In today’s Journal
* Not Much
* Spreading Yourself Thin?
* Of Interest
Not much of anything today. Mostly I just wanted to touch base and recommend the items listed in “Of Interest.”
Dean’s post is time-sensitive if you want to back his current Kickstarter campaign.
Spreading Yourself Thin?
I also thought I’d share a bit of advice I sent another writer via email this morning. He emailed me to ask whether I thought it was possible for writers to “stretch themselves too thin,” for example writing plays and novels and short stories (not his specific example).
No, I don’t. I believe you can do anything you want within your physical limitations. (Your mind has no limitations.)
It’s all writing, and it’s all storytelling. Whether studying it or actually writing, what you learn about one will inform what you know and how you write the others. And yes, the same holds true with moving among commercial genres—horror, romance, SF, thriller, etc. As long as you’re excited and having fun, keep doing what you’re doing.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “WH Smith’s ‘bestselling’ book charts filled with titles publishers have paid to feature in rankings” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/wh-smiths-bestselling-book-charts-filled-with-titles-publishers-have-paid-to-feature-in-rankings/.
See “Shopping at a SuperMax Prison: USP Florence ADMAX” at https://leelofland.com/shopping-at-a-supermax-prison-usp-florence-admax/. This is the prison at Florence, Colorado, not the one at Florence, Arizona.
See “Only Two Days Left In Crimes Collide Kickstarter” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/only-two-days-left-in-crimes-collide-kickstarter/. In case you’re interested.
See “Turley Announces Campaign For Football Hall of Fame” at https://jonathanturley.org/2022/01/23/turley-announces-campaign-to-get-into-nfl-hall-of-fame-in-effort-to-be-twitter-verified/. A little satirical humor.
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.
Thanks for sharing your advice on the blog, Harvey. I’ve spent the past twelve or so months dividing my creativity between developing a computer game, writing music, and writing prose fiction. I’ve discovered that doing all three make me happy and all three operate in the same way–continually educate yourself on the craft and then have fun. Don’t try to control things, just do the best you can with what you’ve absorbed.
The storytelling skills I’ve learned after focusing on writing fiction for almost a decade carries very well over to the other two.
Thanks, Phillip. Nicely said. I’m sure Matt will be happy to read that.
Having fun and learning the craft are the main things, I agree. Thanks for this Philip.