the writing life

The Journal: Mad Genius Club

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Thanks to a relatively obscure post * I started * The Numbers Quote of the Day “[I]n the [traditional publishing[ industry, it’s never about publishing what people want to read. It’s about ‘educating’ the public. Which has taken them from 100K plus printruns for midlist to 10k printruns for high list. The problem is it’s not a business plan. It’s a virtue signaling plan.” Mad Genius Club Thanks to a relatively obscure post at The Passive Voice and a little digging, I stumbled across what might be a treasure trove at … Read more

The Journal: The Journey Home: Part 7 Is Finished

In today’s Journal * Just a reminder * Wow. I almost screwed up * I was thinking * Today, and as I was reading * The Numbers Just as a reminder, the half-price sale on WMG Publishing (DWS) workshops ends on Thursday at 5 p.m. You can use the code AGAIN to get anything on Teachable at half price. (Note: I am not an affiliate. I pass this along only because I beleive it’s a great value.) Wow. I almost screwed up big time. So here’s another cautionary tale direct from the experience of a prolific writer. Yesterday, I was … Read more

The Journal: I almost didn’t post

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * I almost didn’t post * Yesterday I mentioned * I’ve always shared * The Numbers I almost didn’t post a Journal entry today. Nothing even in “Of Interest” except Dean’s post. I included it only because he finally revealed his progress on his new novel, which he’s writing as part of a new non-fiction project. I’m getting more and more frustrated as I visit my regular stops on writing blogs. One this morning was promising. An author wrote “When you’re stuck in your writing, take a step.” Then she went on … Read more

The Journal: Reminiscing

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Reminiscing * In response to my comment * A good month * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “You are a jigsaw puzzle piece of a certain shape. You could change your shape to fit an existing hole in the world. That was the traditional plan. But there’s another way that can often be better for you and for the world: to grow a new puzzle around you.” Jessica Livingston “My grandmother was the most important female role model in my life. … She did what she wanted, and she didn’t … Read more

The Journal: A Gentle Reminder

In today’s Journal * Topic: A Gentle Reminder * Fiction Lengths * The Numbers Topic: A Gentle Reminder A gentle reminder today not to believe every bit of every article you read about writing. Better to consider each statement and question posed in such articles, then assign each a value. The values I assign personally range from Valid on the high end to Maybe Useful in the middle to PBS on the low end, and I’m not talking about the television network. In my rating system the P stands for “Pure” and the B stands for “Bat” or “Bull,” your … Read more

The Journal: Random Thoughts

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Random Thoughts * In today’s “Of Interest” * Yesterday * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “In my case all painting… is an accident. I foresee it and yet I hardly ever carry it out as I foresee it. It transforms itself by the actual paint. I don’t in fact know very often what the paint will do, and it does many things which are very much better than I could make it do.” Francis Bacon (via The Passive Voice) “Anything you can make, you make by accident. … you have … Read more

The Journal: Why I Write the Journal

In today’s Journal * A good day * Topic: Why I Write the Journal * The Numbers Yesterday was a good day for me and my fiction. I wrote a short story of 4140 words for the Cave Creek Shared World, spell-checked it and sent it off, then took a short lunch break and added another 2480 words to the novel for a total on the day of 6620 words. Topic: Why I Write the Journal Note: This is a very long post. I won’t apologize for that, and I hope you’ll read it to the end. Slim pickings for … Read more

The Journal: I Have a Question

In today’s Journal * Topic: I Have a Question * Non-writing day yesterday * No “Of Interest” section today * The Numbers Topic: I have a question. Why are writers so insanely frightened of writing into the dark? I don’t mean individual writers being frightened to test the waters. I used to be one of those. I’d almost break out in hives at even the idea of sitting down and just writing without a clue as to which characters would appear or what they would do or say or which twists and turns might appear in the story, unbidden, unforetold … Read more

The Journal: A Minor Glitch

In today’s Journal * For the first time ever * I hit a minor glitch * The Numbers Well, for the first time ever, this morning I came back and deleted a large segment of an original Journal post. The simple fact is, I’m tired of beating my head against a wall. I don’t care how anyone else writes, I don’t care what sort of fertilizer they’re peddling, and I don’t care who buys it. My job as an instructor or mentor is to pay forward what I’ve learned and to help where I can. I do my best to … Read more

The Journal: Focusing Down, Revisited, Briefly

In today’s Journal * Topic: Focusing Down, Revisited, Briefly * I’m in a race * The Numbers Topic: Focusing Down, Revisited, Briefly Hmm. I think there might be a bit of a disconnect between what I mean and what you hear when I say “focus down.” When I say a writer should focus down, I’m going back to emphasizing that it’s the characters’ story as described through the physical and emotional senses of the POV character. It isn’t what the writer thinks (critical mind) to add-in, but what the POV character sees, hears, smell, tastes and touches and his opinions … Read more