The Journal: I Guess I’m Smug

In today’s Journal

* Quote of the Day
* I love a writing challenge
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Quote of the Day

“Maybe you can be smug when you can actually write 50,000 words of fiction in a month again. When was the last time you did that?” A guy named Steve in a comment on my October 23 post

I was going to write a whole thing about what it’s like to be challenged with a personal affront by a person for whom you’re trying to do a favor, but I spent enough time on that in my response.

I let the comment through in the first place because I try to be as open as I can in this Journal. And I responded so thorougly because I thought it might help others. (It certainly helped me.)

I love a writing challenge, but writing 50,000 words of publishable fiction in a month is not a challenge. If you think it is, maybe you should go back to eating the elephant one bite at a time instead of trying to gorge on the whole thing at once.

Just write a sentence, then another and another. That will lead you to the end of a scene. Then write another scene and another. If you do that in a story that’s bound to be a novel, you’ll easily clear 50,000 words in a month.

The only prerequisite is solving the old “seat application” problem: you have to first apply your seat to the seat of a chair, put your fingers on a keyboard, and write words. No amount of planning and hoping and wishing will accomplish that if you don’t first sit down, put your fingers on a keyboard, and type. (Or grip your pen just right, apply the tip to your notebook or legal pad, and write.)

But as I said, I spent enough time on the topic in my response. So instead I followed my normal morning ritual, checking for items for “Of Interest,” writing the blurb above, and publishing this. Now I’ll try to scrub the nasty taste out of my psyche, and then I’ll spend the balance of the day with my new novel.

Not because I want to write a certain number of words in a day or a week or a month, but because the story interests me and I want to see what happens next.

Folks, if you find this Journal less than useful, please remember that subscribing to it and/or reading it is not a requirement.

Talk with you later.

Of Interest

See “Scientists at Work” at https://www.atlasobscura.com/categories/scientists-at-work. Story ideas all over the place.

See “The end of the general trade publishing concept” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/the-end-of-the-general-trade-publishing-concept/. I published a link to the original article a day or two ago. I’m publishing this one so you can see PG’s take.

See “A NaNoWriMo Takeover, An Imprint Closure, and…” at https://kobowritinglife.com/2020/10/23/a-nanowrimo-takeover-an-imprint-closure-and-tegan-and-sara-return-to-high-school-again-this-week-in-book-news/.

See “Six Things Writers Need To Stop Worrying About” at http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2019/07/five-things-writers-need-to-stop.html. Yes, this is a repeated link. All writers need to see this.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 500 words

Writing of The Ark (novel or something)

Day 1…… 3196 words. Total words to date…… 3196
Day 2…… 1441 words. Total words to date…… 4637

Total fiction words for the month……… 9052
Total fiction words for the year………… 344246
Total nonfiction words for the month… 11450
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 161840
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 506086

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