The Journal: A Sad Letter

In today’s Journal

* Topic: A Sad Letter
* Today
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Topic: A Sad Letter

I wasn’t planning to post the Journal today, but something came up that changed my mind.

On Steven Pressfield’s site today, he posted “Writing is a Bad Idea” (see https://stevenpressfield.com/2020/02/writing-is-a-bad-idea/). After a brief introduction, he posts (with permission) a letter he received from a broken writer in Finland.

I hope you’ll go read the post. Some of the comments are cruel. I left a comment too, but I’ve inserted it below, because this is important.

It’s unfortunate that Kati was unable to look at writing as fun, as an escape instead of a burden. I was fortunate to have found Heinlein’s Rules and a technique called writing into the dark.

I was also fortunate to understand that the conscious, critical mind is for learning, and the subconscious, creative mind is for creating.

But most of all, I am fortunate in that I’ve learned to trust myself and what I’ve learned about writing over the years. Now I drop a character with a problem into a setting and start writing.

This attitude enables me to allow my
characters to tell the story that they, not I, am living. As a result, writing is the most fun I can have with my clothes on. (grin) And I’m making a pretty good living at it.

In short, if writing were work, I wouldn’t write. I’d find something fun to do.

I’m really sorry Kati didn’t find me or Dean Wesley Smith or some of the others out there who think their way past the same, tired-old BS to the freedom of Heinlein’s Rules and writing into the dark.

But in the broader sense, Kati’s only one of hundreds of would-be writers who fall to the wayside every single day. Why? Because they see writing as some grand calling. Because they choose to make it work. They choose to follow the myths of writing and believe if their work is to have any value, they have to suffer in its creation.

That’s all pure, unadulterated bull cookies, folks. Big, soft, chewy, smelly, stinky, putrid bull cookies. And it’ll stick to your boots or shoes until you find a way to scrape it off permanently. Here’s one way:

1. Follow Heinlein’s Rules.
2. Trust yourself, and trust your characters to tell their own story.
3. Have fun.

And for goodness’ sake, if you know of a potential Kati out there who needs to see this Journal, recommend it. Recommend Dean’s site.

Today I wrote fiction. Not a good day, not a bad day. Just sort’a blah.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “Writers’ Group Trolls” at https://killzoneblog.com/2020/02/writers-group-trolls.html.

See “Worldbuilding: Crime and Fantasy Books Have More in Common Than You Might Think” at https://crimereads.com/worldbuilding-crime-and-fantasy-books-have-more-in-common-than-you-might-think/.

See “Hype Phrases” at https://prowriterswriting.com/hype-phrases/.

The Numbers

Fiction words today…………………… 3139
Nonfiction words today…………… 460 (Journal)

Writing of The Three-Year Turn (novel)

Day 1…… 3570 words. Total words to date…… 3570
Day 2…… 4026 words. Total words to date…… 7596
Day 3…… 4251 words. Total words to date…… 11847
Day 4…… 2117 words. Total words to date…… 13964
Day 5…… 3139 words. Total words to date…… 17103

Total fiction words for the month……… 26692
Total fiction words for the year………… 92236
Total nonfiction words for the month… 7390
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 38650
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 130886

Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 2
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 5
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 47
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 201
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31