The Passive Voice

The Daily Journal, Monday, April 29

In today’s Journal ▪ Quote of the Day ▪ My two year old says being sick sucks ▪ Note on Joe Lansdale’s essay ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Quote of the Day: “[N]ever fight what’s working.” Joe Lansdale *** Wow, April 29 already. Where does the time go? I’m one of those unfortunate souls for whom the ticking of the clock is a powerful catalyst. It’s been that way since I was about ten years old. When an hour passed, even when I’d accomplished something during that hour, it was still an hour I’d never get … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, April 25

In today’s Journal ▪ Adios Robert ▪ Topic: Voice (and some stuff on dialect) ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Yesterday, my friend and I spent a full day and evening visiting, reminiscing, philosophizing, swapping lies and generally just shooting the bull. It was a great time. This morning, though, I got up a little late and Robert had already left. Robert, if you decide to go home via I-10, I hope you’ll give me a call so we can at least meet in Benson for lunch or a cup of coffee. Either way, thanks for the … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, April 23

In today’s Journal ▪ Pro Writers Writing blog ▪ Topic: You Have a Choice ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Well, for the second day in a row the post at PWW didn’t go out via MailChimp as it was supposed to. As a result, I deactivated the “missed-post trigger” plug-in that obviously isn’t working and activated another one. I also went into MailChimp and re-set the posting time to 9 a.m. So we’ll see. UPDATE: The PWW post went out! Woohoo! I’ll leave the posting time at 9. Wouldn’t want to upset anything. In the meantime, … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, April 22

In today’s Journal ▪ Still downloading ▪ Too Important for “Of Interest” ▪ Topic: Life Wants to Live ▪ A note about “Of Interest” ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers I visited Unsplash.com yesterday and downloaded more possible cover pics for Blackwell Ops 5, and this morning I continued and downloaded even more. And yes, as I scanned “women in shadow” pics (thousands of them) I also downloaded a lot of pics that appealed to me for future stories and/or covers too. Easy to get happily lost while doing that. (grin) But everything’s moving forward. I’ll get … Read more

The Daily Journal, Saturday, April 20

In today’s Journal ▪ Quote of the day ▪ Topic: On the Value of Pre-Orders ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Quote of the Day: “We shall soon be in a world in which a man may be howled down for saying that two and two make four, in which people will persecute the heresy of calling a triangle a three-sided figure, and hang a man for maddening a mob with the news that grass is green.” G. K. Chesterton *** Topic: On the Value of Pre-Orders Well, apparently I’m still having trouble with Heinlein’s Rule 4 … Read more

The Daily Journal, Friday, April 19

In today’s Journal ▪ Grand Master Jack Williamson ▪ There’s a great writing-book bundle ▪ Topic: Always Learning ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers In a comment on his post from yesterday, DWS reminded me of Jack Williamson, whom I was fortunate to study under and get to know during my final year in college at Eastern NM University in Portales NM back in the early ’90s. Jack had compiled a collection of short stories titled People Machines, and he gave me a copy. But it wasn’t only a collection of stories. Accompanying each short story was … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, April 15

In today’s Journal ▪ Notre Dame Cathedral ▪ Blackwell Ops 4: Melanie Sloan ▪ I couldn’t get through the OP ▪ Topic: Mentoring (or Not), A Cautionary Tale ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers First and foremost, our hearts go out to the people of Paris and France as Notre Dame, which has stood since the 14th century, is on fire today. I don’t watch network news, so I first learned of this at around 1:15 p.m. from my dear friend Michaele, for whom the Cathedral was once her parish church for a short while. Of course, … Read more

The Daily Journal, Sunday, April 14

In today’s Journal ▪ Quote of the day and thanks ▪ Another BundleRabbit bundle ▪ Yesterday I ordered ▪ Topic: “Take Your Time: Part 3” ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Via The Passive Voice, “If you have a story that seems worth telling, and you think you can tell it worthily, then the thing for you to do is to tell it, regardless of whether it has to do with sex, sailors or mounted policemen.” — Dashiell Hammett *** I think I forgot to mention awhile back I’m in another BundleRabbit bundle called Eclectica. My short … Read more

The Daily Journal, Sunday, April 7

In today’s Journal ▪ I regret to report ▪ Day 3 of my days off ▪ Topic: Who a Story Is About ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers I regret to report a massive sadness. This morning, my wife told me she saw on Facebook that my dear friend and mentor Jim Glaser passed away last night. Jim and I occasionally talked about both music and writing. I will miss his insights, and him, a great deal. For those of you who knew his music or the harmonies of Tompall and the Glaser Brothers (Tompall, Chuck and … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, April 4

In today’s Journal ▪ A little trivia ▪ Topic: Writing Action Scenes ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers According to a promo email I received yesterday, Motorolo made the first cellular phone call 46 years ago yesterday. Feelin’ old yet? (grin) *** Topic: Writing Action Scenes I’ve wanted to write a post on this for awhile now, and it’s finally time. This post results directly from a high-action scene, a fight scene, I wrote yesterday. It was probably the best high-action scene I’ve ever written. It isn’t so much a “how-to” as a “how-I-do-it” essay. All of … Read more