The Journal, Monday, 7/31

Hey Folks, The Last Day of July! Woohoo! Today I’ll finish my 26th novel. With any luck, I’ll begin the 27th. Well, I might wait until August 1 just to be honest about it. Today, and Writing Headed out to the Hovel at around 10. Struggling a little as I head for the end game on this one. The characters tossed up one more twist. Very weird. So I wrote awhile, then cycled back through almost the whole book to make sure everything fit. Then I wrote some more, cycled back some more, and wrote some more. Well, I found … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, 7/30

Hey Folks, Cool. I woke this morning to a request to include yet another of my books, Rise of a Warrior, in a bundle at BundleRabbit. Not only is it a good stand-alone novel, but it’s also the first book in the Wes Crowley series. Uh, yeah. I’ll do that. (grin) If you don’t have your work listed with BundleRabbit yet, why not? Check it out at http://bundlerabbit.com. The account is free, and every time your story or book is bundled, you gain access to new readers. And yes, you can upload short stories and collections as well as novellas … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, 7/29

Hey Folks, Well, the good new is, the intensive will go. We have four hearty souls signed up. There are four slots left. If anyone else wants in and you’re local, email me. (Please don’t fly in, etc. No need. If this goes as well as I expect, I’ll put it on audio later and make it available for sale to the public at something of a discount.) *** I went to bed and read for about an hour last night (Raymond Chandler stuff, of Philip Marlowe fame). Then some moron got his vehicle stuck on the dirt road that … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 7/28

Hey Folks, I get a lot of questions that I can answer, in general, with this one sentence: “In storytelling, no single aspect is more important than the ability to pull the reader into the story and keep him there.” I’m hoping to teach an intensive on how exactly to do that in the near future. The intensive will be geared for no more than 8 attendees. Two writers are already signed up. I’ll cover Openings, Hooks, Grounding the Reader in the Story, Physical and Emotional Cliffhangers, and Pacing. Given time, I’ll talk a little about Endings as well. The … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, 7/26

Hey Folks, Had a very nice email last night and this morning from a reader and writer about a story I wrote. Frankly, I don’t remember the story, though I recognized the title. She wrote with a question, but was also kind enough to say the story had “amazing detail” and was “an amazing example of pacing.” Who knew? It was a great compliment and a total score. (grin) Anyway, we’ll visit two more uncles today, then are considering having supper with another before heading back home. We miss our 4-legged babies. We’re also considering staying one more night since … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, 7/23

Hey Folks, Well, my kitten is all right. I won’t go into details, but my wife and I considered putting off our trip (with nonrefundable hotel stays already paid for) to stay here with her. Thanks to my bride for considering doing that. (She brought the subject up.) I’m always torn when I (or we) leave. It’s better for Bit and the other two babies to stay here in familiar surroundings. But it’s always difficult on me, being away from her for any length of time. I’ve never been quite selfish enough to take her with me, but I’ve been … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 7/21

Hey Folks, Nothing much to talk about today. I should be back in a day or two with a topic or three. Oh, I do have a book in a new bundle. The Dystopia Bundle at BundleRabbit. You can get 11 great stories (so the curator says) for only $3.99. A good value no matter how you cut it. For details, please check https://bundlerabbit.com/b/alpha-one/. Here’s a picture: Today, and Writing Got out to the Hovel a little later than I did yesterday. That, combined with a strange necessity to do very little, slowed the pace of my writing and today’s … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, 7/20

Hey Folks, I’m so excited about this first bit I can barely breathe. Truly a drop-the-mic moment. Via The Digital Reader (Thanks, Nate!) you can now download and read — FREE — a huge archive of Amazing Stories magazines. They are available in several formats, and both Kindle and PDF downloaded quickly for me. If you like SF, this is a treasure trove. If you want to study masterful writers, this is an atomic treasure trove. (And please, if you think you have to want to write SF to learn from masterful SF writers, you shouldn’t have access to sharp … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, 7/19

Hey Folks, Hemingway has long been my major influence in my writing. The man just has a way with terse sentences, regardless of their length. I need to read some of his stuff. I thought I had most of his works, so I checked. I have his Complete Short Stories: The Finca Vigia Edition in both paper and ebook, and I’ve read it through several times. I also have a few of his novels. A few. My library was sorely lacking in that regard. Yesterday I did a quick inventory, then sat down and ordered The Old Man and the … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, 7/18

Hey Folks, If you aren’t distributing through Draft2Digital.com (D2D) yet, here’s another reason to do so. I received an email this morning saying D2D has partnered with Findaway Voices to provide audio books starting, actually, today. To read about this innovation, visit https://draft2digital.com/blog/d2d-partners-with-findaway-voices-to-provide-an-alternative-to-acx-starting-7182017/. Of special note, if you use Findaway Voices via D2D, the former even waives their normal $49 admin fee. Worth checking out. Best of all, it gives readers one more way to find your work, and it gives you one more trickling stream of income. Today, and Writing I did little or nothing but reading and researching … Read more