In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Happy Halloween!
* Another Perspective of CovID-19
* A great writing day
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“I feel shy of saying this, because to non-writers it sounds so lazy—but if, seven days a week, you can cut out two hours for yourself, when you are undistracted and on-song, you will soon have a book.” Hilary Mantel
“Writing is a long game and you have to be patient with yourself and your material. A great deal happens in the dark, as it were; work goes on half-consciously. You have to trust this process is happening.” Hilary Mantel
“It’s hard to accept, but part of growing up in the craft is to know that not everything you write matters.” Hilary Mantel
“No matter how great a [word processing] program is, someday it will go away. Word is a perfect example. I could make Word sing, now it’s a boat anchor. I’ve shifted to LibreOffice which is acting similarly to Word of two decades ago.” Allynh in a comment on TPG’s post about Scrivener
Happy Halloween! We live in the country with no small children about, so we’ll be passing a quiet evening. We didn’t even buy candy to eat ourselves while pretending it was for children.
(But with the USMC Birthday coming up soon, I know there’s a cake in the offing. grin)
Here’s a pic of the creepy Burger King clown I don’t like. (They didn’t call him a “clown,” but a “mascot.”) I understand from various sources he’s now been retired.
Another Perspective of CovID-19 (from The Passive Voice)
“An estimated 20 million people died in World War I. World War II killed an estimated 70–85 million people.
“The Spanish Flu infected approximately 1/3 of the world’s population and killed an estimated 50 million people in 1918, far more deaths than were caused by World War I….
“There are still an estimated 21 million cases of Typhoid fever and 200,000 deaths worldwide each year. AIDS/HIV, the cause of which was discovered in 1983, has killed an estimated 25–40 million people world-wide.
“Without minimizing the suffering, deaths and disrupted lives involved with Covid (currently 1.8 million deaths world-wide according to internet numbers), the first twenty years of the 21st Century have been a walk in the park compared to the first twenty years of the 20th Century.” TPG in response to the OP “Let’s Polarize Together” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/lets-polarize-together/.
Wow. I had a great day of writing yesterday. I added over 4800 words. That’s what happens when you’re writing into the dark and just letting the characters tell you the story instead of trying to “figure out” what’s gonna happen next. Just sayin’.
And I have two other novels I started earlier. Once I use this one to get myself fully back, I’ll either move back into one of those, write the sequel to this one, or write something entirely new. Feels good, my friends.
Talk with you later.
Of Interest
See “Hilary Mantel on How Writers Learn to Trust Themselves ” at https://lithub.com/hilary-mantel-on-how-writers-learn-to-trust-themselves/. (Thanks to Kobo Writing Life)
See “December Workshops…” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/december-workshops-2/. Dean asks a question, in case you want to chime in.
See “Winning NaNoWriMo with Scrivener” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/winning-nanowrimo-with-scrivener/. I know folks who use Scrivener and folks who don’t. One fact remains: If you want to “win NaNoWriMo,” you have to write. I recommend reading the comments too.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 560 words
Writing of The Ark (novel)
Day 1…… 3196 words. Total words to date…… 3196
Day 2…… 1441 words. Total words to date…… 4637
Day 3…… 3284 words. Total words to date…… 7921
Day 4…… 1606 words. Total words to date…… 9527
Day 5…… 2881 words. Total words to date…… 12408
Day 6…… 2819 words. Total words to date…… 15227
Day 7…… 4828 words. Total words to date…… 20055
Day 8…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for the month……… 24470
Total fiction words for the year………… 359664
Total nonfiction words for the month… 15450
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 165840
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 525504
Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 5
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 13
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 50
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 214
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31