In today’s Journal
* Thin today on fact, fat with opinion
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Today’s post is admittedly very thin. I’m posting it mostly to give you the opportunity to read the items in “Of Interest.”
Thanks to Robert Sadler for the nod in his post on PWW today. Unfortunately, by the time his post goes live at five, I’ll be on the road, or close to it. So I won’t comment until later today, IF I have wifi at the hotel and it’s working, etc. In my humble opinion, I suspect anytime now wifi will be cancelled because someone somewhere will hypothesize that the coronavirus is transmitted electronically. (grin)
I stayed up too late last night, but I still rolled out early this morning. As a result, it took me longer to gain full consciousness and emerge from the bubbly, fuzzy, Transition World of Waking Up.
And as a result of THAT, I’m pretty well satisfied that I won’t reach my daily word-count goal. I almost decided to use that as an excuse to make this a nonwriting day, but that’s just silly. I can write at least one session, which will enable me to add to the novel, learn more about what’s going on in that world, and get my daily fix.
Perhaps best of all, being on the road for a few days will enable me to miss all the coronavirus hype popping up from various newletters on my computer. But some of the most recent “news” did stir my imagination:
Re “a run on hand sanitizer”—seriously, how many people were running around with filthy hands until the media finally frightened them into actually washing or otherwise sanitizing them? (grin)
And with that in mind, I don’t even want to think what the run on toilet paper means. (wider grin)
Of course, as always, what I write here is my own personal, private opinion, something intended to stir thought. I read somewhere that writers are supposed to be among the most open-minded humans, and that Thought is their chief currency. With that in mind,
Seriously, be careful out there, especially with regard to your writing business.
Businesses around the world (allegedly) and here in the US (for sure) are failing every day as a result of one of two current Black Swan events:
The first, of course, is the alleged coronavirus pandemic, which creates fear.
The second is the reaction of the seeming majority to the alleged coronavirus pandemic, which feeds the fear and causes it to spread like a pandemic of its own, a kind of societal cancer.
In short, people aren’t thinking. In many cases, their head serves only as convenient storage for a hat or a ball cap.
Consider, people won’t go into physical bookstores—but they’ll order physical books online from their favorite booksellers and have those books delivered to them by human beings (either in person or via the mail) and then handle them without a second thought.
They won’t shop in person for other items they need, but will likewise call or email and have those items delivered.
They make “runs” on hand sanitizer, toilet paper and other items. (And I’m betting when some of them get home with their horde, they use it only very sparingly, succumbing to the fear that they might run out.)
Professional sports organizations are suspending seasons and events. Many scheduled gatherings (political and not political) across the land are being cancelled.
And timing is everything, folks. I invite you to think about it. If it were late October or early November right now, even if there was still be a coronavirus “outbreak,” would it still be accompanied by all the media hype and the resulting cancelled events?
For just one example, is there any chance the scheduled mass gatherings at polling places on Tuesday, November 3, might be cancelled?
I can sum up my own (again, humble and humbly offered) opinion in two words: Fat chance.
Just sayin’.
I’ll add to my fiction numbers day by day as I go, but probably not any “Fiction words today” enumerations until this trip is over.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “All Good Ideas” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/all-good-ideas/. Don’t skip this. There’s a free class on Teachable.
See “The Gift of Permission” at https://prowriterswriting.com/the-gift-of-permission/.
The Numbers
Fiction words today…………………… XXXX
Nonfiction words today…………… 720 (Journal)
Writing of The Othgygnrkthers (tentative title, novel)
Day 1…… 3863 words. Total words to date…… 3863
Day 2…… 2408 words. Total words to date…… 6261
Day 3…… 3116 words. Total words to date…… 9377
Day 4…… 3051 words. Total words to date…… 12428
Day 5…… 3285 words. Total words to date…… 15713
Day 6…… 2486 words. Total words to date…… 18199
Day 7…… 2365 words. Total words to date…… 20564
Day 8…… 3053 words. Total words to date…… 23617
Day 9…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for the month……… 29557
Total fiction words for the year………… 166252
Total nonfiction words for the month… 13360
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 67840
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 234092
Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 3
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 6
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 48
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 202
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31