In today’s Journal
* The last item (tough love)
* There’s a good chance
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
The last item in “Of Interest” today is titled “An Editor’s Guide to Why You Don’t Suck.” I almost didn’t list it, for a few reasons.
1. The article was written by a “developmental editor.” In other words, someone who believes he understands the content of your book (your story) better than you do. Of course, that’s a scientific impossibility. How can ANYone know “your” story, something that resides in your creative subconscious, better than you do? Well, except your characters, because really, it’s their story. But you’re their translator, so….
2. The article begins with “Writing is hard.” Wow. Nothing like setting a negative tone (plus it’s pure, unadulterated bull cookies) right out the gat. Folks, if you really believe writing is hard, go dig a ditch for a few hours under the summer sun. In the sand. In Yuma. But seriously, if you think writing is hard, skip it and find something fun to do. As billions of people have said before I came along, life is short. Do something you enjoy.
3. The first subsection of the article is labeled “First Drafts are Never Final Drafts.” Sorry, but that depends. If you slap a bunch of words on the page with no thought for coherence or punctuation, then yes, this is probably right.
But if you cycle back through your first draft as you go, giving your characters a chance to add what you probably missed as you raced through the story trying to keep up with your characters, then there’s no reason your first draft can’t be your final draft.
4. Later in that subsection, the author says no editor ever has seen a “perfect” first draft. Okay, I have to agree with this one because perfection doesn’t exist. But as a long-time (three decades or longer) editor, I’ve turned around several first drafts because the writer thought he needed an editor but didn’t. In those cases, I didn’t get paid, but I did get the satisfaction of knowing I’d done the right thing by refusing to do a job that didn’t need doing.
(As an instructional aside, in one of those cases, the writer sent me a scalding note saying I obviously wasn’t a very good editor if I thought what he sent me didn’t need editing. Then he went off to find a “real” editor who could recognize severely flawed work when he saw it. Think maybe that writer could use a lesson or two in believing in himself?)
There are more flaws with the author’s reasoning, but as an exercise in tough love, I figured I’d list the article in “Of Interest” after all and let you read it for yourself. Chances are, especially if you believe in yourself, you’ll see the flaws in the article for yourself.
There’s a good chance I’ll be posting the Journal a little less frequently. I’ll probably skip posting on some days, especially on days when I don’t have a lot of good stuff for “Of Interest” or a topic to share with you.
I definitely don’t want to post when I have nothing to say and nothing to share. To me, that’s just silly.
So if you notice that the Journal doesn’t show up in your inbox now and again, don’t sweat it. I’ll be back when I have something to share. When I don’t, I’ll be having fun working on the current novel.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “How To Survive a Waterfall Plunge Using Science” at https://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/outdoors/a6960/waterfall-survival-tips/. In case you have a character who goes over a waterfall, or might someday.
See “Be the Mouse” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/06/be-the-mouse.html. In case it helps some of you. Me? Meh. I just write ’cause I love to hear stories and pass them along.
See “16 Magazines that Publish Writing by Children and Teens” at https://authorspublish.com/16-magazines-that-publish-writing-by-children-and-teens/. I don’t think I have any teenaged readers, but maybe you know some who write. If so, here you go. (Always read terms of service, and teach your children to do so.)
See “An Editor’s Guide to Why You Don’t Suck” at http://positivewriter.com/an-editors-guide-to-why-you-dont-suck/. I include this as a bit of negative learning.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 700 words
Writing of WCGN2: The Comancheros (novel)
Day 1…… 1216 words. Total words to date…… 1216
Day 2…… 1913 words. Total words to date…… 3129
Day 3…… 3103 words. Total words to date…… 6232
Day 4…… 2490 words. Total words to date…… 8722
Day 5…… 4179 words. Total words to date…… 12901
Day 6…… 3492 words. Total words to date…… 16393
Total fiction words for June……… 64887
Total fiction words for the year………… 519316
Total nonfiction words for June… 18340
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 124570
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 643946
Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 10
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 63
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.