In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* I don’t share
* Today
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“I specialize in murders of quiet, domestic interest.” Agatha Christie
“[I like] a story without ritual murder etc. or pulp. Straightforward murders and mob executions are OK.” Reader, in an email to me a few years ago
I don’t share personal opinions that are not about writing very often. I almost did today, but decided (probably wisely) against it. I was going to comment on a truly stupid post I found on The Passive Guy’s website and then post the link so you could see the original.
But I changed my mind. I see no reason to spread the hatred and bias in the OP, so I won’t. Which of course negates the need for a comment.
Maybe it’s a personal flaw, but the one way to be absolutely certain I won’t read something is for any segment of the Thought Police to give me a free book and then “challenge” me to read it to “improve” how I form opinions of other people. I generally have a two-word response for people like that, and the only one I’ll share here with you is “you.”
My process has never wavered, and it isn’t dependent on skin color, nationality, gender or any other superficial difference. I have only two criteria: what a person says and what a person does. If the two don’t match up, I mark that person off my list and go on about my life.
The fact is, some folks don’t care about actually making a difference in society or otherwise. To those folks, all that matters is the appearance of making a difference.
In my humble opinion, those folks would be better served to get on with their own life and stop trying to elevate themselves to the position of General Manager of the Universe.
Today, I started out the morning with a few back and forth emails, checked for items of interest, then prepped the short story I wrote yesterday so I could send both .mobi and .pdf files to my patrons. So that’s done.
Finally I got to the WIP, where the story is close to the end. Barring any curve balls from the characters, I suspect it will wrap today or tomorrow.
Annnnd it wrapped today at about 10:40 at a little over 42000 words. (grin) I ran a spell check, cut off the excess, and sent it to my valiant first readers.
Now I’m gonna take a day or two off and do ZIP. (grin)
One of my sons and his family are coming down this weekend too, so I might not be back with the Journal tomorrow.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Read the comments on “The Trademark Book” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/the-trademark-book/#comments. Some good stuff there (after my comment).
In case you missed it in the Journal awhile back, see “Writing Sales Copy (Book Descriptions)” at https://prowriterswriting.com/writing-sales-copy-book-descriptions/.
See “Getting Started with Copyright Protection” at https://creativelawcenter.com/. A new resource.
See “The Complete Guide to Query Letters” at https://www.janefriedman.com/query-letters/. If you need it (I hope you don’t), here it is.
Get your free copy of The Paid Publishing Guidebook for 2020 at https://lp.freedomwithwriting.com/free-book-the-paid-publishing-guidebook-for-2020-1531-publishers-that-pay-writers/.
The Numbers
Fiction words today…………………… 3293
Nonfiction words today…………… 550 (Journal)
Writing of The Cazadores Lounge and Lonely Place (novel)
Day 11… 3663 words. Total words to date…… 28768
Day 12… 2186 words. Total words to date…… 30954
Day 13… 2899 words. Total words to date…… 33853
Day 14… 2883 words. Total words to date…… 36736
Day 15… 2413 words. Total words to date…… 39149
Day 16… 3293 words. Total words to date…… 42442 (done)
Total fiction words for the month……… 48392
Total fiction words for the year………… 48392
Total nonfiction words for the month… 17570
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 17570
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 65962
Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 1
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 2
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 46
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 199
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31