In today’s Journal
▪ Daily diary and challenge stuff
▪ Of Interest
▪ The numbers
Rolled out at 3 this morning, per my internal clock. So far it’s a great but slow morning.
One of my first readers read Blackwell Ops last night and responded already. Very fast.
I applied his corrections and one suggestion. Then I completed a quick first-page critique for another writer and got that sent off.
(I do still offer a free critique of up to about the first 500 words of your WIP, if anyone’s interested. Just email me.)
After that I read a lot of stuff online, took a long break (15 minutes) up at the house and came back here to write.
I was telling someone yesterday, I’d like to just jump right back into another Blackwell Ops novel, but I need one I can complete quickly (I want to take a few days away). The BO books write quickly through the action scenes, but they also require a lot of “stop and look this up” research, which slows the writing on some days.
I also suspect (strongly) two of my BO POV characters are going to continue with Blackwell Ops but also go off into another series on their own. (grin) They’ll make a great team.
When a writer tells me s/he can’t seem to come up with story ideas, I am mystified. If you write, how can you not come up with ideas? (grin)
Anyway, to a new story this morning. In my challenge, the deadline for this one is March 21. If I can finish it or be in the end game by March 16, I’m going camping with a friend for a few days.
So I need to write this one in ten days, give or take. (grin) During many of which two sons (and later, one son) will be visiting. So we’ll see.
Around 5:30 a title popped into my head: The Wayward Bullet. So that put it pretty firmly in the Stern Talbot, PI series. I don’t think I’ve ever written a novel based only on a title before, so this will be a new endeavor for me.
By around 6:15 I had around 800 words on the page and took a long break.
The opening of this one hinted at some things that happened in the previous Stern Talbot novel, so I went to look at the reverse outline for the previous one. And learned another important lesson. I hadn’t completed the reverse outline, so I had to look up a few things in the manuscript.
So from now on, I’ll take a few minutes to complete the reverse outline for the current novel. (grin)
At 8:30, back to the novel. Some researching through previous novels and some writing. I added about a thousand words. At 10:30 a break up to the house.
Wrote a little more, but Mona will be home soon, so I’ll call it a day. A good start on the new novel.
Talk with you again tomorrow.
Of Interest
See “Personal Assignment Available for Pre-Order” at https://terryodell.com/personal-assignment-available-for-pre-order/. If you enjoy “Romance with a Twist of Mystery” consider supporting this author, who is also a contributor to the Pro Writers Writing website.
See “Business Musings: Productivity (Writing With Chronic Illness)” at https://kriswrites.com/2019/03/06/business-musings-productivity-writing-with-chronic-illness/.
See “Know Your Genre and Do the Research – First Page Critique: The Nature of Things” at https://killzoneblog.com/2019/03/know-your-genre-and-do-the-research-first-page-critique-the-nature-of-things.html. A GREAT post on including detail, among many other things. (See? It isn’t only me and Dean.) (grin)
See “The Accidental Crime Novelist” at https://www.topic.com/the-accidental-crime-novelist.
See “I’m Back But Behind” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/im-back-but-behind/.
See “Q&A with Kofi Nyameye” at https://fromearthtothestars.com/2019/03/06/qa-with-kofi-nyameye/.
See “Resources for Writing Psychic Characters” at http://mbyerly.blogspot.com/2019/03/resources-for-writing-psychic-characters.html.
Fiction Words: 2412
Nonfiction Words: 620 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 3032
Writing of Stern Talbot, PI: The Case of the Wayward Bullet (novel)
Day 1…… 2412 words. Total words to date…… 2412
Total fiction words for the month……… 16957
Total fiction words for the year………… 176015
Total nonfiction words for the month… 5630
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 56850
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 232865
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