In today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* Welcome
* The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting
* The Writing
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“Since I turned off the ‘I must publish’ button in my mind, I can write freely, without any reader or editor in mind. I can focus on the story and the characters and how their story really happens.” Jámbor Balázs
Welcome
Welcome to Amelia, Sophia, and any other new subscribers or readers of the Journal. I hope you will find it useful.
Get the Archives and other free downloads at the Journal website. Just click the links and a PDF will download in a new page.
I also recommend reading the posts “I Believe in You” and “Fear”. Can’t hurt, and it might help.
Oh, and check out this half-hour video where bestselling author Vin Zandri and I are chatting about writing on The Writer’s Life.
The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting
Reporting your numbers to other writers can help encourage them to keep writing. It’s why I post my new numbers each day in the last section of the Journal.
Anyone can jump in (or jump back in) and join or rejoin the challenge at any time.
This is a great way to jumpstart your writing and get more practice pushing down the critical voice.
There’s no cost.
Notice, there’s also no pressure re submitting or publishing. That’s up to you.
The point of this challenge — the point of all writing challenges — is to have fun and grow as a writer. Learning to keep track of your writing is a bonus.
During the past week, in addition to whatever other fiction they’re writing, the following writers reported their progress:
Short Fiction
- Erin Donoho “The Ghosts of the Del Monte” 1900 Historical supernatural
- George Kordonis “Movers Misdelivery,” 2408 Urban Fantasy
- Adam Kozak “The Promotion” 5497 General Fiction
- Christopher Ridge “The Mirror Is Not Your Friend” 2600 Horror
- K.C. Riggs “Buried Futures” 1382 Magic Realism
Longer Fiction
- Balázs Jámbor *Kylen’s Story* (tentative title) 5000 Fantasy (17000 total to date)
- Alexander Nakul *The Meerkat Watch* 4418 Urban fantasy (10479 total to date)
The Writing
Another personal record-setting good day of writing yesterday. My daily average for this novel is 4583 words per day.
Again, I am stoked. And I’m even more stoked about the story.
If you keep track of your numbers, average matters a great deal. In fact, it is all-important. In addition to the story itself, it’s what keeps me coming back to the writing ‘puter.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Logic: The Lost Art in Being a Fiction Writer
Great Advice from Joe Lansdale
The Power of the Creative Voice
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 440
Writing of Blackwell Ops 15: Solana Garcia
Day 1…… 3034 words. To date…… 3034
Day 2…… 4389 words. To date…… 7423
Day 3…… 4327 words. To date…… 11750
Day 4…… 4058 words. To date…… 15808
Day 5…… 6103 words. To date…… 21911
Day 6…… 4330 words. To date…… 26241
Day 7…… 4213 words. To date…… 30454
Day 8…… 6232 words. To date…… 36686
Fiction for December…………………… 43175
Fiction for 2023…………………………. 444009
Fiction since August 1………………… 329464
Nonfiction for December……………… 7950
Nonfiction for the year……………… 263530
Annual consumable words………… 704032
2023 Novels to Date……………………… 9
2023 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2023 Short Stories to Date……………… 7
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………… 80
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)…… 235
Short story collections…………………… 31
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Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Unreasoning fear and the myths of writing will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.