The Journal: Challenges

In today’s Journal

* Quotes of the Day
* Challenges
* Later today
* My own writing
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Quotes of the Day

“The private detective of fiction is a fantastic creation who acts and speaks like a real man. He can be completely realistic in every sense but one, that one sense being that in life as we know it such a man would not be a private detective.” Raymond Chandler

“The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us.” Bill Watterson

“Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.” Alan Dundes

Dean has issued another challenge for writers. It’s a good one, and this isn’t one he’s charging for. He won’t be involved. It’s just basically an idea of something you can do to challenge yourself.

You can see it in “Of Interest.” Be sure to read the “So How Would This Help You?” section. All true. (You can also do this in electronic only, since they’re short stories, though I do recommend also compiling them into collections and putting the collections in both ebook and paper.)

I won’t be taking part in this particular challenge personally because

1. I already have well over 200 short stories out there, and

2. I’m deep into writing novels right now. I’ll be setting my own challenge and goals for 2021 soon. Of course, I’ll announce those here, and you should feel free to jump in.

The purpose of a challenge (especially a writing challenge) is to reside in the back of your mind and drive you to the keyboard. If you want to be prolific, challenges are essential.

If you want to be a writer but not necessarily prolific, challenges are still essential. They will help get you to the keyboard on days when you could go but otherwise might not. Challenges keep you and your fingers from getting lazy.

And no, I’m not saying that people who don’t write fiction are lazy. I’m saying that people who profess to want to write fiction and don’t are lazy. Or making excuses. Or something.

Don’t worry about it. Just go write something.

By the way, if you’re one who enjoys writing Christmas stories (I’m not) and if you haven’t already started, now’s the time. If my calendar is correct, you could challenge yourself right now to write a 5-story collection (one a week) and publish it electronically just before Christmas. Then you could have the paper copy out before New Years Day.

Of course, you could also publish the stories stand-alone as ebooks. At the end, you would have 6 new publications with your name on the cover. Just sayin’.

Here are a few prompts:

* How would people aboard a space ship celebrate Christmas in space?

* How did one family in Tombstone Arizona celebrate Christmas in the 1880s?

* How does the crew of a cargo ship celebrate Christmas at sea in the middle of the Pacific? Or on Lake Michigan?

* What is your most memorable Christmas as a child? (Write it in 1st or 3rd person and turn it into a story.)

* What is your most memorable Christmas as an adult? (Same thing.)

Okay, that’s enough. You guys take over.

Later today we’ll celebrate “Friendsgiving” with our neighbors, who are hosting a large get together.

My own writing is going well. See “Writing of The Journey Home” in “Numbers” below. I expect another good day today. (In fact, today I should slam past 50,000 words on the month. If you’re participating in NaNo, you should be at 35,000 words or better right now.)

By the way, there’s a lot of good information and story ideas in “Of Interest” today. Do yourself a favor and click through on the links that interest you. I like to think I’m not wasting my time sharing them.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “A Challenge For Everyone for 2021…” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/a-challenge-for-everyone-for-2021/. This is not something he’s charging for or will monitor. Just a challenge he’s issuing.

See “No one will ever see…” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/no-one-will-ever-see-books-like-this-again/. And see PG’s take.

See “What is the Serial Killer Gene?” at https://www.suecoletta.com/what-is-the-serial-killer-gene/.

See “Scientists Uncover the Universal Geometry of Geology” at https://www.quantamagazine.org/geometry-reveals-how-the-world-is-assembled-from-cubes-20201119/.

See “Scientists Find Vital Genes Evolving in Genome’s Junkyard” at https://www.quantamagazine.org/scientists-find-vital-genes-evolving-in-genomes-junkyard-20201116/. S.T.O.R.Y. I.D.E.A.S.

See “The Importance of Writing Challenges” at https://www.authorspublish.com/the-importance-of-writing-challenges/. And remember that NaNo isn’t the only (or best) challenge out there. If you’ve followed me very long, you know you can create your own realistic challenges.

See “A Challenge For Everyone for 2021…” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/a-challenge-for-everyone-for-2021/. This is not something he’s charging for or will monitor. Just a challenge he’s issuing. Read “So How Would This Help You?” All true.

See “A Close Reading of the Best Opening Paragraph of All Time” at https://lithub.com/a-close-reading-of-the-best-opening-paragraph-of-all-time/.

See “A Space Without Answers” at https://killzoneblog.com/2020/11/a-space-without-answers.html.

See “The Case of the Autographed Corpse” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/the-case-of-the-autographed-corpse/.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 780 words

Writing of The Journey Home: Part 1 (novel)

Day 1…… 3373 words. Total words to date…… 3373
Day 2…… 3312 words. Total words to date…… 6685
Day 3…… 3292 words. Total words to date…… 9977
Day 4…… 3794 words. Total words to date…… 13771
Day 5…… 4482 words. Total words to date…… 18253

Total fiction words for November……… 49875
Total fiction words for the year………… 413153
Total nonfiction words for November… 12040
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 177880
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 591033

Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 6
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 13
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 51
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 214
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31