In today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* About the quote of the day
* “Vignette from a Third-Floor Window”
* Playing catch-up with numbers
* In an item that I finally chose
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“You hear about how many fourth-quarter comebacks that a guy has, and I think it means a guy screwed up in the first three quarters.” Peyton Manning
What an excellent quote that is for writers!
How about writing your very best on the first pass, then send it to a trusted first reader to check for typos, then publish and move on to the next story? How much time would that save you? How much more writing practice could you get and how many more stories could you write?
When I mentioned WITD to another writer one time, she (smugly) said, “Well, I could do that too, but I want to put my very best work out there.”
I wanted to say, “Well excuse the [expletive deleted] out of me.”
What I actually said was, “Umm, and what am I, a moron, that I spend all this time writing and then actively strive to put out something less than my best work?” Frankly, I wanted to add, “Are you stupid?” but I kept that to myself.
The only difference between me and that writer is that I do my best in the first place. Well, and I don’t expect other people or one program or another to make my best better. In other words, I take full responsibility for my work and I’m proud of it.
You know… I believe in myself.
Well, I didn’t quite start a new novel yesterday. Instead I wrote a short story, my first for 2021.
On my way from this computer to my writing ‘puter (a distance of about 5 feet on my rolling desk chair), I glanced up at a framed print of a painting that hangs above my business desk in the Hovel. I’ve written two or three short stories based on that print in the past.
And before I got to the writing ‘puter, an idea for another short story from that print sprang into my mind. I saw a guy standing at a window looking out and down at the tables and chairs and people at the sidewalk café (the focal point of the print) on the corner across the street.
So I started with a description (setting) of the guy and what he saw as he looked out the window, which quickly became why he was looking out the window, and the story took off. Easy as falling off whatever you fall off of regularly.
While cycling back through the first couple of thousand words, my conscious, critical mind tried to intervene and I became worried. After all, it had been a long while since I’d written a short story. So I thought about how little room there is for description, etc. etc. etc.
And then I remembered the only difference between a short story and a novel is that the short story is about One Event. Remembering that has saved me many times, and it saved me again.
I stopped worrying and went back to writing whatever came next. (grin) It truly still amazes me how well that works, not that I don’t expect it to. I do. But it’s still like magic.
“Vignette from a Third-Floor Window” is a moody, Hemingway-flavored story (I think). If I had to slap a genre on it, that would probably be post-apocalyptic psychological suspense. It came in at a little over 5300 words. If any of you would like to read it, let me know and I’ll send it to you in PDF format.
So anyway, I got that out of my system so I hope to start The Journey Home: Part 6 today. It will be interesting to see how this one comes out.
Today, as I was finally playing catch-up and adding all the FOH novels to my IP spreadsheet, I discovered that I’ve written 250,114 words in that series alone. That’s since November 1.
That’s a mean average of 3166 words per day every calendar day (not only writing days) from November 1 through January 18, inclusive. I am stoked! (grin)
In an item that I finally chose not to list in “Of Interest” (sigh… because of its obvious hateful political bias) the writer blames “world events” for his recent inability to focus on writing and writing-related matters. I won’t repeat the one-word response that sprang to my mind. Suffice it to say it had to do with flying mammals and fecal matter.
If you are also suffering with this problem, I suggest you ignore what you can’t affect directly and pour all of your attention onto what you can affect directly, namely, your writing. As evidenced in the second paragraph above, you’ll be far ahead.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Runelords Board Game Kickstarter” at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/reddjinnproductions/the-runelords-board-game-relaunch.
See “We are removing distribution to 24Symbols” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/we-are-removing-distribution-to-24symbols/. Meh.
See “7 Ways Deep POV Creates Emotional Connections With Readers” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/7-ways-deep-pov-creates-emotional-connections-with-readers/. I agree vehemently with their third point. If you do that, you won’t have to worry about the rest.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 860 words
Writing of “Vignette from a Third-Floor Window” (short story)
Day 1…… 5351 words. Total words to date…… 5351
Writing of The Journey Home: Part 6 (novel)
Day 1…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for January……… 60890
Total fiction words for the year………… 60890
Total nonfiction words for December… 14630
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 14630
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 75520
Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 1
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 55
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 215
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31