The Journal: A Conundrum

In today’s Journal

* Digital Marketing Assistance
* Karen Riggs
* Odd. At roughly the 2/3 point
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Over at The Passive Voice today, among other articles, was one titled “Should You Hire a Social Media Assistant?” See https://www.thepassivevoice.com/should-you-hire-a-social-media-assistant/.

The article was written by Barbara Linn Probst as a guest post for Jane Friedman. If this topic interests you, I also encourage you to read the comments.

For one digital marketing and/or virtual assistant possibility, see https://www.pub-craft.com/. I’m not recommending them, only mentioning them. I encourage you to key “digital marketing” and/or “virtual assistant” into a search engine and see what’s out there.

The Sierra Vista (Arizona) Herald/Review recently wrote an article featuring our very own Karen Riggs. You can see the article at https://www.myheraldreview.com/a/socoae/new-author-makes-dreams-reality/article_e5068d9a-1ee0-11eb-870f-dbde80d1621c.html.

Congratulations to Karen on a good article.

I had a slightly lighter day of writing yesterday, but a good day before that. And here’s an odd conundrum: At roughly the 2/3 point (I think) of this novel, I’m considering not publishing it.

I have a feeling this one might only be me exploring the characters and the world in which they exist in preparation for writing Book 2, which I would publish.

Anybody else out there ever have this happen to them?

At 37,000 words, no significant “major” story problems have developed yet. I hasten to add that the characters and world are endlessly interesting (at least to me) and the writing thus far is peppered with minor problems. No real-life character can continue to breathe without experiencing those.

So I’m thinking this might be the first novel I’ve ever written in which the major story problem crops up only near the end of the novel. If then. (And I’m not obsessing over any of this. I write into the dark, trusting my subconscious and trusting the characters to tell the story that they, not I, are living.)

DWS has said many times that Kris Rusch will sometimes (or often) write a short story or novella or a series of either as a way to explore the world and characters before she sits down to write the actual novel or novel series she has in mind. I find myself wondering whether she’s ever done the same with a novel.

I’m also reminded of JRR Tolkein’s famous Middle Earth books. The Hobbit was a story in itself, but its primary purpose was to explore and set-up the story world and characters, whereas the truly earth-shaking problems of the overall story didn’t occur until Book 2, The Fellowship of the Ring. Hmmm.

If you have any thoughts on my conundrum, please leave a comment on the site so we can all benefit from it. In the alternative, email me so I can at least benefit from your experience. And thanks in advance.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “Build and Manage Series Pages in the Kindle Store” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/build-and-manage-series-pages-in-the-kindle-store/.

See “How to Talk to a Lawyer” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/how-to-talk-to-a-lawyer/.

See “5 Ways To Sell Your Book On Your Own Author Website” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/5-ways-to-sell-your-book-on-your-own-author-website/.

See “City Break-Ups” at https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-happens-when-sister-cities-break-up. Possible story ideas.

See “The Digital Reader” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/the-digital-reader/.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 520 words

Writing of The Ark (novel)

Day 10… 4361 words. Total words to date…… 31495
Day 11… 3312 words. Total words to date…… 34807
Day 12… 2142 words. Total words to date…… 36949

Total fiction words for November……… 13280
Total fiction words for the year………… 376558
Total nonfiction words for November… 2600
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 168440
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 544998

Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 5
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 13
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 50
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 214
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31