Hey Folks, Well, I had a pretty good scare this morning. I let the little girl out with dim, pre-dawn light in the sky. She skittered off around the corner of the house to her favorite place to look through the fence. About the time I got settled at my outside table, a hoot owl started hooting. It was on a telephone pole some forty yards from the house. But immediately after that, as I was … Read more
Hey Folks, Well, something’s ‘off’ in my world today. Not sure what, and therefore not sure how to fix it. I’m annoyed. I’ll leave it at that. I’m also not sure what will happen around here today. So I’m calling this a nonwriting day. (Turned out to be a writing day after all.) I won’t write, at least not fiction, unless a lot of stuff in my mind settles out. Maybe I’ll start a new website … Read more
Hi Folks, Many of you know I put a lot of stock in Dean Wesley Smith’s advice, but sometimes he tosses a blanket over a topic and beats it to death with assumptions and generalizations. When he’s talking about things he knows about, his advice can be golden. I’ve learned a great deal from him. However, he has his prejudices like anyone else. I suspect he was burned once by a bad freelance editor (or book … Read more
Hey Folks, I’m posting this edition of the Journal very early and strictly as a placeholder. I have to be in Tucson at 8 and I have not the foggiest idea what will happen or how long it will take. Or what will happen otherwise, for that matter. If I get back in time to post a more thorough entry, I’ll do so and trash this one. If not, well, the streak continues. Other than the … Read more
Hey Folks, I meant to say thank you yesterday to those of you who emailed me privately with ideas for publishing a paper edition of two novels in one book like they did with some of the old pulp novels. I appreciate all the input. Still not sure it’s worth all the effort just to produce a novelty that only I would appreciate. (grin) But if I take that path, I’ll keep you posted. * * … Read more
Hey Folks, I hope you check out my site from time to time, especially the left sidebar under Writers’ Resources. This morning I needed a refresher (and ready reference) for the police 10-codes. So I found a reference and added a link under “A-Police 10-Codes.” Anyway, check that sidebar now and then. There’s a lot of good stuff there. * * * Well, as it turned out I took most of the day off. During that … Read more
Hey Folks, Yesterday turned out to be productive, albeit not with actual writing. I did create a cover and a promo doc and get the new book up in all major e-venues. But this morning, something was bugging me about that cover. It just didn’t pop off the page. So I revised it. Now it reflects “noir” better and it pops off the page. That’s it on the left over there. Topic: Thoughts on Novel Two-Fers … Read more
Hey Folks, I’ve learned a great deal about writing over the past three years. It’s also been a long time since I last taught a seminar. That was in September, 2014. A month after that, I taught an actual writing workshop based on Writing Into the Dark. But then, other than bits and blurbs in emails or the occasional edit or brief presentation, I stopped teaching. I devoted myself to my own writing. Now, nearing 30 … Read more
Hey Folks, Wow. This afternoon around 3 p.m. it will have been only two days since I finished The Pyramid Killer. And already I’m jonesing to get back to writing another story. As I told my wife this morning, I went to the Hovel for a few minutes yesterday, on a task not related to writing. I didn’t even open my writing ‘puter while I was out there. But I did run a hand over it. … Read more
Hey Folks, This morning I approved and responded to a comment on my latest ProWriters post over on the big blog. After I did that, I read over the post. It was a topic from the Journal a couple of years ago. And I noticed that I had quoted some stats: “Through yesterday, May 9, 2015 (as I write this) 128 days have passed since January 1. During that 128 days, I’ve written 284,100 publishable words … Read more