The Journal, Thursday, September 20

Hey Folks,

A great “Of Interest” section today (playing catch up), but first some personal stuff, though it is related to writing, or in this case, not writing.

So sorry about missing yesterday. I missed writing not only this Journal but fiction for a day too. My “streak” ended at 4 days. Today it’s back to 1. (grin) Here’s the rundown on the past couple of days:

As you know, we went to Tucson on Tuesday for what we believed was an out-patient procedure. We expected to depart Tucson around 5 p.m. Then the following morning, I would resume my version of a normal life. (grin)

Uh, no. Some underpaid, overworked staff members told me (post-procedure) I had to stay overnight for observation. I wasn’t expecting that. So no computer, nothing to read, no change of clothing, etc.

I was miffed, to put it lightly. If you know anything about me, you know “miffed” is my least-desireable stage. This was only a cardio-cath (through the wrist nowadays), and to top it off, the “overnight” stay magically transformed into a 22-hour ordeal.

Of course, during that time I slept maybe 2 hours and heard five “reasons” for the requirement that I stay overnight, always different and always from the aforementioned staff members, none of whom were aware of more than the most sketchy details of the situation.

To cut to the chase, our expected 5 p.m. departure on Tuesday FINALLY became a 3 p.m. departure on Wednesday. We got home just in time for me to type a short Journal entry and hope MailChimp would pick it up in time for the 5 p.m. broadcast, but I decided to wait until this morning.

Oh well. At least it’s behind me for now, and the lesson was firmly implanted. I will never again go to any medical appointment or hospital visit without a full “go” bag containing at least one computer, my travel items, and a change of clothing. How wonderful it might have been to fill some of those 22 hours with new words on my WIP.

Just to be sure you understand, this was My fault completely. What happened was this: I trusted humans not personally known to me, believed I had all the pertinent information, and walked (smiling, no less) into an ambush.

And when the attack came, I didn’t adapt and overcome, nor was I calm enough to give a flip. At least I was smart enough (eventually) to stop trying to explain to those who could change nothing.

Let the formal record show (grin), I was taken hostage by the insurance companies and lawyers and accountants who run medicine now. (How Orwellian, but I won’t let this drift into politics.) Fortunately, after leaping through several insidious hoops while slapping my flippers together, I was released back into the wild.

On top of that, the trip home (usually less than an hour and a half) took us almosts 2 hours because of a sudden deluge of post-monsoon rain in this place where it almost never rains.

To see more of the same kind of stuff, albeit directly about writing and publishing, don’t miss Kris Rusch’s post in “Of Interest.”

An excerpt: “Tor/Macmillan’s reasoning? To see if library ebook sales are the reason that the company’s ebook sales are so low. That thinking is so damn stupid that I can barely type the words. … Apparently, corporate think has decided that it’s better to decrease sales to increase sales. (How Orwellian.)”
***

Rolled out at 3. Spent the first hour-plus waking up and writing the above, then scanned the Internet for other items of interest and added those below. My forced delay of today’s fiction writing is almost sweet, because I’m jonesing for it so much. (grin)

To the Hovel and the novel at 7.

Well, I added only about a thousand words, then got onto another project (nonfiction), then went up to the house for lunch. Still not worried about the novel. It’s flowing wonderfully.

Back to the novel at 11:30. I thought. (grin) A really light day of writing today as I ran out of steam. Back at it in the morning when I don’t have so much to catch up on.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “Business Musings: Surviving The Stupid” at https://kriswrites.com/2018/09/19/business-musings-surviving-the-stupid/. (I added this one to my Resources page.)

See “Writing Small Town Police Departments” at https://www.leelofland.com/writing-small-town-police-departments-are-you-ill-do-you-have-the-following-symtoms/.

Via The Passive Voice, see “Why ‘Little Women’ Endures 150 Years Later” at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/why-little-women-endures-150-years-later-180970303/. (Excerpt: “[S]he composed it quickly and with little deliberation….”

See “The Inner Voice” at http://www.thepassivevoice.com/the-inner-voice/. Especially see The Passive Guy’s comments. They will help with your contract negotiations.

See “Talk Like a Pirate Day!” at http://www.thepassivevoice.com/talk-like-a-pirate-day-2/. A list of pirate lingo.

See “Bank Robbery and Dye Packs: Curses, Foiled Again!” at https://www.leelofland.com/bank-robbery-and-dye-packs-curses-foiled-again/. (A good read, but for the “meat” skip down to “Dye Packs” and “How a Dye Pack Works”.)

See “Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide Submissions” at https://dreamingrobotpress.com/young-explorers-adventure-guide-submissions/. Great guidelines. A friend tells me they’re open for submissions again. (Thanks, Ann!)

See “Great Fun Today” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/great-fun-today/.

See “Just Write the Story” at https://killzoneblog.com/2018/09/just-write-the-story.html. “You don’t get to be the judge. You just have to write the story.”

Finally, if I haven’t mentioned it before, I recommend signing up for Mark Dawson’s newsletter at https://selfpublishingformula.com/. He will offer to upsell things, but you don’t have to buy. As always, take all advice with a grain of salt.

Fiction Words: 1177
Nonfiction Words: 880 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 2057

Writing of Nick 3 (novel, tentative title)

Day 1…… 3422 words. Total words to date…… 3422
Day 2…… 2664 words. Total words to date…… 6086
Day 3…… 3190 words. Total words to date…… 9276
Day 4…… 1090 words. Total words to date…… 10366
Day 5…… 1466 words. Total words to date…… 11832
Day 6…… 2859 words. Total words to date…… 14691
Day 7…… 3362 words. Total words to date…… 18053
Day 8…… 2465 words. Total words to date…… 20518
Day 9…… 1177 words. Total words to date…… 21695

Total fiction words for the month……… 21995
Total fiction words for the year………… 336726
Total nonfiction words for the month… 12080
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 129896
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 466372

Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 7
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 2
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 11
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 33
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 6
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………………… 193

Days of writing fiction every day………………………… 1 (sigh)