In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Note
* Goals and Challenges and Getting Ready
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“You cannot push any one up a ladder unless he be willing to climb a little himself.” Andrew Carnegie (via The Passive Voice)
“Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas.” Joseph Stalin
“Perfectionism isn’t about being perfect; it’s about the fear of appearing imperfect.” Heather Campbell
“You only need to know the direction, not the destination. The direction is enough to make the next choice.” James Clear
Note: You will have noticed that the Journal was delivered late today. I rescheduled the delivery time from 10 a.m. Arizona time to 4 p.m. Arizona time. I wanted to put the day’s writing on the current post instead of always being one day behind. I apologize for any inconvenience.
Goals and Challenges and Getting Ready
It’s almost the middle of December. If you have set your goals and/or challenges for 2022, good for you. I’m glad. If you haven’t, you might want to start thinking about it.
Dean Wesley Smith finally pulled the trigger on his personal writing challenge for 2022. I won’t spoil it for you, but I will tell you it’s a fairly long post with a lot of moving parts.
Without spoiling the surprise, I will also say I found it interesting that he set a “Fall-Back Base Challenge.” Sounds like he’s allowing self-doubt to creep in right at the beginning. Critical mind intruding a little maybe. Proof that even a long-term professional fiction writer isn’t immune.
Anyway, I read his post more than once, and I probably will read some parts of it again. The best part of the post is the process he followed in order to decide on the challenge.
Getting Ready—I haven’t set my own goals yet, but I will set them over the next week or so, and of course I’ll report them here.
For now, for me, it’s back to the basics. I’m using what’s left of this month to dig myself out of the lazy, do-nothing-but-cope routine I slipped into over the past four months.
At the same time, I’m working to re-develop my work ethic and get back into a routine of writing and taking regular breaks. It’s more difficult than I expected it to be, and more difficult than I remember from the first time I learned it.
Specifically, I’m focusing on spending more time (comfortably) in the writing chair, on redeveloping my interest in my characters and their stories, and on trusting them to tell those stories. So pushing down the critical mind again.
As I wrote here recently, I’ve often said I wish I were starting all over again. Be careful what you wish for. Starting over isn’t all it’s cracked-up to be. (grin)
Talk with you again later.
Of Interest
See “My 2022 Challenge” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/my-2022-challenge/.
See “Status of Classes On Hold” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/status-of-classes-on-hold/.
See “Adverbs, Brrr….” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/12/adverbs-brrr.html.
See “How to Overcome Perfectionism to Achieve Your Writing Goals” at https://www.janefriedman.com/how-to-overcome-perfectionism-to-achieve-your-writing-goals/. Critical mind, anyone?
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 520 words
Writing of WCGN 5: (tentative title, novel)
Day 1…… 2786 words. Total words to date…… 2786
Day 2…… 2536 words. Total words to date…… 5322
Total fiction words for December……… 9660
Total fiction words for the year………… 635544
Total nonfiction words for December… 5160
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 24300
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 832114
Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 13
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 66
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
Disclaimer: In this blog, I provide advice on writing fiction. I advocate a technique called Writing Into the Dark. To be crystal clear, WITD is not “the only way” to write, nor will I ever say it is. However, as I am the only writer who advocates WITD both publicly and regularly, I will continue to do so, among myriad other topics.