shared it with several writer groups on FB. *** Today should be a writing day, and it probably will be. It might be a percolation day. A percolation day is a day … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, May 30

Hey Folks, Had a great walk this morning. Fourth day in a row. My wife agrees that we should walk every day that we can and then we’ll take a day “off” only when the weather won’t permit us to walk. But it doesn’t rain here much, so…. Then again, we aren’t going all that far yet either. Only a mile or so. Later we’ll have to leave a little earlier on days when she has to go to work, but we’ll figure that out. There’s about a 1/4 mile dirt road from the highway to our house. I can’t … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, May 8

Hey Folks, Okay, a lot of stuff in “Of Interest” today re crime novels and thrillers and Amazon and other things. Crime Writer Sue Coletta is an excellent resource. First some admin stuff… Happy birthday to my eldest daughter, Audrey. Today is her 44th. Thanks to all of you who remain subscribed to this Journal because you find it interesting, motivational, or educational. I probably haven’t said it for awhile, but I do appreciate you. When I was still in the USMC a lifetime ago, I overheard two much older guys talking about ways to stay young. One of them … Read more

The Journal, Monday, May 7

Hey Folks, The “Of Interest” section is huge today, and filled to the brim. Rolled out a little late this morning, but not too bad. After my experience yesterday with writing a short story at what amounted to megaspeed for me, I look forward to what might happen today. I started the day with a half-ton of reading. Everything in “Of Interest” plus a few similar items and side articles. Fascinating stuff. The thing is, everything goes into the subconscious. Even if you don’t write crime/detective/mystery novels, bits of what you read in these articles will bubble to the surface … Read more

The Journal, Monday, April 30

Hey Folks, Well, I’m gonna end the month with a fizzle. No writing again today. Still a little under the weather this morning. I have to get through this bug, whatever it is. *** In other news, I got an interesting email from a writer who said he’d sent for a first-page critique. I assume he sent it to the folks at Kill Zone blog. He wrote “judging from the list, I may hear from them in about two years.” If you’re interested, read the brief instructions for submitting your first page at https://killzoneblog.com/first-page-critiques-at-tkz. But if you have to wait … Read more

The Journal, Friday, April 27

Hey Folks, Well, when I started the current WIP, I thought I might finish it by the end of the month. The numbers added up about right. But it wasn’t so much a goal as something I thought I would probably do. Now I don’t think that’s going to happen. I had a couple of nights under the weather with very little sleep, and then a minor life roll reared it’s ugly attitude yesterday. So my production’s dropped. I had a light writing day yesterday, and another one today. I’m so emotionally and mentally spent that I decided not to … Read more

The Journal, Monday, April 16

Hey Folks, Well, I don’t have a lot to report today, but a really good “Of Interest” section. I was determined today to have less than 25% of the edit left to finish tomorrow. With that in mind, I leaned into it from around 4 a.m. until I stopped at around 3 p.m. So a good 11-hour day, with a few breaks here and there. As I write this I have 15% of the edit left to do, so I should finish it tomorrow. Then, unless the gods frown on me. I should be able to return to my WIP. … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, April 3

Hey Folks, Well, the current WIP is going to be a novellette or a novella. I don’t usually write to a particular length, but I know this one won’t get into the short-novel range. Something occurred to me after I wrote yesterday’s post. Write This Down: The only real difference between a short story and a story of any other length is that a short story is about One Event. Not two, not a few and not several. One. This story is about two cases, a new one and a cold case that all but mimics the new one, and … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, March 24

Hey Folks, Well, I decided to post this today mostly to share the “Of Interest” section. Well, and to publish the following topic. This one will be on the big blog in May as well. Topic: On Publishing, Indie-Publishing and Making a Name as a Published Author I received another query today from a writer who’s interested in a copyedit. He also asked whether I would help him find an agent and a traditional publisher. Uhh, no. After I explained why I thought the agent chase and traditional publishing in general was not a good idea, he wrote in reponse … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, March 4

Hey Folks, Well, in a great first session this morning, I got a little over 1300 words. Now I’ll be visiting until the kids leave, then maybe more writing. Anyway, I’m happy with the day’s production so far. Topic: Learning Yeah, I know we’ve talked about this before, but today I’m coming at it from another angle. Usually I recommend reading an author’s works. Then, if he or she does something you really like, take that author’s advice on how to do it. Of course, most authors don’t also offer instruction. Dean Wesley Smith and I are two of the … Read more