In today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* Big deals in Of Interest
* Personal update
* CovID-19 stuff
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“Terror’s not ghosts flying through the walls, going woo-woo-woo. Terror is when the party is over and everyone has gone home and at last you can take a deep breath and you lock the doors and your place is finally empty and quiet, and you turn out the lights and then you hear the toilet flush upstairs. That’s terror.” Warren Murphy
Okay, again I’m putting out this edition of the Journal mostly to provide the time-sensitive stuff in “Of Interest.” In full disclosure, I haven’t yet checked out the “Writing Class” (it’s FREE) in the second entry below, but Warren Murphy (now deceased) is a great and prolific writer.
And as long as I’m here, I thought I’d give you an update on my own silly stuff. It’s all a matter of priorities, taking a deep breath and focusing on one mini-aspect at a time.
1. I made a conscious decision to go back to my cigars, though I have only one on most days and two on really rough days. Essentially, without going into boring details (we all have our problems, don’t we?), I’m self-medicating with nicotine, and the act itself of enjoying a cigar has a calming effect. It also helps me function, so it’s all good.
2. As a result of returning to my “normal” state, I’ve started walking again. And I actually enjoy it. I walk hard up a slight incline as far as I can go. Then I mark a progress line in the dirt with my shoe, turn around and relax my way (downhill) back to the house.
I started walking again about a week ago. That day I walked almost a half-mile out, then a half-mile back. This morning, I walked right at a mile out and a mile back. I generally go in the pre-dawn light and get back just before the sun rises. Yesterday I had the pleasure of walking in an Arizona 616 rain: 6 inches between drops and each drop is about 1/16th of an inch in diameter. Basically, a heavy mist. (grin)
Anyway, in the past week I’ve lost just under 10 pounds. And I needed to lose that, and about 20 more. Woohoo!
3. With those two aspects of my version of normal in place, now I can start ramping up the writing again, re-building that very enjoyable habit.
Finally, I also read a report recently that the CDC has drastically revised their data. Seems the time of attributing a death to CovID-19 “just because” is over. The CDC now reports that 94% of all deaths previously attributed to CovID-19 were actually caused by at least two underlying causes, like heart problems (present) and diabetes. Only 6% of all deaths previously reported as being the result of the virus were actually caused specifically by the virus. Again, woohoo! and with a health dose of “Well, duh.”
Still, of course, follow your own heart and do what you think is right for yourself and those around you. However you do it, stay safe.
Talk with you again when I can.
Of Interest
See “End of Summer Workshop Sale” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/end-of-summer-workshop-sale/.
See Warren Murphy’s “Writing Class” (it’s free) at http://warrenmurphy.com/index.php?page=writing-class. (Thanks to Alexander T. for the suggestion.)
See “Vivian Stephens Helped Turn Romance Writing Into a Billion-Dollar Industry. Then She Got Pushed Out.” at https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/vivian-stephens-helped-turn-romance-writing-into-billion-dollar-industry/. Thanks to The Passive Guy for the tip.
See “22 Themed Submissions Calls for September 2020” at https://www.authorspublish.com/22-themed-submissions-calls-for-september-2020/.
See “Let Your Fingers Do the Walking” at https://killzoneblog.com/2020/08/let-your-fingers-do-the-walking.html. An excellent article on researching with Google.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 610 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
Total fiction words for the month……… 5628
Total fiction words for the year………… 315283
Total nonfiction words for the month… 6410
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 137570
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 453463
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