the writing life

The Journal: No Seriously, Nobody Cares

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: No Seriously, Nobody Cares * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Nobody cares.” Dean Wesley Smith Topic: No, Seriously, Nobody Cares This morning, Kris Rusch wrote a kind of rambling Business Musings post titled, “Nobody Cares.” When it goes public in a few days, I’ll link to it in “Of Interest” so you can see it for yourself. I suspect it was rambling because she was tired from just having finished teaching a live workshop in Vegas. (I wanted badly to tell her she could … Read more

The Journal: If You Want to See a Good Topic, and Kind of a Topic

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * If You Want to See a Good Topic * Topic: Kind of a Topic * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “If an indie author is publishing a book across a variety of different national borders via Amazon, even if the use of an image might pass muster under US law, the laws of other nations might give rise to claims for damages.” The Passive Guy If You Want to See a Good Topic I’m being lazy today. If you want to see a good topic, … Read more

The Journal: Finished My Drawings and…

In today’s Journal * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers I finished up my drawings yesterday, basically one overall map of the ship and three close-up views of individual rooms, in about two hours. Now as I’m writing, I can glance up at the overall view and not have my characters going the wrong way to get someplace. (grin) I remembered I’d already mapped out the subsurface moon colony back when I wrote another novel, either The Thirteen-Month Turn or In the Siberian Fields, so I didn’t have to do that again. The colony was built to last, I … Read more

The Journal: Fear, and What to Do About It

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: Fear, and What to Do About It * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “And of course, there’s the fear that I’ll never be able to write decently, much less prolifically, again.” New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Russell Blake in “Taking a Break” on 9 July 2019https://russellblake.com/taking-a-break/ Topic: Fear, and What to Do About It Notice the Quote of the Day above. If you go read the blog post, you’ll see that the conscious, critical mind has pretty much stilled Russell Blake, … Read more

The Journal: How to Learn Fiction-Writing Techniques

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: How to Learn Fiction-Writing Techniques * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “[W]hat the character notices and how s/he notices something are reflections of who s/he is.” Michaele Lockhart Topic: How to Learn Fiction-Writing Techniques This topic arose from an email I received a few days ago. What appears below is my expanded response. If you want to learn new fiction-writing techniques and improve your craft, 1. Take in-person or online video or audio courses from knowledgeable sources. By knowledgeable sources, I mean folks with … Read more

The Journal: The New World of Publishing

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: The New World of Publishing * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Doing has always been a binary choice; to do or not do. … Revel when you can in the celestial creative mind.” Robert J. Sadler Topic: The New World of Publishing Yeah, I know. Digital publishing and ebooks have been around awhile now. But every now and then I’m reminded why I still love this new world of publishing. An attentive reader who is also a successful professional writer pointed out that my … Read more

The Journal: On Routines

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: On Routines * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I do the best I can with every thing I write. … I just don’t care what others think about the final product and I have fun, and those two things keep critical voice at bay for me.” Dean Wesley Smith “If you set a goal of 500 or 1,000 words and you keep it every day, you feel as if you have accomplished something.” Amanda Patterson in a post for Writers Write Topic: On Routines … Read more

The Journal: A Ton More on Critical Voice

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Thanks and a request * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “[T]he fun is that you can do anything you want because no one cares and it’s just fun and entertainment. The writers who really, really embrace that are often the most successful because not only do they not know where they are going (or care), their readers don’t know and love the ride.” Dean Wesley Smith in a comment to another writer “[F]ear does kill fun. No doubt about that, except on roller coasters, when … Read more

The Journal: How to Push Back the Critical Voice

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: How to Push Back the Critical Voice * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I would rather dance barefoot on a bed of nails than outline a novel. I know some writers find outlining essential. To me, outlining feels artificial, as if I’m moving characters around like chess pieces. I’m a terrible chess player. Not so good at checkers, either.” Dean Koontz on Twitter (courtesy Phillip McCollum) “[W]riters must look at writing like they look at reading other writer’s works. They must go to story … Read more

The Journal: I Don’t Mean to Sound Harsh But

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Over on Pro Writers Writing * Wanting to share, Subscriber Finn wrote * Had a very enjoyable visit * Topic: I Don’t Mean to Sound Harsh But * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I think it actually helps with the creativity to know that I don’t have time to think. Whatever comes out, that’s it. And that tends to be some of the best stuff and some of the most authentic stuff.” Sean Petrie of the Typewriter Rodeo “[Rewriting is] a belief in process rather … Read more