In Today’s Journal
* No New Electricity
* The Vote Is In (No, not that vote)
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
No New Electricity
Well, it didn’t happen yesterday. All of this started back in September.
Yesterday, the electrician showed up with a HUGE electrical panel—and I mean about 3 feet by 3 feet—to hang on the wall. Unfortunately, he’d brought the wrong part to connect it to the new meter the electric company has to install after they run new lines to the house.
So he rescheduled himself and the electric company and the inspector to arrive next Wednesday, the 13th. The whole thing’s a circus, except that frankly it isn’t that entertaining. At least it’s not ‘Friday the 13th,’ but I can hardly wait to see what will cause the delay the next time around.
So anyway, mark your calendars. (Yawn, stretch.) Next Wednesday (with any luck) is the day I’ll be without power, be unable to respond to emails, etc.
Completely disrupted my day, not to even mention my mood. All I ever ask of anyone is that they Just Do Their Job. Nothing extra. Just what they’re being paid to do. Hell, I’ll even put on my gloves and help.
So no writing on the novel yesterday to speak of. With all the disruption, I finally gave up even trying at around 1 p.m. I’m hoping the current novel will wrap in another day or two.
The Vote Is In (No, Not That Vote)
I don’t do politics on TNDJ. I’m kind’a proud of that.
I’m talking about the vote re the new ‘Down in the Weeds’ newsletter I proposed starting in January.
Several writers (8) expressed interest. But even though I plainly stated that expressing your interest incurred no obligation, a whopping 99.955% of you didn’t respond at all.
That’s a pretty clear mandate. (grin)
So there won’t be a new ‘Down in the Weeds’ newsletter.
The primary purpose of The (Almost) Daily Journal and later TNDJ has always been to pass along what I know to subscribers. In a way, we’re all engaged in a mentorship. That will continue, and I never withold anything I believe serious writers will find valuable.
But most often, my posts in TNDJ are targeted toward fiction writers in Stage 1 through Stage 3. I seldom think to post the true down in the weeds techniques that would benefit other Stage 4 writers.
Of course, those would also help leapfrog Stage 1, 2, and 3 writers ahead in the craft. I use those techniques in my own writing every day. But I remember only occasionally to pull them out and post them in TNDJ.
Writing a ‘Down in the Weeds’ newsletter would have forced me to focus more on passing along those techniques. Then again, doing so would have cost me some extra time and effort. That’s why DITW would have been a paid-only subscription, though I was going to include TNDJ in that subscription too.
But we collectively decided not to do ‘Down in the Weeds’. And to be honest, I’m almost relieved.
So instead of introducing a new paid newsletter focused only on deep dives into topics two to four times per month, I’ll keep doing what I’m doing now: writing fiction and publishing TNDJ.
As I have an eye-opening epiphany while I’m writing fiction or when I remember to pull an experience from my writing and pass it on, I’ll include it in TNDJ as I have in the past.
It just won’t be a focused effort and it won’t occur nearly as often as two to four times per month. I’ll probably post a few DITW topics fairly often while this whole concept is on my mind, but after that they will probably come less often.
Whenever they come, I’ll try to remember to mark those topics ‘Down in the Weeds’ or DITW or something so you know the topic is something special, something you might want to bookmark or pay closer attention to.
In the meantime, if you regularly learn anything of value from TNDJ and if you’re a free subscriber, please consider chipping in $5 per month for a subscription.
Like all instructors and writers, yourself included (I hope), being paid for my work lends a certain sense of validation. Paid subscriber literally keep TNDJ alive.
To see my most recent DITW posts read
And to see a DITW comment from a subscriber, CLICK HERE. It’s fascinating how much your characters can teach you when you WITD and allow yourself to listen.
In a day or two, I’ll be back with another DITW post on the importance of Pacing.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
The Kris and Dean Show Returns
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 790
Writing of Blackwell Ops 30: John Quick Returns
Day 1…… 2155 words. To date…… 2155
Day 2…… 3930 words. To date……. 6085
Day 3…… 3042 words. To date……. 9127
Day 4…… 3057 words. To date……. 12184
Day 5…… 5268 words. To date……. 17452
Day 6…… 1500 words. To date……. 18952
Day 7…… 3194 words. To date……. 22146
Day 8…… 3236 words. To date……. 25382
Day 9…… 3005 words. To date……. 28387
Day 10…. 3742 words. To date……. 32129
Fiction for November…………………. 19945
Fiction for 2024……………………….. 857077
Nonfiction for November……………… 7050
Nonfiction for 2024……………………. 341470
2024 consumable words……………… 1022586
Average Fiction WPD (November)…… 2849
2024 Novels to Date……………………….. 15
2024 Novellas to Date……………………… 1
2024 Short Stories to Date………………… 18
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………..…… 97
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………… 255
Short story collections…………………….… 29
Disclaimer: Whatever you believe, unreasoning fear and the myths that outlining, revising, and rewriting will make your work better are lies. They will always slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.
Writing fiction should never be something that stresses you out. It should be fun. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Because of WITD and because I endeavor to follow those Rules I am a prolific professional fiction writer. You can be too.
If you are able, please support TNDJ with a paid subscription. Thank you!