In today’s Journal
* Very Short Post Today
* Should One Seek A Critique?
* Of Interest
Very Short Post Today
Just not a lot to say, and I’m aware that a lot of the stuff inside the recent topics has been negative. I want to get away from that for awhile.
Also, the novel’s coming along, but very slowly. I put down fewer than 500 words yesterday, so I didn’t bother updating the numbers. I feel the novel is (I’m) on the verge of breaking out, but it’s (I’m) not quite there yet.
As you might imagine, critical mind’s messing with me quite a bit:
- Can I even still do this?
- How much about writing must I have forgotten during the past 10 months?
- This first novel has to be up to the standards of the ones that have gone before (making the story “important”).
- Maybe I should write a novel in a different series instead (delaying tactic).
And so on. Actually, I just dealt with and dismissed that last one yesterday.
Don’t worry. (Oops. I laughed right after I wrote that because of course, you won’t worry. Why would you? It isn’t you who’s mired in the muck. (grin))
Anyway, none of this is anything I’m worried about. I’ve been here before. I’m just working my way through it. I’ll soon snap out of it, maybe even today or tomorrow, and the story will run. Then I’ll start putting up the 3,000- to 4,000-word days again.
Should One Seek A Critique?
Nope, this is not another topic on critiques. I just thought you might like to read a different take from a writer I respect and trust, in this case John Gilstrap. Of course, I did leave a comment, complete with a link to my Crawl Before You Walk post.
To read John’s take and see comments by others, ree “Should One Seek A Critique?” at https://killzoneblog.com/2022/06/should-one-seek-a-critique.html.
I’d also like to know whether Stephen King, Lee Child, Ray Bradbury and others of that wonderful ilk ever sought critiques. I can guess, but I’m still curious to know whether any of them were that insecure.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “Licensing Videos” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/licensing-videos/.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 350 words
Writing of Blackwell Ops 8 (tentative title, novel)
Day 1…… 2371 words. Total words to date…… 2371
Day 2…… 1305 words. Total words to date…… 3676
Day 3…… 1107 words. Total words to date…… 4783
Day 4…… 1201 words. Total words to date…… 5984
Total fiction words for June……… XXXX
Total fiction words for the year………… 11777
Total nonfiction words for June… 570
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 81180
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 92957
Calendar Year 2022 Novels to Date…………………… 0
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 0
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 66
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
Disclaimer: I advocate a technique called Writing Into the Dark. I’ve never said WITD is not “the only way” to write, nor will I ever. However, as I am the only writer who advocates WITD both publicly and regularly, I will continue to do so, among other topics.