In today’s Journal
* Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
* Another WMG Workshop Sale
* A Note from Mona
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
Good morning! Sorry it’s been awhile. I just haven’t had much to say. Anyway, I wish all of you a happy Christmas Eve and a merry Christmas, even if you personally don’t celebrate the actual holiday. I understand that not everyone does.
If you celebrated Hannukah, I hope that was a rewarding time for you. The same for those who will celebrate Kwanzaa or any other holidays at this general time of year. And whatever your personal beliefs, may you and we all have the best new year we’ve ever experienced. I’d say we’re about due.
Another WMG Workshop Sale
To enhance the holiday season, this morning Dean announced another workshop sale. It begins tomorrow on Christmas day and continues for ten days, to end on January 4, 2022. You can read all about it at the link in “Of Interest” below.
This might be an opportunity to obtain a great gift for a writer in your life or a belated gift for yourself. Knowledge is the one thing no person or entity can ever take away from you, and increased knowledge in your chosen craft is invaluable.
As for other sources and resources, the Kill Zone blog is on hiatus until January 3. The Passive Guy is posting less at this time of year, and Neil Gaiman and others I check on regularly, like most people who have even a modicum of sense, are taking time off right now.
A Note from Mona
Paraphrased slightly and otherwise quoted from our Christmas letter for this year, Mona wrote
During the past few years, we’ve sorted through storage places in loved-ones’ homes plus boxes and boxes that were mailed to us. … That caused me to wonder, How much of what we’ve accumulated over the years will our kids want to sort through when we’re gone?
This morning I woke up from a dream. In it I was viewing a slideshow of past Christmas memories:
* Jason, 5 a.m. after Santa had come and gone and before anybody else was awake, sitting on the floor looking at but not touching all the filled stockings with absolute wonder in his eyes.
* Jimmy, a candy cane in one hand and a video camera in the other, wandering around, filming the extended family while “Barking Dogs Sing Jingle Bells” blared over and over again on the stereo.
* Roy, three years old, pulling a big, red Christmas stocking onto each foot. They’re socks, right?
* Audrey wearing a crop top, pleated jeans, leggings, and a Santa hat—singing “Santa Baby” while performing her very best Madonna act.
* Heather helping me fix a cooking goof, then continuing a tradition at the table saying, “It might look bad, but I’ll bet it tastes good!”
* Harvey surveying the mass of ripped paper, ribbons, empty boxes, orange peels and the odd half-eaten candy cane on the living room floor. Then grabbing a huge garbage bag and the vacuum to clear it all away.
* Mona—eight years old—waking up in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve to the sounds of presents being wrapped and an elf humming “Silent Night.”
My dream contained all these plus hundreds of other slides. None of them were pics of stuff anybody got.
So it made me realize the problem is not the stuff—the stuff in the packages at Christmas or the stuff that’s left behind when we go. What matters is the emotional attachment we form to the stuff and the being together, being ourselves—the memories.
This year we intend to make more memories—albeit long distance and via the internet because we’re all scattered across the country—but memories none the less.
And we wish you all love and joy and lots of MEMORIES!
Ditto from me. Talk with you again later.
Of Interest
See “Workshop Sale Starting Christmas Day” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/workshop-sale-starting-christmas-day/.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 270 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
Day 3…… 1205 words. Total words to date…… 6527
Day 4…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for December……… 10865
Total fiction words for the year………… 636749
Total nonfiction words for December… 8230
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 27370
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 836389
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.
Merry Christmas Mona and Harvey! And I heartily endorse your wish for 2022. The whole world needs a good year. Thanks for the Journal, Harvey. It’s always a welcome sight in my inbox.
Thanks, Karen.
Merry Christmas, Harvey! And thanks for sharing your wife’s beautiful letter.
Thanks, Phillip.
Merry Christmas Harvey
Thsnks, Tony!