The Digital Reader

The Journal: A Conundrum

In today’s Journal * Digital Marketing Assistance * Karen Riggs * Odd. At roughly the 2/3 point * Of Interest * The Numbers Over at The Passive Voice today, among other articles, was one titled “Should You Hire a Social Media Assistant?” See https://www.thepassivevoice.com/should-you-hire-a-social-media-assistant/. The article was written by Barbara Linn Probst as a guest post for Jane Friedman. If this topic interests you, I also encourage you to read the comments. For one digital marketing and/or virtual assistant possibility, see https://www.pub-craft.com/. I’m not recommending them, only mentioning them. I encourage you to key “digital marketing” and/or “virtual assistant” into … Read more

The Journal: A Matter of Mindset

In today’s Journal * Topic: A Matter of Mindset * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Topic: A Matter of Mindset You might consider this a little tough love. In this business, and it IS a business, your mindset is all-important. If you want to be a writer, you have to write. It really is that simple and, for some, that difficult. Please remember that I’m not talking from some magical ivory tower here. I’ve been where all other writers have been before or are now. Some writers outline. Been there, done that. Some writers research, research, research. Until … Read more

The Journal: The Good and Bad of Critique

In today’s Journal * Quote of the day * Today’s “Of Interest” * Today and tomorrow * Of Interest * The Numbers Most of the items in today’s “Of Interest” are all about selling ebooks. Don’t miss those. There’s a ton of good information at those links. The last item in “Of Interest” illustrates why inviting critique on your work can be a bad idea. In fact, it can be detrimental to your work. The simple fact is, some critiquers go too far, and how screwed-up your work can become depends on how much you trust your critiquer. I recommend … Read more

The Journal: An Exciting Time and Short Story Done

In today’s Journal * An exciting time * Topic: * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers The next few weeks will be an exciting time for me. To start it off, I have to write a short story today to meet this week’s goal. (grin) Yep, I put it off again. I think I did that (subconsciously) because it makes meeting my goal more of a challenge. No idea at the moment what I’ll write about. And as I mentioned here recently, I suspect toward the end of February or early March, the current weekly blog post at my … Read more

The Journal: All About Challenges

In today’s Journal * All About Challenges * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers In the first “Of Interest” link today, DWS talks about and clarifies his Great Challenges (Publishing, Novel Writing, and Short Story Writing). If you want to jump-start your writing, I can’t recommend them strongly enough. In fact, if I had the funds, I’d jump into all three, and at least two (Publishing and either of the others). But with my current level of production, I’d also feel like I was cheating. After all, to satisfy the requirements of the Publishing challenge, you have to publish … Read more

The Journal: If You Want to See a Good Topic, and Kind of a Topic

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * If You Want to See a Good Topic * Topic: Kind of a Topic * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “If an indie author is publishing a book across a variety of different national borders via Amazon, even if the use of an image might pass muster under US law, the laws of other nations might give rise to claims for damages.” The Passive Guy If You Want to See a Good Topic I’m being lazy today. If you want to see a good topic, … Read more

The Journal: Finished My Drawings and…

In today’s Journal * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers I finished up my drawings yesterday, basically one overall map of the ship and three close-up views of individual rooms, in about two hours. Now as I’m writing, I can glance up at the overall view and not have my characters going the wrong way to get someplace. (grin) I remembered I’d already mapped out the subsurface moon colony back when I wrote another novel, either The Thirteen-Month Turn or In the Siberian Fields, so I didn’t have to do that again. The colony was built to last, I … Read more

The Journal: Preaching to the Choir (I Hope)

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Preaching to the Choir (I Hope) * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Many people hear voices when no one is there. Some of them are called “mad” and are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called “writers” and they do pretty much the same thing.” Ray Bradbury “I have some goals, but I’m going to mostly keep those to myself. Some of them are very high reaching, and I’ve learned that voicing them just gets criticism… … Read more

The Journal: Today, and All That Entails

In today’s Journal * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Today I’m posting this primarily to get the “Of Interest” items out to you. I’m not sure yet what the day will hold. Some learning, certainly, almost certainly more work on licensing projects and maybe on my shared world bibles. And a couple of new story ideas (and a couple of older ones) have been nagging me over the past few days. Decisions, decisions. And then there are things I want. Like I want to set or re-set some new goals. I’ve been wanting to start writing at least … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, October 23

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Show of hands * Topic: Warning—Safeguard Your IP * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Jesus, where the hell is everybody when they first deliver the typing paper? Where are all the ‘helpers’ when those boxes full of silence come in? Blank. Both sides. No clue, no instructions enclosed on how to take just twenty-six letters and endlessly rearrange them so that they can turn them into a mirror of a part of our lives. Try it sometime.” Larry Gelbart First, a ahow of hands—How many … Read more