the writing life

The Journal: Doodle-bugs and Bigfoot

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * During my morning walk * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “We set goals to help ourselves, not to harm ourselves.” a writer closely related to Wes Crowley (grin, and thanks to Aldred G. for the reminder) During my morning walk, if I encounter other creatures (jackrabbits, coyotes, lines of hard-working ants, etc.) I always say a cordial good morning. This morning on my way back to the house, a doodle-bug crossed my path. As is my habit, I said, “Good morning, Doodle-bug!” And just as I was … Read more

The Journal: Quotes and Other Things

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * If you’ve never read * In some of Dean’s lectures * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I teach a number of writing classes and attend my share of conferences, and one of the questions that always comes up goes something like this: ‘I hear authors talk about how there comes a point in every story when the characters take over and start writing the story for you. Does that happen to you?’ The short answer is no; and frankly, it sort of ticks me off. I’d love … Read more

The Journal: In my own writing, a decision

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * In my own writing, a decision * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “I’ll go to the grave with some regrets, but none will be for things I wanted to do and didn’t try.” Wes Crowley In my own writing, I’ve decided to set aside Blackwell Ops 8 for now. Frankly, I’m just not into it, and (in my opinion) it reads like I’m not into it. Important: I used the qualifier “in my opinion” above because my opinion is only one opinion. Another reader might think it’s … Read more

The Journal: About Marketing, and Alison Holt

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * About that second quote (griping about marketing) * Alison Naomi Holt and Kickstarter * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “An author who gives a manager or publisher any rights in his work except those immediately and specifically required for its publication or performance is for business purposes an imbecile.” George Bernard Shaw (Thanks to The Passive Voice for the quote) I would add that any writer/author who gives any manager (agent) or publisher all rights needs to work on his or her self-esteem. “There’s nothing like low … Read more

The Journal: Minor Update and “Deep POV”

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * One astute reader * From David Farland’s newsletter * Topic: On “Deep POV” * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Hachette Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, bought my book in October 2017. They paid me $50,000 in the first of three installments constituting an advance against royalties. That first payment netted to around $29,000 after agent commission and taxes. This money was supposed to cover the cost of the time it would take me to write the book, as well as all additional research and reporting—to … Read more

The Journal: Personal Update

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Big deals in Of Interest * Personal update * CovID-19 stuff * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Terror’s not ghosts flying through the walls, going woo-woo-woo. Terror is when the party is over and everyone has gone home and at last you can take a deep breath and you lock the doors and your place is finally empty and quiet, and you turn out the lights and then you hear the toilet flush upstairs. That’s terror.” Warren Murphy Okay, again I’m putting out this edition of the … Read more

The Journal: Only an Update

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * An Update re APEX Writers Group * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “The power to tightly regulate is a drug not easily kicked.” James Scott Bell An Update re APEX Writers Group Re the problem with the Terms of Service I noted in yesterday’s Journal post, I received a quick and thorough response from both Dave Farland and his webmaster. The CompleatWriter.com website is still under construction, and the offensive TOS was an item the webmaster had grabbed as a placeholder, and one that hadn’t yet been … Read more

The Journal: Beware of Scammers

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Beware of Scammers * Dave Farland’s APEX writers group * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “The best research is often passive. Never be afraid to learn more about people and what they do–who they are.” John Gilstrap “Like GPS navigation, which started as just a tool but has reduced our engagement with the act of navigating, AI language generators may start by sparing us labor but soon spare us thought.” David A. Price in The Wall Street Journal, courtesy The Passive Guy Topic: Beware of Scammers … Read more

The Journal: A Cornucopia

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * I hadn’t planned * In a break from my own norm * Just in case anyone’s interested * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be until finally I became that person. Or he became me.” Cary Grant “Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.” Cary Grant “Write the truest version.” Kathleen McCleary “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know. So finally I would write … Read more

The Journal: Susan Ellison

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The Passing of Susan Ellison and a Story * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “If you aren’t getting better, you’re getting worse.” Lawrence Welk on practice “Wit does not always mean funny. Many times it is, but the real basis of wit is sharpness. It gets the point across crisply, memorably.” James Scott Bell The Passing of Susan Ellison, and a Story I was late coming to this, but I thought it worthy of sharing in a special post. First, read Neil Gaiman’s touching post at https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2020/08/susan-ellison-rip-and-love.html. … Read more