Hey folks, just a note to update everyone and hope you’re hangin’ in there. Arrived at our destination today. I was thinking (wrongly, not at all unusual for me) that we’d be on the road three days, then here three days, then on the road again three days. Kind of a weird symmetry in that. But no. Actually, not counting today, we’ll be here four full days. The current intention is to head back early on … Read more
The Day Rolled out about 3. Checked email and did some other waking-up stuff. Good rain last night so no walk today. Not sure I can even get out of my driveway. (grin) No matter how the writing turns out today, more than likely I’ll be going on hiatus from this blog for a few days. I might post and I might not. I’ll be driving about 11 hours per day, so I don’t need the … Read more
The Day Rolled out about 3. Checked email and did some website maintenance and updates. Turned a quick 3 mile walk. Went out to the shed and loaded a bunch of my youngest son’s stuff into the pickup for the trip north. Really looking forward to the road trip. Sam Turner from SSA and RWA sent me a very interesting survey comparing readers’ choices in 2015 vs. 2013. There’s a lot of good information there if … Read more
The Day Rolled out about 2:30. No walk again today and maybe no writing. I have to be in Sierra Vista to visit my mechanic at 9 a.m. We’ll see how the day unfolds from there. I could have written earlier, but I didn’t. Well, I did write, but nothing good. During my waking up time, a comment on Facebook set me off. I spent the next three hours writing some nonfiction spurred by the comment. … Read more
The Day Rolled out about 2:30 after a rough night babysitting an ulcer. Definitely no walk today. Books 3 and 7 of the Wes Crowley saga came in from CreateSpace today. I order three or four copies of each major title I put out just to have a few on hand. Here are the covers of those two: I got some pretty good writing done today, but not fully up to speed. Took a lot more … Read more
Hey Folks, Because dialogue comes directly from the character’s mouth to the reader’s ear, no other part of your story is more intimate with the reader. No other part of the story will do more to engage the reader directly. Dialogue dialogue consists of three elements: two parts narrative and one part nuance. The narrative parts are tag lines and brief descriptive narrative. Nuance is composed of the subtleties of implication. What your character says is … Read more
The Day Almost 3 when I rolled out this morning. Checked emails and weather. No rain, so I’ll walk this morning. Had a great walk. Only about 5.5 miles but at a good pace despite shooting a few pics. Got a couple cover pics so it’s all good. The guy on the left is a baby cotton tail and he was naturally curious. Hopped just off the trail, then stopped and looked while I took pictures. … Read more
The Day Rolled out at 2:30. Checked emails and weather. No rain, so maybe a walk a bit later. Messed around waking up, then drove out a little early for a sunrise walk. Got some great perspective pics of the railroad tracks and maybe a couple good cover shots, but the walk was truncated when I kept encountering swarms of flying ants. Even got a video of them, little monsters. (grin) Back at the house, while … Read more
The Day Rolled out at 1:30. Checked emails and weather. I don’t mind being up a little earlier this morning since I want to make headway on this novel but I also have to visit Sierra Vista today. If the place there doesn’t have what I need that will turn into a trip to Tucson. Ugh. Hope not. Started the day (after a waking up period) writing this post. Now, almost two hours after I got … Read more
The Day Rolled out about 2, so back to normal. Checked emails and other things, including Dean’s blog for the past two days. I recommend reading his topic of the night Here and then Here. Great stuff if you want to see why I say you should NOT get an agent, and why you should publish your work and then leave it published. I also read a lot of the comments on Dean’s posts. Interesting stuff, … Read more