In today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* Attitude
* Of Interest
Quote of the Day (maybe quote of the year)
“I don’t need easy. I just need possible.” Katie Bone, American Ninja Warrior contestant
Attitude
In “Of Interest” you’ll see the second link is to a post by Dean Wesley Smith about attitude. That post is almost as short as this one is. It’s also where I got the quote of the day.
And in the article itself, shortly after that quote, Dean wrote, “Well folks, being a professional writer is possible. … It’s not easy, but it is possible.”
But Dean’s wrong. Being a professional writer is not only possible, but once you learn to trust your characters and your creative subconscious and just write down the stories, it’s easy too. And fun. What could be better than something that’s both easy and fun AND gives you such a satisfying sense of accomplishment? (Not to mention teamwork and camaraderie with your characters.)
Even as prolific as I’ve been in the past and am becoming again, I occasionally have to remind myself of this concept, that I don’t need easy, I just need possible. I also need occasionally to remind myself how much fun it is to write fiction.
That’s what I accomplished recently with my mini-challege. The challenge forced me to the keyboard, and from there the characters took over. Now, for the past two days, I’m back to writing at least 3000 words per day again, and I can’t tell you how great that feels.
As I was just telling a friend earlier this morning, “Remember how very exciting it was to get an idea, race to the keyboard, and let the idea take over? That’s what I’m rediscovering now. And I’m finally back to having fun and looking forward to each new day.”
I wish the same for all of you.
Talk with you again later.
Of Interest
See “Blog 3,650 In A Row” at https://deanwesleysmith.com/blog-3650-in-a-row/. I’m a day late on this one.
See “An Amazing Attitude” at https://deanwesleysmith.com/an-amazing-attitude/.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 340 words
Writing of Blackwell Ops 8 (tentative title, novel)
Day 19… 2117 words. Total words to date…… 41729
Day 20… 2025 words. Total words to date…… 43754
Day 21… 1770 words. Total words to date…… 45524
Day 22… 3296 words. Total words to date…… 48820
Day 23… 3259 words. Total words to date…… 52079
Total fiction words for August……… 3259
Total fiction words for the year………… 55755
Total nonfiction words for August… 990
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 107230
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 162985
Calendar Year 2022 Novels to Date…………………… 0
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 0
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 66
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
Disclaimer: I advocate a technique called Writing Into the Dark. I’ve never said WITD is “the only way” to write, nor will I ever. However, as I am the only writer who advocates WITD both publicly and regularly, I will continue to do so, among other topics.