The Journal, Tuesday, October 16

Hey Folks,

Raining here today. Drizzling, really, as the dregs of one hurricane or another move northeast from Baja. And I do mean drizzling. In the past four days, we’ve received an accumulation (in the rain gauge) of only 1.5″ of rain.

Oh well. Here in the desert southwest, we really need the moisture. And the cooler temps are nice, to be sure. It just makes my commute (about 200 feet to and from the Adobe Hovel) a bit tricky.

And of course, the constant overcast and the requisite cuddly sweat jacket would make it very easy to snuggle with a good book or watch TV.

But I’m writing.

Thus far this morning I’ve had two sessions during which I knocked out around 1500 new words. And yesterday, I got only about that many as well.

I’m not going at it really hard, and I tell myself my approach is mostly due to my medical thing. To some degree that’s true.

But I also feel as if the end of this one is coming in another 10,000 words or so, and really I’m in no rush to get there.

I’ve had the feeling lately this might be the last book in the Nick Spalding series. Part of that is probably because I’ve been in this book so long.

Today is only the twelfth writing day, but I started this thing way back on September 7 (40 calendar days ago today), and I’m not used to dealing with a storyline for that long. That’s about the length of time it usually takes me to write two novels.

I do enjoy the characters a great deal, and the story is moving right along when I spend any time at all with it. But I’m tired of it. So part of me wants to get to the end and finish it, but a stronger part wants to drag my feet.

You ever have a problem like that?

When I started this series, I thought it might run to 10 or 12 books. Now it looks as if it might end at 3.

Then again, Nick recently showed me a different side of his character. It might bring about a prequel, one that maybe explores how he came about being this American expatriate guy who dabbles in other nations’ affairs. And maybe how the psyche that enables him to want that life was formed.

I don’t know. I guess for now I’ll just keep writing and see where it takes me. Or us. Nick and me.
***

A lot of cycling back in this one as the characters reveal new little twists and turns that I then have to go back and set up. Sure glad I have that reverse outline. (grin)

In case you’re wondering, those cycling jaunts take only a minute or two each time. It’s very satisfying to know when I write the last word in this novel it will be a clean draft ready for my first reader and then publication.

The novel is still racing right along. What a great feeling that is.

A pretty good day today, and it will be topped off with the one LCS game at 1:30 and then the other at 5:30.
***

After I wrote all of the above, as I checked my email for any other links that might interest you, I received notice that a dear friend, Don Johnson, passed away on October 8.

Don was a mentor and a dear friend. He was also an old working cowboy, a writer, and — for those of you who remember the old TV show Outer Limits, he was the guy behind some of the hokey “special effects.” Of course, they weren’t hokey at the time.

Don called me one time with a problem. One of his characters was an old Texas cowboy from the brush country. The character’s great granddaughter was getting married in California and the character wanted to go visit her.

The problem was, each time his wife drove him in their beat-up pickup to the airport, problems happened. One time it was a flat tire. Another time, the radiator overheated. Etc. Of course, each time he missed his flight.

Don called me and said “How in the world can I get him to California if I can’t get him on a plane?”

I thought about the old Iron Horse, the fact that the character had never flown and didn’t really “hold with such nonsense,” and suggested he try putting the character on a train.

A few days later, I got another call. “Harvey,” Don said, “I just wanted to let you know Grandpa got on a train and he’s in California.” (grin)

Don Johnson, my dear friend, will be sorely missed.

If you enjoy westerns, I can’t recommend his work strongly enough. My personal favorite was A Texas Elegy. The opening sentence alone will blow you away. But he wrote many more, including Brasada, Play the Pipes Softly, and The Last Cowhunt: A Texas Elegy.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See Debbie Burke’s important post, “Throw Away Your Shoehorn” at https://killzoneblog.com/2018/10/throw-away-your-shoehorn.html.

See “Free Fiction Monday: Trick or Treat” at https://kriswrites.com/2018/10/15/free-fiction-monday-trick-or-treat/.

Fiction Words: 2796
Nonfiction Words: 850 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 3646

Writing of Nick 3 (novel, tentative title)
Brought forward from September………… 21695

Day 10… 1736 words. Total words to date…… 23431
Day 11… 1468 words. Total words to date…… 24899
Day 12… 2796 words. Total words to date…… 27695

Total fiction words for the month……… 6000
Total fiction words for the year………… 342726
Total nonfiction words for the month… 7950
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 141046
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 483522

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……………………………………… 2