In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Yesterday
* Food for Thought
* Today
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day (Still gorging on Bradbury)
“Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t “try” to do things. You simply “must” do things.” Ray Bradbury
“Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.” Ray Bradbury
Yesterday, as it turned out, I wrote very little. Not really enough to even count, so I don’t consider it a writing day. I think I was too tired from the past couple of very long nights.
When I realized what was happening, I decided to take the rest of the day off and rest. Mostly, my wife and I watched an insanely fast-paced Brit show called Last Tango in Halifax.
You might be familiar with the maxim, “When a story bogs down, bring in a man with a gun.” In Last Tango in Halifax, there’s a new “man with a gun” popping in three or four times per episode.
It’s not only very entertaining, but an excellent show to study if you want to learn to write action scenes.
And wow, did April sneak out quietly or what? I didn’t even hear the door creak.
Food for Thought
Speaking of studying, in a comment yesterday Alison Holt wrote of Dan Baldwin’s PWW post on ghostwriting, “You have such great, hard-earned insight that anyone would be a fool not not take your advice.”
Frankly, I’ve never heard the concept stated more precisely or more clearly.
And that, my friends, is exactly why I listen so closely to so few professional writers and why I actively study only the likes of Stephen King, Ernest Hemingway, Jack Higgins, Ray Bradbury, Isabel Allende and other “way up there” writers.
Today I’ll get back to the novel.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Catching Up and New Workshop” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/catching-up-and-new-workshop/.
See Nate Hoffelder’s newsletter on free conferences and webinars at https://preview.mailerlite.com/f8g7h7/1411472969179338473/b4v2/.
For you who use Scrivener, see “Scrivener Quick Tips: A Roundup of Handy Features” at https://writerunboxed.com/2020/04/30/scrivener-quick-tips-a-roundup-of-handy-features/ via The Book Designer.
See “Four Common Submission Mistakes” at https://www.authorspublish.com/four-common-submission-mistakes/.
See “How to Publish an Ebook: A 9-Step Guide for Success” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/how-to-publish-an-ebook-a-9-step-guide-for-success/.
See “The UK Scraps Its 20-Percent VAT on Digital Books” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/the-uk-scraps-its-20-percent-vat-on-digital-books/. This is GREAT news!
See “The 7 Best Books I’ve Ever Read About Writing” at https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-7-best-books-i-ve-ever-read-about-writing FWIW.
The Numbers
Fiction words yesterday…………………… XXXX
Nonfiction words today…………… 400 (Journal)
Writing of The Good of the Galaxy 2 (novel)
Day 9…… 3258 words. Total words to date…… 34842
Total fiction words for the month……… 0
Total fiction words for the year………… 279594
Total nonfiction words for the month… 400
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 103110
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 383104
Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 4
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 12
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 49
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 208
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31