The Journal, Sunday, December 16

Hey Folks,

Quote of the day (to consider, on distractions):

“…email [is] an infinite hamster wheel powered by other people’s priorities.” — Jake Knapp on Medium (see “Of Interest”)

And another: “…write excellent books. That’s the only ironclad, long-tail secret to a career.” — James Scott Bell (see “Of Interest”)

And one more: “Don’t let being a writer interfere with actually writing.” — John Gilstrap (see “Of Interest”)

***

Just in case seeing my own reckoning with this “test” of December might help you, I’ll lay it out here each day in detail (when the detail matters).

I rolled out just after 2. By 2:20 I was in the Hovel with my coffee, and by 4 I’d read and posted the items in “Of Interest” below. Sigh. Still long over the “hour” I’d planned for. And to the house for a short break.

Back to the Hovel at 4:10. Although this “one hour” rule is more important for the weekends (so I can spend non-writing time with my wife and babies) I’m going to continue it through the upcoming week in order to fine-tune it. I’m trying to build a new habit, after all.

And another thought occurred: Sometimes it takes less than an hour to find items of interest and sometimes longer. To give myself more writing time in the uninterrupted morning hours, I might consider moving that necessarily fluid “one hour” to the end of my writing day just before I post the Journal.

Finally to the novel at 4:20. I wrote for a little while, then realized I hadn’t started a reverse outline. Those things are invaluable, especially as I realized this might be the introductory novel for a series. (grin)

So I stopped, read back through what I’ve already written, and started my reverse outline. With a little over a thousand words on the day and the reverse outline started, I headed to the house for a break at 6:30.

Back to the Hovel and the novel at 7:30.

After another thousand words, I took a break, then back to the Hovel at 9:30.

At 11:15, I decided to call it a day. I’m stopping short of my noon deadline and short of my planned-for 4000 words, but that’s all right. It’s early in the retraining process and I’m happy with my progress. (grin)

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “Turn Browsers Into Buyers” at https://killzoneblog.com/2018/12/turn-browsers-into-buyers.html. To skip the self-promo, scroll down to “So let’s talk a bit about marketing….”

See “Book tours and signings and such” at https://killzoneblog.com/2011/06/book-tours-and-signings-and-such.html.

See “Meet the Safecracker of Last Resort” at https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/12/professional-safecracker-reveals-his-craft/577897/. A lot of story (and research) ideas here.

See “How a Dubious Forensic Science Spread Like a Virus” at https://features.propublica.org/blood-spatter-analysis/herbert-macdonell-forensic-evidence-judges-and-courts/. (I also emailed this one to Lee Lofland of The Graveyard Shift blog.)

Via The Passive Voice, see “Six Years With a Distraction-Free iPhone” at https://medium.com/s/story/six-years-with-a-distraction-free-iphone-8cf5eb4f97e3.

Fiction Words: 3453
Nonfiction Words: 490 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 3943

Writing of “Cazadores” (novel, tentative title)

Day 1…… 4917 words. Total words to date…… 4917
Day 2…… 1873 words. Total words to date…… 6790
Day 3…… 3453 words. Total words to date…… 10243

Total fiction words for the month……… 34753
Total fiction words for the year………… 493436
Total nonfiction words for the month… 9200
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 180886
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 674072

Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 10
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 3
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 11
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 36
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 7
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………… 193
Short story collections…………………………………………………… 31