Topic

The Daily Journal, Saturday, July 27

In today’s Journal * Because * Quotes of the Day * Topic: A Recommendation * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Because (according to MailChimp) so few of you click-through to items in “Of Interest,” I’m putting this early in the body of this post: See “Day Job Thinking” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/day-job-thinking/. This is a great, extremely important post. Please read it carefully, maybe a couple of times. By the way, I’m not complaining about the click-throughs. I like to believe you aren’t clicking through on “Of Interest” items because you’re already checking them on your own. But I … Read more

The Daily Journal, Friday, July 26

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Someone unsubscribed (not a bad thing) * Topic: A Proposed Inventory for Short Fiction * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quotes of the Day “I like to hope that because stuff’s surprising me along the way, maybe it has the same surprise and spontaneity for readers. … It’s all about following it wherever it may lead.” Tana French (Thanks to Phillip McCollum for pointing me to this quote) “Is there a lesson here for self-pubbers? … to be a success, you have to publish well and often.” Kristy … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, July 25

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Correction * Topic: A Reminder of What It Takes… * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quote of the Day “[M]y creative voice is barely verbal. Maybe two [years old]. … [S]he whined, ‘I don’t wanna spend the rest of my life doing stinky licensing.’” (grin) Kristine Kathryn Rusch Correction While putting together my novel and novella inventory, I found what I thought was an error. I seemed to be missing a novel. But I added every new thing I wrote to my New Fiction spreadsheet as I finished … Read more

The Daily Journal, Wednesday, July 24

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Start An Inventory. Start It Now. * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quotes of the Day “The more you reason the less you create.” Raymond Chandler “The faster I write the better my output. If I’m going slow, I’m in trouble. It means I’m pushing the words instead of being pulled by them.” Raymond Chandler “[R]eaders don’t really care who published a book, but mostly just care about the story….” Laura Benedict “I’m not a young man. I’m old, tired and full of no coffee.” ― Raymond … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, July 23

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: A Review of Google Play Books * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quotes of the Day “The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” Sylvia Plath “Don’t rewrite, except to editorial order. (And then only if you agree.)” Robert A. Heinlein (Harlan Ellison) See? If you rewrite, it’s because of self-doubt. The self-doubt instilled in you by nonwriters over years and years of so-called education. “An English teacher teaching you how to write fiction is like a fish teaching you how to ride a bicycle.” Harvey Stanbrough Topic: … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, July 22

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Some Thoughts on Me Writing Fiction * Topic: As You Consider Publishing Audio Books * Patronage * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quote of the Day “You must write.” Robert A. Heinlein in Business Habits for Writers Some Thoughts on Me Writing Fiction I almost named this section “Life Rolls” or “Placing the Blame” or something dramatic like that. I can’t even call it “Why I’m Not Writing Fiction” because that wouldn’t be accurate either. And I can’t bring myself to call it whining, though that’s probably all … Read more

The Daily Journal, Sunday, July 21

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: How to Learn to Write * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quotes of the Day “A lot of novelists start late—Conrad, Pirandello, even Mark Twain. When you’re young, chess is all right, and music and poetry. But novel-writing is something else. It has to be learned, but it can’t be taught. This bunkum and stinkum of college creative writing courses! The academics don’t know that the only thing you can do for someone who wants to write is to buy him a typewriter.” (Thanks to Bob Beckley … Read more

The Daily Journal, Saturday, July 20

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: My Typical Early Morning * Daily diary * Of Interest (a lot today) * The numbers Quotes of the Day “The subjective opinions of a certain group of people at a certain moment in time say nothing about the value of your work.” JA Konrath “My advice to authors is to do a POD print book directly with Amazon for Amazon and directly with Ingram Spark for bookstores.” Lee Foster (This agrees with advice from Reedsy in yesterday’s “Of Interest.” “Caroline [Todd] practically leapt out of her chair and slapped … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, July 18

In today’s Journal * Update * Topic: On Writing “Fast” * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Update I got most of what I wanted to tranfer to Mona done yesterday (files, URLs, etc.). I say “most” because I’m sure other things will crop up later. This is a major mind-shift for me too, just because I won’t have to think as much about things I used to have to think about. Like pricing, genre placement, and distribution. Like classes on business and negotiations. I’ll keep my hand in the publishing side only as the prep guy. I’ll … Read more

The Daily Journal, Wednesday, July 17

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Update * Topic: Be Very Careful… * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quote of the Day “If I write a novel in 15 or 20 days, how does that directly affect the guy who is on his fifth rewite seven years into one novel? “Writing is no different than any other religion. To those who spend all their time trying to convince ‘fast’ writers we’re doing it wrong: We understand that you’re going to heaven and we aren’t ’cause you’re doing it ‘right’ and we aren’t. “The ting … Read more