In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* The “Christmas Star”
* Paper
* A quick apology
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“A lot of what has happened this year — if it were a novel, I would say that it had a little too much plot,” Simon & Schuster CEO Jonathan Karp
Anyone who says things like ‘it had a little too much plot’ doesn’t know anything about writing and should shut up and go back to selling books. Or something less important.
“PG notes that the author of the OP managed to write the entire summary of US publishing in 2020 without mentioning ebooks. Dead trees and more dead trees, as far into the future as the traditional publishing eye can see.” The Passive Guy
We saw the “Christmas Star” last night, Jupiter and Saturn aligned only 1/4″ or so apart in the west/southwest sky maybe a hand’s width above the horizon. This was maybe 10 minutes after sundown. Looked at it with the binocs. Pretty cool knowing that alignment hasn’t happened for 800 years. It will happen again in only 80 years, but I’m a grouch and have opted out of viewing that one.
Just a thought… Why the hell do people who protest everything from the carbon gasses emitted by the head of a match to the global rainforests being cut down to make harpoons with which to spear whales still print-out on paper everything they write for each other to read? Not to mention recommending publishing to paper books, etc.
Sorry. Not in the best of moods. Fortunately, I’m a writer, so I can escape the upside-down bizarro world currently engulfing this stupid, silly little blue-marble space ship by running to my novel for solace.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “How To Write A Romcom” at http://booksbywomen.org/how-to-write-a-romcom/. (Thanks to PG.)
See “Bookstore Sales Post Another Decline in October” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/bookstore-sales-post-another-decline-in-october/. Um, it’s the 2000s. Open an online store to supplement your bricks-and-mortar store and advertise the hell out of it.
See “The New History of the Milky Way” at https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-new-history-of-the-milky-way-20201215/. Story ideas?
See “Mystery Monoliths” at https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/2020-mystery-monoliths. Story ideas?
See “The Wooden Man” at https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-wooden-man. Story ideas?
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 370 words
Writing of The Journey Home: Part 3 (novel)
Day 1…… 1568 words. Total words to date…… 1568
Day 2…… 2963 words. Total words to date…… 4531
Day 3…… 4652 words. Total words to date…… 9183
Day 4…… 5506 words. Total words to date…… 14689
Day 5…… 4107 words. Total words to date…… 18796
Day 6…… 5001 words. Total words to date…… 23797
Day 7…… 4256 words. Total words to date…… 28053
Total fiction words for December……… 77476
Total fiction words for the year………… 530007
Total nonfiction words for December… 14220
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 199430
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 729437
Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 8
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 13
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 53
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 214
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31