In Today’s Journal
* Tracking Your Day
* Echoes of Chandler Contest/Challenge
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
I’m sending this issue out mostly for the items I linked to in Of Interest.
Tracking Your Day
Everyone starts with 24 hours in a day.
If you want to write more or spend more time writing but day by day the days seem to slip away from you, try tracking your day in 15-minute increments.
This will work better if you do it physically, actually listing the time increments down the left side of a sheet of paper, then carry the paper with you through the day and note what you’re doing during each increment.
You’ll be surprised at how much time you’ll find that you’re currently wasting, especially if you track your day over a typical week.
Echoes of Chandler Contest/Challenge
Just a reminder that the Echoes of Chandler Contest/Challenge is ongoing. Submissions are open through August 2.
For details, please read “A New Contest.” I’ve had only one entry thus far, and it was something I had to reject.
Me? I’ll be digging two postholes, building a new gate, and stringing about 75 feet of new fence in the cool, sun-lit mornings over the next few days.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Some Basics About Writing That I Believe
Amazon Book Keyword Rules Explained (2025 Update)
Alfred Hitchcock on his film-making secrets If you substitute “page” for “screen” you can learn a lot about building suspense from this article.
And McBain Said, Let There Be Procedure!
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 250
Writing of Blackwell Ops 47: Sam Granger | Special Duty
Day 1…… 3250 words. To date…… 3250
Fiction for July..………………………. 5840
Fiction for 2025………………………. 526647
Nonfiction for July…………………….. 13790
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 165420
2025 consumable words…………….. 684453
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 13
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 31
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 117
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 301
Short story collections……………………. 29