In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Welcome
* The Writing
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“Artificial light at night confuses insects’ internal navigation senses, with video revealing they attempt to face away from the source; study overturns long-held belief flying insects are attracted to lights.” from FIU News
Okay, so you can officially ignore all those dead moths in the upturned light fixture on your floor lamp. Apparently, they either backed into the light or aren’t actually there. 🙂
“Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on… you’re wasting your life.” Jackie Robinson
“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” Madeleine L’Engle
Welcome
Welcome to klesh2 (Kay, if I remember correctly [wave]) and any other new readers or subscribers 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.
The Writing
On Tuesday, the story tried to wrap, or so it seemed. But the tiny, quiet voice of my creative subconscious said to keep the faith, that there was more to come. Soleada even whispered that there would be at least one more story after this one, so Blackwell Ops 20.
So I wrote the next few sentences to begin Chapter 20, then stopped. I didn’t want to risk forcing anything. I reported a short day in my word count, closed down everything and went up to the house an hour earlier than usual.
Yesterday, when I returned to the novel, it was all I could do to wait to begin writing again. One moment (Tuesday) I thought the story was finished, and the next (yesterday) it was racing again.
So yesterday I filed the Journal, then turned to the writing ‘puter again, and again Soleada took charge of my fingers.
As always, even after having experienced this effect through 85 novels, I was still amazed. It’s like magic.
As it turned out, the minor delay on Tuesday was a result of Soleada’s emotional state. She entered, dealt-with, and moved away from a series of life-changing transitions, all of which hammered her over a period of a few hours in her life.
That is what happens when you trust your character(s) and Keep Coming Back. Not only do I expect this story to wrap today, but I already know there will be at least one more novel in the subseries.
The Sale
That’s why I am offering the whole subseries to you at a greater-than 50% discount (or free to donors).
If you learn from me and want to see how I do what I do, read or reread “Reading Order Matters”.
I’ll talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
YA Romance Requires Crazy Imagination and Full-Blown Dreams I don’t like that word “requires.” But read this for marketing ideas.
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 950
Writing of Blackwell Ops 19: Soleada Garcia: Trying Times
Day 1…… 4398 words. To date…… 4398
Day 2…… 4889 words. To date…… 9287
Day 3…… 3412 words. To date…… 12699
Day 4…… 3384 words. To date…… 16083
Day 5…… 4105 words. To date…… 20188
Day 6…… 5684 words. To date…… 25872
Day 7…… 4413 words. To date…… 30285
Day 8…… 3045 words. To date…… 33330
Day 9…… 4063 words. To date…… 37393
Fiction for January……………………. 117604
Fiction for 2024…………………………. 117604
Fiction since October 1…………… 420659
Nonfiction for January……………… 31960
Nonfiction for February…………… 520
Nonfiction for 2024…………………… 32480
2024 consumable words…………… 150084
2024 Novels to Date……………………… 2
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 1
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………… 84
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)…… 239
Short story collections…………………… 31
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.
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