The Journal, Thursday, 9/10: Life Happens

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

The Journal, Wednesday, 9/9: Retraining

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

The Journal, Tuesday, 9/8: Challenges

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

The Journal, Monday, 9/7: Reading

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

The Journal, Sunday, 9/6

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

The Journal, Saturday, 9/5

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

The Journal, Friday, 9/4

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

The Journal, Thursday, 9/3

Rolled out a little before 2 this morning. I’ve done practically nothing this morning other than tend to the babies (two kits and a chihuahua), visit Facebook etc. The bug seems to be going away finally. Woohoo! I walked as a kind of test to see what I could do. Made almost 6 miles out a wash and back. Admittedly the sand was moist from all the rain so well-packed and good walking. Only slogged in … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, 9/2

The Day Rolled out a little before 3. Still have a bug but it’s not a major deal. Just very slight headaches that come and go accompanied by (also very slight) chills/fever and nausea. Just blah, y’know? I did get out for a walk. I decided to do hills, into and out of a wash off Sybil Road. I hoped to shove whatever this is on through my system, but that doesn’t work like it did … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, 9/1 (Yay!)

The Day Rolled out a little after 2. It’s September 1, a shiny brand-new month. New possibilities, newly re-set goals. Thank goodness. Coffee and email to wake up. No walk today. Had a violent storm come through here yesterday. That and this little bug that’s taken hold of me recently will keep me from walking today. I’ll walk tomorrow for sure. A good long one. Well, back to writing today. It is September 1. No real … Read more