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The Daily Journal, Tuesday, May 7

In today’s Journal ▪ Sign up for this! ▪ Rare Photos! ▪ Topic: To Share Something Interesting ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Penny Sansevieri of Author Marketing Experts is conducting a fee webinar on Marketing on May 16 at 11 a.m. It’s hosted in collaboration with Draft2Digital. Be sure to register. Penny will email a recording of the event to all registrants even if they can’t attend live. Sign up at https://www.amarketingexpert.com/marketing-basics-and-beyond-webinar-draft2digital. *** Recently unearthed! An actual photo of my creative voice! And to give him equal time, here’s a pic of my critical voice: Any … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, May 6

In today’s Journal ▪ Topic: How I Became… ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Topic: How I Became a Professional Fiction Writer Sometimes it’s difficult to remember that a scant 5 years ago I knew almost nothing about writing fiction. Oh, I knew (and taught) mechanics: grammar, punctuation, the use of sentences and fragments, and some of the finer nuances passive vs. active construction, past tense vs. present tense and so on. But about writing? I knew nada. I’d written bits and pieces off and on for most of my life (poems, essays, articles, a few stories). … Read more

The Daily Journal, Saturday, May 4

In today’s Journal ▪ Delayed start ▪ I labeled one ▪ Topic: Letting It Fly ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Sometimes the way my brain works annoys me. I rolled out early this morning specifically so I could have fun (write) early, but I’m also a writing instructor. So my brain gave that mentoring role priority. I’m not complaining. I just think it’s an interesting curiosity. I took about an hour to respond to an email that should have taken a few minutes max. I mentally meandered around, eventually finding (I hope) the right words to … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, May 2

In today’s Journal ▪ Yesterday, I stayed… ▪ Topic Part 1: On What Beginning Writers Believe ▪ Topic Part 2: Business, Schmizzness ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Yesterday, I stayed on the computer long after I planned to leave. As a result, I didn’t give much thought to what fiction I’ll write next, so I definitely won’t start anything new today. I keep getting a feeling my next WIP will be something completely different. I’ll read Joe Lansdale’s article again sometime today. I like people who are up front and plain spoken, and the guy gives … Read more

The Daily Journal, Wednesday, May 1

In today’s Journal ▪ A productive day ▪ In the ongoing saga ▪ Another professional writer I follow ▪ Topic: Yes, Virginia, Writers Lie. ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers I think I’m over the bug. I had a really productive day yesterday, both physically and otherwise. I swapped-out parts of my in-home office with parts of my Hovel to make the latter more comfortable and more of an office. There’s more to do, but a lot of it is done. I also did some major revamping of my main website (more to come). I hope you’ll … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, April 30

In today’s Journal ▪ Thanks for all the well-wishes ▪ Topic: I’m All Done with Patreon ▪ Note: An advertisment ▪ If you enjoy great thrillers ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers As I begin the day, thank you for all the well-wishes. I appreciate it. I’m feeling a little better each day, though I’m still sleeping more than I care to. (grin) As I morph from ill to well, I’m also determined to catch up on some admin stuff. That includes “needing” to read through my last WIP, the final chapter or two I wrote as … Read more

The Daily Journal, Sunday, April 28

In today’s Journal ▪ Topic: Back Cover Blurbs ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Topic: Back Cover Blurbs Over at PWW today, Karen posed an excellent question that keeps a lot of writers up at night: How to create a back-cover blurb that will draw the reader’s interest yet will not “give away” too much (or any) of the book. DWS has written extensively on this topic, though only a bit here and there. I don’t believe he’s ever done even a lecture on the topic, though if he did I would immediately recommend it. Still, I’ve … Read more

The Daily Journal, Friday, April 26

In today’s Journal ▪ Quotes of the day ▪ PWW ▪ Most of the novels ▪ Topic: Balance ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Quotes of the Day: “The critical voice is about fear, and the creative voice is about joy.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch “[F]igure out how to keep your critical voice busy with important tasks that are not writing-related.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch *** For a moment, just before 9 a.m., I thought PWW didn’t go out via MailChimp as it should have this morning. Then at 9:02 it appeared in my in-box. I forgot I’d reset … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, April 25

In today’s Journal ▪ Adios Robert ▪ Topic: Voice (and some stuff on dialect) ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Yesterday, my friend and I spent a full day and evening visiting, reminiscing, philosophizing, swapping lies and generally just shooting the bull. It was a great time. This morning, though, I got up a little late and Robert had already left. Robert, if you decide to go home via I-10, I hope you’ll give me a call so we can at least meet in Benson for lunch or a cup of coffee. Either way, thanks for the … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, April 23

In today’s Journal ▪ Pro Writers Writing blog ▪ Topic: You Have a Choice ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Well, for the second day in a row the post at PWW didn’t go out via MailChimp as it was supposed to. As a result, I deactivated the “missed-post trigger” plug-in that obviously isn’t working and activated another one. I also went into MailChimp and re-set the posting time to 9 a.m. So we’ll see. UPDATE: The PWW post went out! Woohoo! I’ll leave the posting time at 9. Wouldn’t want to upset anything. In the meantime, … Read more