In today’s Journal
▪ It’s April 1
▪ An opportunity to reset goals
▪ Some valuable lessons on structure
▪ Daily diary
▪ Of Interest
▪ The numbers
It’s April 1. Let me just say up front, nothing in this edition of the Journal is an April Fool’s joke. (grin)
I’ll be getting back to my WIP today.
Also today, Blackwell Ops 3: Marie Arceneaux releases to the public. It’s available at https://books2read.com/u/3LGY00.
I’m also in a new bundle, ECLECTICA, from BundleRabbit. Nineteen short stories and short story collections, featuring my own collection S, F, & H. For details, visit https://harveystanbrough.com/bundles/. It’s at the top of the page. I think my work is currently in 9 bundles now. (grin)
***
The first calendar quarter ended yesterday. That means we have our first opportunity to determine what pace we’re on for this calendar year and reset our goals.
During the first calendar quarter (90 days), I wrote (on average) 2420 words of new fiction per day (total is 217801). I also wrote 856 words on nonfiction per day (total is 77070). Overall, I wrote (on average) 3276 words per day for 294871 total words.
If I can stay on track with my numbers for the next three quarters, on December 31 I will have written 871204 words of new fiction, 308280 words of nonfiction, and a grand total of 1,179,484 words overall this year.
I think that’s what Dean calls Pulp Speed (one million words per year).
But for a general year-end goal, I’d like to achieve pulp speed with just my fiction.
To do that, I would have to write 782199 words of new fiction between tomorrow and December 31, inclusive. There are 275 days remaining in the calendar year. So to hit my year-end goal for 1,000,000 words of fiction, I would have to write (again, on average) 2845 words of fiction per day.
Think about that. Compare the numbers.
Without really trying, I’ve averaged 2420 words per day. I would have to increase that number by only 425 words per day. I’d have to increase my actual writing time by only a half-hour per day.
Some of you will remember awhile back I made a lot of noise about a new daily goal of writing 4,000 words per day of new fiction.
If I had done that beginning on January 1, I would have reached my 1,000,000 word goal only 250 days into the year, on September 7. (grin)
For that matter, if I’d averaged even 3,000 words per day since January 1, I’d still reach a million 334 days into the year on November 30. In other words, I could take the entire month of December off.
What other job exists where you can work only three hours per day and still take 31 days paid vacation? (grin)
But I didn’t, so here I sit. But I’m still dreaming big and reaching. (grin)
***
From Linda Maye Adams’ newsletter, see “How Star Wars Was Saved in the Edit” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFMyMxMYDNk.
This is an excellent film. Not because I have (or advocate) a separate editing pass when writing fiction — I Don’t — but because you can learn a ton about Story by watching this video.
It’s less than 19 minutes long, but it’s a masters class on story structure. I recommend you watch it, both to learn new things and for validation of what you’re already doing right.
Remember, too, that you have to write in a novel what’s shown on the screen in a film.
In a film, you have both visuals and words. In a novel, you also have visuals, but those are in the reader’s mind and are created with the words you put on the page.
***
Wow, slow start this morning.
I rolled out at 3, wrote much of the stuff above, trolled the internet, etc. and took a phone call from my friend Robert in Dallas. We chatted (writing stuff) for a little over an hour.
Whenever I talk with Robert, I feel almost like we’re mentoring each other. I know I always learn something new from our conversations.
I did a bunch of other stuff (still have more to do) and started a load of laundry. Finally to the novel at 10.
I didn’t get as much done today as I’d hoped, at least in writing. In non-writing, I got about as much done as I thought I would. Which also wasn’t a lot.
Talk with you again tomorrow.
Of Interest
See “The Great Challenge” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/the-great-challenge/. Wow! What an outstanding opportunity for some writers! I once wrote a story a week for 72 weeks, so this is do-able.
See “18 Themed Calls for Submissions” at https://www.authorspublish.com/18-themed-calls-for-submissions-2/.
See “Ride Along” at https://killzoneblog.com/2019/04/ride-along.html.
See the comments on “From Beer to Bookshelf” at https://killzoneblog.com/2019/03/from-beer-to-bookshelf.html#comments.
See “Murder One: You Can’t Make This Up: Oddities in Police Procedure” at https://www.leelofland.com/murder-one-you-cant-make-this-up-oddities-in-police-procedure/.
See “Free Fiction Monday: The Amazing Quizmo” at https://kriswrites.com/2019/04/01/free-fiction-monday-the-amazing-quizmo-2/.
See “How Not to Plot a Series” at http://mbyerly.blogspot.com/2019/04/how-not-to-plot-series.html. (With a grain of salt.)
See “Gmail’s New ‘Smart Compose for Lawyers’ Uses Ai to Add Legalese to Emails” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/gmails-new-smart-compose-for-lawyers-uses-ai-to-add-legalese-to-emails/. Happy April 1.
Fiction Words: 2638
Nonfiction Words: 850 (Journal)
Total words for the day: 3488
Writing of Blackwell Ops 5: Georgette Tilden (novel)
Day 10… 4416 words. Total words to date…… 24564
Day 11… 2948 words. Total words to date…… 27512
Day 12… 2721 words. Total words to date…… 30233
Day 13… 2510 words. Total words to date…… 32743
Day 14… 1620 words. Total words to date…… 34363
Day 15… 2638 words. Total words to date…… 37001
Total fiction words for the month……… 2638
Total fiction words for the year………… 220439
Total nonfiction words for the month… 850
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 77920
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 298359
Calendar Year 2019 Novels to Date…………………… 4
Calendar Year 2019 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2019 Short Stories to Date… X
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 41
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 7
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 193
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31