the writing life

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, Wednesday, February 20

In today’s Journal My apology for the very long Journal today. But it’s all good stuff. ▪ Update on the challenge ▪ Topic: Writers Need Adventure — Don’t They? ▪ Two folks chimed in ▪ Daily diary (yeah, it’s back) ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers With novel 3 of the challenge in the bank, I’ll probably begin novel 4 today. No idea at the moment what it will be. Maybe back to one of my series, maybe a standalone. I guess we’ll see. It won’t be another Blackwell Ops book, though, unless another truly unique character pops into my … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, February 19

In today’s Journal ▪ Please read this, and update on PWW ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Please read this. Looking back, I wish I’d set up this blog with only an excerpt via email from the beginning. Folks are just more likely to comment on the blog if they’re reading it on the website itself. Of course, I tried the experiment of going to a click-through model with the Journal, but most respondents didn’t like it, so I switched back. And don’t get me wrong. I don’t blame them. The format of the Journal isn’t conducive to excerpts. For … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, February 18

In today’s Journal ▪ Update on the challenge ▪ Update on Pro Writers Writing ▪ Topic: Ignore Name Calling ▪ The daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Today would be the last day of writing for book 3 of the challenge if I didn’t have a day in the bank. (grin) As it stands, I have today and tomorrow to finish the book on time. And it looks as if I’ll make it. I’d like to finish it today and carry over that bank day, but we’ll see. Everything depends on the characters. As it is, I expect … 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, Saturday, February 16

In today’s Journal ▪ My guest post ▪ Update on Pro Writers Writing ▪ The daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers My guest post on crime writer Sue Coletta’s blog posted this morning. If you get time, stop by and take a look. And if you’re moved to do so, please leave a comment. It’ll help with her blog. The URL is in “Of Interest.” *** The Pro Writers Writing site continues to come along. I’m still dithering with Robert’s original logo design, primarily trying to make the overall header short enough that the “meat” below it doesn’t … Read more

The Daily Journal, Friday, February 15

In today’s Journal ▪ Update on Pro Writers Writing ▪ Topic: On Being “In the Zone” ▪ The daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Update on Pro Writers Writing Last night I got started setting up the website for Pro Writers Writing. There isn’t much to see yet, beyond Robert Sadler’s excellent design for the logo that stretches across the top. I anticipate launching the new site in mid-March or a little later. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, Pro Writers Writing will be a blog similar to the Kill Zone blog. However, whereas TKZ authors … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, February 14

In today’s Journal ▪ Topic: An Apology ▪ A new blogger ▪ The daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Topic: An Apology Yesterday in “Of Interest” I posted a link to “Nine Lessons from a Small Indie Publisher.” Had I read it first (I usually do), I wouldn’t have posted it. IMHO, this is not a “small indie publisher.” This is a traditional publisher doing his best to make indie publishing look bad, and he’s doing such a bad job at it that the attempt is transparent. How low will they stoop? Yes, in true indie publishing the … 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