The Passive Voice

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, February 26

In today’s Journal ▪ Update on PWW ▪ Just got a note ▪ Topic: “Pantsers” vs. “Plodders” ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers The contributors for PWW seem to be getting excited and looking forward to posting on PWW. Note that I may or may not always agree with what they post. But that isn’t the point. The site isn’t “my” website. I’m only the guy who set it up and started the ball rolling. The site itself belongs to those who post on it. I’ll also contribute, but only every now and then as a guest … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, February 25

In today’s Journal ▪ Update on PWW ▪ Thanks in spades ▪ The Hovel, Part 2 ▪ My special offer stands ▪ Daily diary (and pictures!) ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers I received notice this morning that we have our first new subscriber who isn’t also a contributor at Professional Writers Writing. Woohoo! If you haven’t subscribed yet, I hope you will. And I hope you’ll tell all your writer friends. I think PWW is really going to be a big deal, a go-to source for writing information, advice and inspiration. *** Thanks for all the comments recently on … Read more

The Daily Journal, Sunday, February 24

In today’s Journal ▪ Yesterday ▪ Smashwords’ 10th Annual Read an Ebook Week ▪ Topic: Presenting… The Hovel ▪ A Special Offer (I’m feeling generous) ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Yesterday was interesting. I didn’t make much headway in the story, but I did get covers created for Blackwell Ops 2 and 3, promo files done, and those books uploaded for pre-order at D2D, Amazon and Smashwords. So all in all, a good day. On the home front, the heater in the house spontaneously started working again. Seems I have the only heater on earth that … Read more

The Daily Journal, Saturday, February 23

In today’s Journal ▪ Topic: Paragraphing ▪ A Special Offer (I’m feeling generous) ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Topic: Paragraphing Despite what most of us heard in school, you don’t have to keep everything about a particular topic in one massive paragraph. Especially in fiction. And blog posts. In fiction, you should begin a new paragraph every time a different character speaks. Most everybody knows that. You should also begin a new paragraph when the scene or setting changes (even in the same setting, even a little). The primary benefit of shorter paragraphs (say up to … Read more

The Daily Journal, Friday, February 22

In today’s Journal ▪ MurderCon registration opening soon ▪ Daily diary and general rambling ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Registration for MurderCon, presented by Writers’ Police Academy, opens this coming Sunday. For information, see https://www.writerspoliceacademy.com/classes-available/. *** Up at a little after 3 to a rainy, drizzly morning. And the rain’s supposed to turn to snow later. According to those who profess to know, we’re supposed to get 6″ before it’s all done. Not something we’re used to here, but it’s only weather. It will be 70 degrees here by the middle of next week. Of course, today many of … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, February 21

In today’s Journal ▪ Update on the PWW site ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers The basics of the PWW site are set in concrete now. We’ll have six regular contributors who will post once a week on Monday through Saturday. Sunday will be reserved for the guest contributors, who will post in rotation. Later today I’ll add a subscription form. I was going to use WordPress.com’s “JetPack” plugin, but WP.com has gotten too big for their britches. The plugin basically took over the PWW site, so I deactivated and uninstalled it. At the worst, I’ll create … Read more

The Daily Journal, Sunday, February 17

In today’s Journal ▪ Update on Pro Writers Writing ▪ The daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers The Pro Writers Writing website continues to evolve. I finally have the “banner” across the top of the site like I want it. I’ve added many things behind the scenes that will make the site easier to navigate and various plugins that will make the site easier to read. I’m very excited about our official launch, which is planned for March 15. Stay tuned! *** My son got in from a trip to Yuma last night, so we stayed up chatting … Read more

The Daily Journal, Wednesday, February 13

In today’s Journal ▪ Draft2Digital ▪ Behind the scenes: an announcement ▪ Crime Writer Sue Coletta ▪ The daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Draft2Digital, the ebook distributor where you can also create print books, has a new refer-a-friend royalty program. At least it’s new to me. Basically, if someone opens a new account at Draft2Digital and uses my link — https://www.draft2digital.com/referHS — I earn 10% of D2D’s royalty share (not yours) for the next two years. As you know, I’ve been recommending D2D as a distributor for the past couple of years. So if you haven’t joined … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, February 12

In today’s Journal ▪ The WIP ▪ The daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Weird. As I close in on the end of the WIP (I don’t know what the end will be and it’s probably still some 20,000 words in the future) I seem to be writing it in spurts. Again, every book writes differently, but this is a huge difference for me. It seems every time I sit down my fingers fly over the keyboard. Yet at the end of the day I have fewer words done than I expected. It’s true that I’ve absented myself … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, February 11

In today’s Journal ▪ For fun ▪ The challenge. ▪ The daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers For fun (and with my friend Dan Baldwin in mind), see the excerpt from “A Love Story Between Business Managers, Written by a Business Manager” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/a-love-story-between-business-managers-written-by-a-business-manager/. Oh dear god, folks, please don’t write like this. *** The Challenge I’m currently on Day 9 of the third novel of my writing challenge (to write 10 novels in 150 consecutive days). When the first novel ended, I had three days in the bank. I quickly wasted two of those days, which left … Read more