The Journal, Thursday, October 31

In today’s Journal

* Quote of the Day
* Genres and Audiences
* I’m writing again!
* Yesterday
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Quote of the Day

“Don’t ever write anything you don’t like yourself and if you do like it, don’t take anyone’s advice about changing it. They just don’t know.” Raymond Chandler

For a great series of descriptions of the commercial genres and appropriate audiences by age, download my free Genres and Audiences at https://harveystanbrough.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Genres-and-Audiences.pdf. Note: this was derived from “Genre: A Novel’s Flavor” ©2019 Modupeh Duncan for AuthorsPublish.com
***

I’m writing again! This morning I started a short story set (apparently) in the Blackwell Ops world.

Funny how this stuff works if you only have faith.

I’ve been through enough hiatuses that this time I wasn’t worried that the words had left me. But of course, it still bothered me that I wasn’t writing fiction regularly. Especailly given my seeming motto:

What you write isn’t important. THAT you write is important.

And as you know, I’ve also been reconsidering the name of the protagonist in the novel I started awhile back. Now I know he will assume the name of the protagonist in this short story. Who knows? The short story might also become a chapter or two or three in the novel.

I don’t really care, and it isn’t something I’m giving much conscious thought. It just feels so good to be running through a story with a cast of characters again.

I have a routine how-you-doin’ appointment with one of my heart guys this morning at 11, so the short story probably will take me all day to write in starts and fits, off and on.

Still, doing something in this chair besides warming the cushion or writing this nonfiction stuff makes me feel a little more worthwhile.
***

Yesterday I wrote a topic titled “A Tense Situation” but decided to post it to ProWritersWriting.com instead of here. It will go live on Saturday, November 16. I have another post scheduled there for November 2, and there’s something good there almost every day from different professional fiction writers.

So if you aren’t yet subscribed to the free PWW, I recommend it. You can subscribe by clicking http://eepurl.com/gjwnWT. Did I mention it’s free?

Anyway, the leap in nonfiction words below includes this post and that one.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “The Pros and Cons of Present Tense” at https://www.janefriedman.com/pros-and-cons-of-present-tense/.

See “How to Optimize Your Website for Newsletter Sign-Ups” at https://www.thebookdesigner.com/2019/10/how-to-optimize-your-website-for-newsletter-sign-ups/.

See “Business Musings: Public Speaking” at https://kriswrites.com/2019/10/30/business-musings-public-speaking/.

See “Back to Normal” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/back-to-normal/.

See “Some Workshop Stuff” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/some-workshop-stuff/.

The Numbers

Fiction words today…………………… 507
Nonfiction words today…………… 440

Total fiction words for the month……… 4862
Total fiction words for the year………… 385093
Total nonfiction words for the month… 18390
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 281080
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 666173

Calendar Year 2019 Novels to Date…………………… 7
Calendar Year 2019 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2019 Short Stories to Date… 2
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 43
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 195
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31