Up right at 3 this morning. The writing and tending to the kitten took their toll so I slept longer than usual, but she seems to be doing much better this morning. She spent a lot of time yesterday and last night resting and healing. It’s odd how much she can put up with and how stoic she is about it. Humans could learn a great deal from little wonders like my girl. I’ve learned tons … Read more
Up a little before 2 this morning. Writing before 3:30. A little delay this morning because I was (and am) tending to my kitten. Yesterday, something outside scared her badly. She raced in, then through the house looking for a place to hide. For some reason she didn’t hide in her safe place under the bed. Instead she ran back into the kitchen, up on the counter, then up on the cabinets. The tops of those … Read more
Up right at 2 this morning. Again, by 3 a.m. I was writing. That’ll work. The retraining continues. I’m noticing I seem to have less self-discipline the older I get. Is that how it’s supposed to work? No walking today. With over 7 miles two days ago and almost 6 miles yesterday, I’m taking a day off from walking. Okay, got a lot of writing done today as well as a cover for “Finding Harold.” It … Read more
Checked email first thing this morning per usual. I received a request to write a foreword for an anthology being published by Creative Writing Institute. I’ve told them I’ll do it. Rolled out a little after 2, and by 3 a.m. I was writing. Woohoo! The retraining is in progress. I wrote awhile with a couple breaks, then went to walk a local arroyo about 6. Again left my camera in the pickup and just walked. … Read more
One more fairly major change to this blog. I’ve changed it so the full post appears in your email. You’ll still have the option of reading the whole thing in your browser where it looks a lot better. And of course I’ll continue to hope you will refer this to others, but you can also just read the whole thing in your email now. This won’t help those who don’t bother to even open the email, … Read more
Rolled out a little before 2 this morning. I think I’m almost caught up on my rest. Still, not much in the mood to write, although I’d better GET in the mood as the clock is ticking for the next short story. (grin) Again I didn’t do much this morning but catch up on more of my preferred reading. Later I also opened all the pics (over 400) from the Gila trip. I separated out the … Read more
As you can see from the title of this post, beginning today I’m offering a slightly different format. I’m including at least a hint at the Topic of the Post in the title. When I don’t include a topic for that day, I’ll try to slip something in there to give you an idea of what the post is about. I’m also going to be removing older posts from the website. They take up unnecessary space, … Read more
No doubt on our way back from playing around in Gila National Wilderness or someplace just as wild. No entry today about the day. Just some musing and some silliness, as you will see below. Few things are more enjoyable than writing a brand new story. As I’ve been telling anyone who will listen, just give a character a problem, drop him into a setting, put your fingers on the keyboard and go for it. It’s … Read more
Playing around in Gila National Wilderness or someplace just as wild. No entry today about the day. Topic: Setting and How to Write It Okay, to start a story (of any length) you have to begin. You have to write an opening. In order to write an opening, you have to create a character, give him a problem and drop him into a setting. But what do I mean by “setting”? First, here I’m talking about … Read more
Today I’m somewhere in the Gila National Wilderness or someplace just as wild. No entry today about the day. Topic of the Morning: Write What You Know — Seriously? Uh, no. Bad advice. Maybe the baddest advice ever, and I mean that in the old sense of “baddest,” before we started dumbing down the language. I mean “worst.” It’s bad advice because the connotation is that you should write ONLY what you know. So what? You’re … Read more