The (Final) Journal, Thursday, 8/13

The Day
If you read this earlier, I’ve edited it.

Rolled out a little before 3 this morning.

Had a fairly good walk, mostly asphalt, with some heart and lung-pumping hills. Only a little over 4.5 miles, but the hills made it a good workout too.

Had a trip to Sierra Vista for groceries and cat stuff and a new coffee maker. It was early afternoon before I got back and haven’t written a word of fiction today. That’s all right.

Checked out Dean’s site. I recommend it. http://deanwesleysmith.com

NOTE: In Addition To the new chapter every day on his next nonfiction book, How to Write Fiction Sales Copy, he’s also posting his daily blog. It is very similar to this one, but better. You’ll find the daily blog post just below the new chapter. So when you get there, scroll down if you haven’t been. Really good stuff, complete with a separate topic of the night. Today’s topic was “Massive Deadlines,” in which he talks more about this wonderful new world of publishing.

Go. Read. Learn stuff.

Topic of the Night: Shutting Down

Before I edited it, this topic was “Shutting Down, Perhaps.” I’ve decided to remove the possibility and make it a fact.

Last night here I talked about knowing when to hang on and when to let go. I was talking about a particular piece of writing.

But that goes to things like blog posts also.

I’ve been posting to this particular blog (The Journal) ALMOST every day since October 19, 2014. To date, that’s 171,275 nonfiction words.

Well, 171,275 nonfiction words is a bunch of words. Seriously. And that’s only on THIS blog. It doesn’t take into account my regular blog post, which comes out every ten days and most often contains around a thousand words per post.

Thing is, for this blog (The Journal) I currently have only 30 subscribers. Not good, considering the effort I put into this thing every day. (grin)

Of those 30 subscribers, most of the time not quite half (13) even open the post to read it. That means slightly over half of the subscribers are seeing the email in their inbox and deleting it without even opening it. Talk about a vote of no confidence. (grin)

One of the main reasons I started this was to share my personal journey as a prolific professional fiction writer. I hoped it would help motivate others to write. But apparently now, over half of the subscribers aren’t interested, so why bother detailing my daily journey as a writer? (shrug)

Another reason was to keep myself accountable and watch my own publications grow. I’ve done that. And frankly, I can keep the numbers myself without posting them to a daily blog. I think I’m gonna ask my friend Dawn to help me create a spreadsheet like hers (or maybe just copy hers myself). (grin)

So I’m seriously considering shutting down this Daily Journal blog. Yeah, I was just considering shutting it down, but I’m gonna do it.

In a few cases, at least, I know it has served its intended purpose, motivating other writers. If you’re one of those, I’m happy for you. If you aren’t, well, sorry I failed you.

Okay, so if you are reading this and you are NOT signed up for my main blog (Pro-Writers Blog)—and if you want to stay in touch—I urge you to sign up. For your convenience, you can simply click this link: http://eepurl.com/pQT6f. Then follow the directions.

This will be the final edition of this blog, The Journal. Maybe I’ll see you over at the other blog. Until then, take care.

Today’s Writing: Nothing today except this blog post.

Total fiction words for the month…………… 9569
Total fiction words for the year……………… 451969

6 thoughts on “The (Final) Journal, Thursday, 8/13”

  1. Although I enjoy the journal, I understand why you’re moving on without it. But writers’ journals fascinate me. Probably because I’m cursed with comparing myself to every human on the planet regardless of what they’re doing. Steinbeck kept a journal while he was writing GRAPES OF WRATH that was more interesting (to me) than the book. I think writers love to window-peep into other writers’ lives and I enjoyed hearing about how you get up in the middle of the night, walk miles, herd cats, screw around with the mundane things we all have to deal with, and then sit down and crank out jillions of words. I couldn’t do it. Anyway, you’ll have more time to crank out more words and wrestle with the next thing that jumps out of the dark. So bring it on!

  2. I am guilty of not reading all the posts, but enjoy those I do read. Sometimes I am motivated by your writing and cat herding skills, sometimes I am disappointed in myself for not following up. I’ll keep up with your regular blog, as your teachings are valuable. So long for now. Keep hiking on that dark side.

    • Thanks Susan. I tried to make it user friendly so readers could pick and choose to read about the day or just the topic or just the numbers. The list just didn’t grow like I expected it to.

  3. Different days and weeks have different pressures. I know I have not read it every day, but I did create a Harvey file where I store the critters and sometimes I go back and read six or seven at a time. However, I don’t think you should take away other writing time for this. It is interesting and inspirational to have word counts shared, but it also frustrates when we can’t keep up to that. And I have wondered for a while when you get up at 3AM what time you went to bed?
    Harvey, I think we want the best for you, so cutting out a blog may make life easier. We like what you do.

    Chris Stern

    • Thanks Chris. I have normal hours. Mine are just skewed from everyone else’s. I don’t see much value (personally) in evening TV so I cut that part of the day off. I hit the sack around 8 most nights and get up around 2 or 3. The house is quiet. The world isn’t crazy yet, and I can work (play) with my characters.
      And I appreciate your note, but I’ve decided to bring the journal back for reasons you’ll see in tonight’s edition.
      Oh, and I share word counts only to show folks what is possible when you write as you are able. If you have only an hour a day and if you write only five days per week (take weekends off), that’s still 5,000 words per week, 20,000 per month, right?
      I wish I could keep up with some of the old pulp writers too, but I can’t so I do what I can do. That’s all. And that’s all YOU should do… just whatever you can do. The secret is, when you CAN write, write.
      Best,
      Harvey

Comments are closed.