The Journal: Yesterday and Today

In today’s Journal

* Quotes of the Day
* Yesterday
* Today
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Quotes of the Day

“You will never hear James Lee Burke speak at a conference about how to market a novel, how to brand one’s work, or the importance of co-op money to the success of one’s sales. My father talks about writing not as a commercial enterprise, nor even as a craft or as art, but as a destiny.” Alafair Burke

Via The Passive Voice, “We protest against unjust criticism, but we accept unearned applause.” Jose Narosky

Odd to me that it’s exactly the reverse for some fiction writers. They protest if they believe their own work is good, but invite, accept and embrace unjust criticism. Some never learn it is the reader’s opinion that matters.

Yesterday, I cross-posted my topic from here to my weekly blog at HarveyStanbrough.com. It will post on February 18.

But in my efforts to transition that site to a purely author website, I also made a decision:

The blog as it exists at HarveyStanbrough.com will end with the post of February 18. After that, I’ll post there maybe once a month, and I’ll post items of interest to my readers.

For those who want to continue to learn about writing (from me), they’ll need to subscribe to the Daily Journal. Please spread the news. If you find value in the Journal, please tell any of your writer friends, writing organizations, critique groups, etc. And thanks!

Yesterday also I got my 3000 words plus (see Day 5 on the novel below). I probably could have done at least one more session, but there was a football game I wanted to watch. (grin)

Finally, my short story challenge started yesterday too.

Today I’ll hit or exceed my word count goal again. I just realized (5+ years in) that my challenges feed the word count and my word count feeds the challenges. If I keep up with the story-a-week challenge and the novel challenge, I should have no trouble putting out the daily word count. And if I keep up with the daily word count, I should have no problem meeting the weekly and monthly challenge. Is that cool or what?

I learned through Alafair Burke’s “Tribute…” (below) that yet another long-term professional fiction writer writes off into the dark. By his own admission, James Lee Burke never outlines anything and never sees more than a scene or two ahead while he’s writing.

Like many successful fiction writers, JLB started young, publishing his first short story at age 19 and his first novel at 23.

I’ve been writing most of my life, but it was more a hobby than anything else. I didn’t give it free reign and go at it seriously until a little over 5 years ago. Stupid, stupid me. (grin)

I hope (and expect) 2020 to be a breakout year for me. I’m not talking about sales or about money. If you have a passion for writing, those things will take care of themselves. I’m talking about writing.

So today I will write on the novel, but I also plan to knock out the short story for this week.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “A Tribute to my Literary Hero by His Daughter” at https://tonydwritespulp.com/2020/01/05/a-tribute-to-my-literary-hero-by-his-daughter/.

Via Tony DeCastro, see “Tribute to James Lee Burke” at http://alafairburke.com/2009/05/tribute-to-james-lee-burke/. I flat loved this.

See “Lost Five Challenge Writers” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/lost-five-challenge-writers/.

See “Copyright – Hands Up Who Here Understands It” at https://prowriterswriting.com/copyright-hands-up-who-here-understands-it.

The Numbers

Fiction words (see specific numbers below)
Nonfiction words today…………… 580 (Journal)

Writing of The Cazadores Lounge and Lonely Place (novel)

Day 1…… 3044 words. Total words to date…… 3044
Day 2…… 3189 words. Total words to date…… 6233
Day 3…… 2145 words. Total words to date…… 8378
Day 4…… 1301 words. Total words to date…… 9679
Day 5…… 3248 words. Total words to date…… 12927
Day 6…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX

Total fiction words for the month……… 9883
Total fiction words for the year………… 9883
Total nonfiction words for the month… 6200
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 6200
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 16083

Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… X
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 45
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 197
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31