Hey Folks,
I’m writing this early (around 6), but probablly a non fiction-writing day today. It’s a half-day anyway, and a laundry day and I have a copyedito to work on.
Some of you probably are rolling your eyes, but the plan “this time” is to write first in the morning on most days (beginning tomorrow, I hope) and to edit in the afternoons until the copyedit is finished.
I know. Been there before, but my mindset is a little different this morning.
As I was telling a friend earlier, I’m in a Hemingway-esque state of mind.
I wrote the novella Jobs Like That in that state, and the novel I just finished was in that state. Though it annoyed me a bit that it ended so soon.
I went in thinking it would probably be my first “thriller” novel, but it didn’t work out that way. I never chanced upon the earth-shaking conflict with international implications that are the centerpiece of most thrillers.
What I ended up with was a second Nick Spalding fiction that is an action-adventure psychological-suspense thing with, as it turned out, a strong element of romance. Go figure.
A good story, but not what I was expecting. But it was a ball to write. I looked forward to sitting down with it each morning.
And that’s kind of the gist of this diatribe. I suspect we all go into a story with preconceived notions, but the characters, not we, are living the tale, and if we simply let the story unfold, they’ll tell the story the way it should be told. Regardless of how we “think” it should go. (grin)
I was sad to see that story end, and frankly I was a little dismayed at what happened to a character who debuted in Jobs Like That. But I’m glad the characters allowed me to come along on the ride.
In fact, I’m thinking about expanding Jobs Like That into a novel (with a different name, of course) to expand on the role of that earlier character.
***
Got the laundry started, then mowed about half the yard (east and south). Now I’m gonna edit while I cool down, so I’ll go ahead and post this early.
Of Interest
Via Dan Baldwin, see “Business Musings: Writers And The Hamster Wheel Of Doom” at https://kriswrites.com/2018/08/15/business-musings-writers-and-the-hamster-wheel-of-doom/. As Dan says, it’s “pure gold.” This was posted yesterday, but for some reason didn’t show up on my RSS feed.
See “Two New Regular Workshops Posted” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/two-new-regular-workshops-posted/.
See Jordan Dane’s “A Second Chance at a Cover” at https://killzoneblog.com/2018/08/a-second-chance-at-a-cover.html. Bearing in mind that as an indy publisher you have many more chances than two to update your covers. Potentially useful references here though.
Talk with you again soon.
Fiction Words: XXXX
Nonfiction Words: 440 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 440
Writing of
Day 1…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for the month……… 35897
Total fiction words for the year………… 284194
Total nonfiction words for the month… 10810
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 109096
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 393040
Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 6
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 2
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 11
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 32
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 6
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………………… 193