In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Dave Farland and Poetics
* Everything I’ve ever written
* Topic: Sometimes Comparisons Are Useful
* Yesterday and Today
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“The most durable thing in writing is style, and style is the single most valuable investment a writer can make with his time.”
Raymond Chandler
“Scarcely anything in literature is worth a damn except what is written between the lines.”
Raymond Chandler
In his post today, Dave Farland talks about the importance of eloquence and originality in writing in “Poetics” at https://mystorydoctor.com/poetics-2/.
I couldn’t agree more.
Which I precisely why I, a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award nominated poet, teach an audio course on Writing Poetry (Course 9) and another one on Poetry Techniques for the Fictionist (Course 10) at https://stonethreadpublishing.com/audio-lecture-series/. (grin) And nobody ever takes them.
Everything I’ve ever written and published is still on sale either free or at 50% off over at Smashwords. The sale is valid only at Smashwords and only through 31 March.
Topic: Sometimes Comparisons Are Useful (an opinion piece)
Most or all of us are under “lockdown.” But not really.
Almost every post I see about our current national (and world) situation on Facebook or the Kill Zone blog or DWS or other places lament the lockdown and “cabin fever” etc.
Then they go on to talk about eating lunch or breakfast or supper, or the great walk they had that day (and how great it was to see neighbors out and about) or visiting a restaurant to pick up a to-go order, etc.
I’m not griping here. I’m glad folks are doing various things to cope. In fact, I talked yesterday with my wife about taking a day trip (something we haven’t done in a long time) just to see new scenery. Most gas stations are open, and prices are low.
I’m just saying, things could be a lot worse.
We’re able to go out and walk. It isn’t like we have to huddle under a real lockdown in a bunker somewhere trembling with fear while bombs are falling outside.
We’re able to order pretty much anything we want online. (I’m old enough to consider that a miracle and a wonder.) The UPS guy just brought me a new shipment of cigars yesterday. My wife will drive into a nearby town today to see a visiting doctor’s staff and pick up her meds.
We aren’t putting up with widespread power outages (my writing computer still works). We aren’t shivering from a lack of heat, and later we won’t be burning up from a lack of AC or a swamp cooler.
At most, from what I’m seeing, we’re a little inconvenienced, and not even by the virus really. We’re inconvenienced by the societal reaction to the constant, panic-inducing news reports about the virus.
We’re inconvenienced by the selfish “me first” crowd who rushed out to the stores and bought up all the toilet paper (???), hand sanitizer, and certain food items.
For a personal example, I enjoy eggs (brain food) every morning with breakfast. I typically eat two or three every morning. But for whatever brilliant reason, apparently people are hoarding eggs too. So I’m down to two eggs (I usually have at least a dozen in the fridge).
But again, it’s only an inconvenience. Only a slight disruption of my routine. I can always eat something else for breakfast.
We need to take a collective breath and count our blessings. Change really is always a good thing, even though it seldom looks good as it’s approaching.
At times like this, I like to remember that the necessities—water, food, and shelter—have never changed. Everything else is a luxury. And we still have a lot of luxuries left.
If you’re a writer, this is a great time to be alive. You can write about the current mess (a vast exaggeration) in that dystopian novel you’ve always wanted to write. Or you can escape in the other direction and extrapolate a utopian future.
You can write a great action-adventure or thriller story based on what’s going on right now. You can write a romance, the basis for which is a meet-cute that happens while two lonely people are escaping the “lockdown” on a walk. The possibilities are endless.
I personally enjoy the solitude. With my personality, what I hate is that the solitude is forced. Isn’t that silly? Honestly, we’ve never had a better excuse to lock ourselves away and write.
And frankly, based on my own study of human nature, I expect to see Release from Lockdown parties popping up all over the place in a month or two.
I also expect to write quite a lot today, even not counting this ridiculous essay. So regarding the lockdown, I’ll just say stay safe and enjoy. (grin)
Yesterday, I got up through Chapter 17 but I added only about 1200 words (see Day 14 below).
Today I’ll finish cycling and everything should break loose. Man, am I ever looking forward to that!
As has become my habit lately, I’ll post this early and post my fiction numbers for today later.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Card Sharp Silver… Day 5” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/card-sharp-silver-day-5/.
See “A New Book Publishing News Feed for Authors” at https://www.janefriedman.com/book-publishing-newsfeed/.
See “Teach Yourself to Echolocate” at https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/how-to-echolocate.
See “Search the Smithsonian…” at https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/help-atlas-find-smithsonian-weird-items.
See “Let’s All Take A Quiz” at https://killzoneblog.com/2020/03/what-book-wasted-your-timewhat-book-moved-youlets-all-take-a-quiz.html.
See “The Ornery Little Comma” at https://prowriterswriting.com/the-ornery-little-comma. My swan song, sort of.
The Numbers
Fiction words today…………………… XXXX
Nonfiction words today…………… 940 (Journal)
Writing of The Othgygnrkthers (tentative title, novel)
Day 10… 1622 words. Total words to date…… 28128
Day 11… 1263 words. Total words to date…… 29391
Day 12… 0992 words. Total words to date…… 30383
Day 13… 1897 words. Total words to date…… 32280
Day 14… 1199 words. Total words to date…… 33479
Total fiction words for the month……… 45800
Total fiction words for the year………… 182495
Total nonfiction words for the month… 20700
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 75180
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 257675
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