In today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* In my own writing, a decision
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“I’ll go to the grave with some regrets, but none will be for things I wanted to do and didn’t try.” Wes Crowley
In my own writing, I’ve decided to set aside Blackwell Ops 8 for now. Frankly, I’m just not into it, and (in my opinion) it reads like I’m not into it.
Important: I used the qualifier “in my opinion” above because my opinion is only one opinion. Another reader might think it’s fine. If I were strictly writing into the dark, I would ignore my own opinion, but I’ve been over this a few times, so I can’t ignore the sense that it’s not good.
When I started writing BO-8, it was supposed to be a jumpstart to jar me out of my malaise. But for some reason, I’ve struggled with it.
Now, as longtime followers of this Journal know, I sometimes bog down later in a story. Then i write the next sentence, then keep on going. It’s all good.
But I never bog down at the beginning (the first 20,000 words or so). In all the stuff I’ve written, this is only the third time this has happened. The first time, I picked up on the idea again later and wrote the whole novel, Situation Solved.
So instead of forcing this one (though I did that for a few sessions), I stopped, sat back and thought about it. Why was I bogging down?
Reading another writer’s work gave me the answer.
There’s another author whose work, and more specifically, one series, I really enjoy. The stories pull me in to the point that I’d rather read them than do anything else.
But the last novel in that favorite series didn’t feel right. And that I was conscious of that fact rang a warning bell. So I asked myself why it didn’t feel right.
The answer was this: it felt like the author was struggling. It felt like the author was “working” at what came naturally and easily in the earlier books in the series. Readers can tell, folks.
And that was a wake-up call for me with Blackwell Ops 8. If I was struggling to write it, readers would know.
Sure, I could finish it (albeit like pulling teeth) and put it out anyway, but the realization that my readers would probably be able to tell I wasn’t really into the story myself made my decision to set it aside easy.
Honestly, I think I need to simply relax and give myself more time to work through the transition I’m currently going through. Being my age and at my level of health, that isn’t as easy as it sounds.
But I’ll hold out to write something I really want to write. I’ll write something I truly enjoy writing, let the story unfold naturally and smoothly, like the first 7 Blackwell Ops novels and every other novel, novella and short story I’ve written.
Talk with you again when I can.
Of Interest
See “Deepening Your Descriptions” at https://mystorydoctor.com/david-farlands-writing-tips-deepening-your-descriptions/. To his last statement in this post “…you need only to imagine the scene in greater detail” I would add “through all five of the POV character’s physical senses.”
See “The Language of Cops, Attorneys, and Crooks” at https://leelofland.com/terms-not-so-endearing-the-language-of-cops-attorneys-and-crooks/. One caveat: A burglary, by definition, may be committed during the nighttime OR daytime.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 570 words
Writing of Blackwell Ops 8 (novel)
Day 1…… 1653 words. Total words to date…… 1653
Day 2…… 1043 words. Total words to date…… 2696
Day 3…… 1711 words. Total words to date…… 4407
Day 4…… 1221 words. Total words to date…… 5628 (stalled)
Total fiction words for the month……… 0
Total fiction words for the year………… 315283
Total nonfiction words for the month… 2840
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 140410
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 455693
Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 5
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 12
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 50
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 208
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31