Hey Folks, Well, my grandson is off today unless he gets called in. So he’s up at the house working his way through his GED book. I, on the other hand, am out in the Hovel where I shall endeavor to persevere in the insane challenge I set for myself a few days ago. (grin) A few thoughts on getting up early… It isn’t really necessary to my writing, as I long since gave up on … Read more
Hi Folks, The following is a guest post by my friend, professional fiction writer and ghost writer Dan Baldwin. Billy Ray Watkins stood in the doorway of the old shack where the unfortunate sharecropper was kept prisoner. Watkins, 300 pounds of angry bigotry and hate, pounded his fist, sneered and wiped the chewing tobacco spittle from his lips. He grinned and said, “You lacking-in-a-proper education, fatherless son of the African veldt, I’m going to smack the … Read more
Hey Folks, Okay, venting alert. But this also morphs into a kind of topic. Down in the “Of Interest” section, you’ll find that Dean and Kris are bringing Pulphouse magazine back. Stage One of my automatic response was good for them. I was glad to hear it. Still am, actually. An additional publication = another stream of revenue for them. And during Stage Two, which I admit followed closely on the heels of Stage One (because … Read more
Hey Folks, NOTE: I just popped back in at 6:20 to add this and the next two paragraphs to today’s Journal. If you want to learn a TON about writing, please consider buying THE BLACK LIZARD BIG BOOK OF PULPS. You can find it at Amazon, in paper or Kindle, at https://www.amazon.com/dp/0307280489/. This is nothing short of incredible, even if all you read are the foreword and the three introductions. But there are also at least a … Read more
Hey Folks, Well, I promised myself yesterday I was going to take the day off to read some pulp fiction today. So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m even posting this way early so I’m not tempted. (grin) I have several PF novels in the genre that most interests me and a few in my second choice. So today will be a day filled with reading. I don’t read all the time, at least not … Read more
Hey Folks, Well, I finished the novel. A very strange process on this one that I hope I will never repeat. I think taking the day off yesterday helped a lot. I almost took today off too. I was thinking about writing a short story today, but then a transition for the current story came to mind. Kind of a missing link. (grin) I sat down, applied the transition, then just kept typing. And as has … Read more
Hi Folks, This post first was published in a slightly different version on October 10, 2016 over on the Daily Journal. I’m reposting it here because I felt it needed a broader audience and might help some of you. Got a great email from a respected writer friend recently (Thanks, JGV!) regarding my current WIP (back in October, 2015). He wrote What about doing away with the specific dimensions and leaving the images of the structures, … Read more
Hey Folks, More than likely this will be a nonwriting day. Trying to stay true to my word and just stay away from the novel today. It isn’t as easy as it sounds. But I think I can do it. It’s really weird though, taking a day to just do nothing. I’ve been spending some quality time with my Toyota 4-Runner (finally located a back window glass), chasing down an errant package online, etc. Anyway, I … Read more
Hey Folks, I’ve finally seen a pattern developing. Originally, I wanted to rise hyper-early so I could use that quiet time to write. But most early mornings I check email first in case anyone (especially any writer) needs anything. Then I visit Facebook and scroll my notifications for items of interest. (I don’t use the “newsfeed” feature.) I try to at least Like anything friends post, and comment when appropriate. After that, depending on my mood … Read more
Hey Folks, Apparently I visited Dean’s site too early yesterday. After I left he posted a new article. See “Of Interest” below. There’s a lot down there today, and it’s all good. Ted White, one of the great editors of SF and Fantasy, needs help saving his house. If you can help, visit https://www.gofundme.com/44r62-save-my-house. And if you have a Facebook page and/or are in any writers’ groups, please share. (This is also in “Of Interest” below.) … Read more