The Journal, Tuesday, December 4

Hey Folks,

I think, having gone to bed early last night and risen early again this morning, I’m finally over whatever funk has mastered me during the past few days. Today should be a good one.
***

Paraphrasing Dean Wesley Smith from “Of Interest” today, “We need to make our writing process like our reading process. When you’re reading and you reach the end of a chapter, do you put the book down and try to figure out where the story’s going next? Or do you just keep reading to entertain yourself. Do the same thing with your writing.”

From another YouTube video that popped up by a guy who’s profiling “prolific” writers in an effort to mine gems on how to increase our productivity:

“The first person I want to look at is Anthony Trollope, a hugely prolific creator. He wrote 47 novels over a 38-year period.”

Holy crap. Seriously?

I’m always comparing myself to others. That one made me do some math.

If I could write novels for 38 years (October 2014 through October 2052) at my current average pace (32 novels in 4 years, or 8 novels per year), I will have written 304 novels. That doesn’t include novellas or short stories.

And I consider myself a slacker. (grin)

You can find the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdbuA6lByBE.

Keep learning, and keep pushing yourself to have fun.
***

In my heyday, I once presented at 18 conferences in one year. If you are invited to speak or otherwise present sessions at writers conferences or conventions, here’s some advice from an old guy with tons of experience doing exactly that: When your talk or presentation is finished, don’t disappear into your room for any reason. You can rest/recuperate/sleep after the event.

Hang out in the lobby or the lounge between your commitments. Smile and be pleasant no matter how you feel. If you have to be carried out on a stretcher, that’s fine. But if you are able to walk out, don’t.

Instead, make yourself available to the writers who came to hear you speak and to the readers who might want to meet their favorite author.

Do you “owe” them this face time? No. Or maybe yes. But you definitely owe it to your checking account.
***

The conscious, critical, protective mind is a beast without a conscience. It comes at me (us) from various angles.

After I viewed the video I talked about in the second and subsequent paragraphs above, a thought popped into my head:

I don’t have to write every day. I’m already a prolific writer, especially by that guy’s standard. So what harm would it do to slow down a bit and take it easy?

My immediate response? Well, taking a day off wouldn’t necessarily do any harm. But then I wouldn’t have the fun of writing and playing with the characters in my WIP. Get thee hence, conscious mind! (grin)
***

To the novel at 5 a.m. A good first session, and to the house for awhile. A good second session, and that’s about it for the day.

The writing on this one is going slowly right now. A lot of little twists and turns, and a lot of new characters popping in. Once it settles down, I should be able to blast out a few good days.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “Writing into the Dark Speech” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/writing-into-the-dark-speech/. This is a YouTube video, about 40 minutes. I encourage you to watch. I got something new from it, even though I’ve been WITD for 5 years now.

See “How To Increase Your Daily Word Count — Stop Eating!” at https://killzoneblog.com/2018/12/how-to-increase-your-dailyword-count-stop-eating.html. Or just, you know, spend more time in the chair. Really, this one is good, including a quote from Lee Child that, I suspect, shot right over the author’s head.

See “Guest Panelist at ChessieCon” at https://lindamayeadams.com/2018/12/04/guest-panelist-at-chessiecon-2/. In her newsletter, she also offers some great advice re sources for details a character might see in different places. I wish she’d done a blog post on this. I recommend signing up for her newsletter while you’re at the site.

By the way, most of the Raymond Chandler quotes I post here are from https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/1377.Raymond_Chandler. It’s pretty much a free education if you want to learn to write a tough guy “who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.”

See “Q&A with Megan Engelhardt” at https://fromearthtothestars.com/2018/12/04/qa-with-megan-engelhardt/. Note especially how glad she was that she didn’t pre-judge the poem she wrote that was accepted by Asimov’s. We really are the worst judges of our own work. Submit or publish it and let the readers decide.

Fiction Words: 2160
Nonfiction Words: 780 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 2940

Writing of Dread (novel, tentative title)

Day 10… 2798 words. Total words to date…… 30745
Day 11… 1738 words. Total words to date…… 32483
Day 12… 1054 words. Total words to date…… 33537
Day 13… 1411 words. Total words to date…… 34948
Day 14… 1056 words. Total words to date…… 36004
Day 15… 2160 words. Total words to date…… 38164

Total fiction words for the month……… 46277
Total fiction words for the year………… 463310
Total nonfiction words for the month… 2450
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 174136
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 637196

Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 9
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 3
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 11
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 35
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 7
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………… 193
Short story collections…………………………………………………… 31

Note: This Journal and my Pro-Writers blog will always be free and are funded only by your gracious contributions. To make a one-time donation, click the Donate button under the clock at the top of the Journal page. If you’d like to become a patron, click Patronage and have a look at the rewards. If you can’t make a monetary donation, please consider sharing this post with your friends. Thanks!