The Journal, Thursday, 7/20

Hey Folks,

I’m so excited about this first bit I can barely breathe. Truly a drop-the-mic moment.

Via The Digital Reader (Thanks, Nate!) you can now download and read — FREE — a huge archive of Amazing Stories magazines. They are available in several formats, and both Kindle and PDF downloaded quickly for me.

If you like SF, this is a treasure trove. If you want to study masterful writers, this is an atomic treasure trove.

(And please, if you think you have to want to write SF to learn from masterful SF writers, you shouldn’t have access to sharp objects.)

To take advantage of this incredible opportunity, visit Open Culture at http://www.openculture.com/2017/07/a-huge-archive-of-amazing-stories-the-worlds-oldest-longest-running-science-fiction-magazine-since-1926.html.

***

In response to Dean’s recent comment that he tossed out about 3,000 words on his current WIP, a writer said he’d started a few ideas but they soon ran out of steam, that they didn’t interest him.

That seemed really familiar to me. That’s exactly what happened to me earlier this month. So, he said, he set them all aside.

He mentioned that in addition to the “character with a problem in a setting” starter, he now relies on something called Storymatic for ideas (see “Of Interest” below).

The guy went to his Storymatic deck of cards, drew two or three, and started writing. (This reminds me of Dean’s penchant for crashing two half-titles together to begin a story.)

I mention this only because I wonder what he’ll do with the story openings he’s already written.

When I finally started writing again, I just went back to the openings I wrote earlier this month, opened one, and made up my mind to finish it. Basically, ever since then, my mantra has been “write the next sentence.”

The story itself interests me somewhat, but I’m still not excited about it. I don’t look forward to getting back to it.

So I’ll be interested to see how this turns out.

I’m a little conflicted. I like adhering to Heinlein’s Rules, and Rule 2 is “You must finish what you write.” I’m certain that isn’t a hard, fast rule so much as a stringent guideline.

But I have a feeling the more times you start and then abandon a story, the easier it gets for the conscious mind to creep in and find a reason to abandon the next one.

That’s the main reason I’m still writing my WIP. That and the bonafide fact that I can’t possibly know what might excite some reader.

I use all the techniques I’ve learned, but beyond that I let the chips fall where they may.

Today, and Writing

I moved out to the Hovel early at around 7:30. Did some cycling to get back into the story, and by 9 I’d written only about 1000 words.

I have a feeling this isn’t one of those novels in which things suddenly break loose and it runs. At least not until it nears the end.

Until then, probably I’ll spend a lot of time piecing together a patchwork of scenes. I’ll have to remind myself to trust my subconscious even when it seems to want to write something that isn’t apparently pertinent.

An incredible day of writing for me, mostly in 15 and 20 minute snippets with a couple of hour-long sessions tossed in.

Back tomorrow.

Of Interest

If you’re one who has trouble coming up with ideas, consider Storymatic. You can read about it at https://thestorymatic.com/products/the-storymatic-classic/.

Fiction Words: 4913
Nonfiction Words: 580 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 5493

Writing of Graham’s Road (tentative title, novel or novella)

Words brought forward…… 1070
Day 1…… 3012 words. Total words to date…… 4082
Day 2…… 2675 words. Total words to date…… 6757
Day 3…… 2181 words. Total words to date…… 8938
Day 4…… 4913 words. Total words to date…… 13851

Total fiction words for the month……… 17669
Total fiction words for the year………… 355626
Total nonfiction words for the month… 8510
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 116340
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 471966

The Daily Journal blog streak……………………………………… 602 days
Calendar Year 2017 Novel Goal (15 novels or novellas)………………… 7 novels or novellas
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 25
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 4
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………………… 179