The Journal: The Novel Wrapped

In today’s Journal

* The novel wrapped
* Keeping Track
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
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The novel wrapped yesterday. Weird. I put pressure on myself just before the end of this novel.

I wanted to finish it yesterday, and I allowed that desire to translate into pressure to finish it. Pressure is never a good thing. As a result, I wrote three separate endings, only one of which I completed. (The right one, of course.)

So when the smoke cleared (literally) I had written 1865 words that did not make it into the final novel. Oh well. It’s done.

Then I ran a spell check and shipped it off to my first reader. Now I begin my brief exile. I’ll be here when I can, but my posts might be very short for awhile.

Keeping Track

For those of you who were intrigued by the thought (yesterday) of each day of your life being a page in the novel of your life, a friend came up with an easy way to keep track. (Thanks, Russ.)

Russ writes, “If you would like to be able to do the same (and you have Microsoft Excel), simply enter the following formula in a cell of the spreadsheet: =DAYS(NOW(),”DD-MMM-YYYY”). Then replace the DD-MMM-YYYY with the date that was the day before your birthdate if you want the count to include both the day on which you were born and the current date.”

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “For Love or Money?” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/08/for-love-or-money.html.

See “The Shiver Test” at https://mystorydoctor.com/the-shiver-test/. As always, for consumption by the learning (conscious) mind. Absorb what you need, then apply it through your creative subconscious as you write.

See “39 Themed Calls for Submissions” at https://authorspublish.com/39-themed-submissions-calls-for-august-2021/.

See “Writing Prompt Generator” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/writing-prompt-generator/.

See “Instagram for Dummies” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/08/instagram-for-dummies.html.

See “Dont over-explain ‘default’ objects and gestures” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/dont-over-explain-default-objects-and-gestures/.

See “Hard times are coming” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/hard-times-are-coming/.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 310 words

Writing of WCGN 4: Return to the New Mexico Territory (novel)

Day 1…… 1965 words. Total words to date…… 1965
Day 2…… 2624 words. Total words to date…… 4589
Day 3…… 1824 words. Total words to date…… 6413
Day 4…… 3160 words. Total words to date…… 9573
Day 5…… 3504 words. Total words to date…… 13077
Day 6…… 4704 words. Total words to date…… 17781
Day 7…… 2552 words. Total words to date…… 20333
Day 8…… 2234 words. Total words to date…… 22567
Day 9…… 2227 words. Total words to date…… 24794
Day 10… 3968 words. Total words to date…… 28762
Day 11… 4779 words. Total words to date…… 33541
Day 12… 3875 words. Total words to date…… 37416
Day 13… 3346 words. Total words to date…… 40762
Day 14… 3572 words. Total words to date…… 44334
Day 15… 3361 words. Total words to date…… 47695 (done)

Total fiction words for August……… 6933
Total fiction words for the year………… 623282
Total nonfiction words for August… 1460
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 147890
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 771172

Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 12
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 65
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31

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.