Hi Folks, Note: Before I begin this post, I wanted to point you to an invaluable resource I recently found. At your leisure, please check out https://killzoneblog.com/. It’s a blog home of several best-selling authors. I’ve found some great advice there already on pacing. Also I want to offer you a free SF sampler from Lightspeed Magazine. I received it only this morning. To download it in PDF, just click Women Destroy Science Fiction (Sampler). When … Read more
The Day Rolled out at 2:30 this morning. I started this journal entry over a cup of French vanilla cappucino. Yeah, it’s a weakness. Nice to have every now and then. Okay, now it’s 4 a.m. (after I wrote the Topic of the Night below) so time to release the babies (a hyper nervous chihuahua and two lady cats who relish the savory flavor of rare chihuahua meat, he thinks) so they can run and play. … Read more
The Day Well I’m back. I decided to fire up this journal again. When I shut down this blog 11 days ago, I wrote, “over half of the subscribers aren’t interested, so why bother detailing my daily journey as a writer?” What a stupid question. And the answer is “Um, well, because I was doing it more to hold myself accountable than for any other reason. And the half who ARE interested make it worthwhile.” So … Read more
The Day If you read this earlier, I’ve edited it. Rolled out a little before 3 this morning. Had a fairly good walk, mostly asphalt, with some heart and lung-pumping hills. Only a little over 4.5 miles, but the hills made it a good workout too. Had a trip to Sierra Vista for groceries and cat stuff and a new coffee maker. It was early afternoon before I got back and haven’t written a word of … Read more
The Day Rolled out a little after 3 again this morning. No walking today, that’s for sure. Tomorrow morning should be a good walk again if it isn’t raining. Spent the better part of the morning rearranging my office. I got rid of some stuff and placed some stuff where I want it. The rest I just stored in the corner of my office until I’m in the mood to go through it. At any rate, … Read more
The Day Rolled out closer to 2:30 this morning. Still tired from the trip, I think. Well, I woke up in the mood to “take some air,” as we used to say, and I set out to go for 6 miles. But just as I reached the two mile mark, I realized the large, severe storm I’d been watching to the south was closing on me. Just so you know, I DID look at that lying … Read more
Hi Folks, In the previous two posts I mentioned using action verbs in brief descriptive narratives. The same goes for longer narratives, of course. There are three kinds of verbs: state-of-being verbs, linking verbs, and action verbs. State-of-being verbs do not show action. As their name implies, they are used to indicate a state of being. The state-of-being verbs are am, is, are, was, were, be, being and been. These are often accompanied by have, has, and … Read more
The Day This post is longer than usual, but you wanna read it, I promise. (grin) Rolled out late this morning at 3:30. Weird. right at 2:30. Things are different when I get up later than usual, especially a whole hour later than usual. Messes up part of the routine. Barely had time to wake up before I had to let the pets out. Then I started getting ready for my walk, so no writing early. … Read more
The Day Rolled out right at 2:30. Turned on the coffee water (I use Kava, which is instant but no acid), then went into the office. I opened the writing computer first thing and wrote an opening sentence that was slapping me around as I was waking up. I won’t count those words unless I work on that potential story later today. Then email etc. then to this journal entry. I might take a day off … Read more
The Day Rolled out right at 2. Like yesterday, I spent a short time on email and games to wake up. Then I turned to the writing computer and did a very short session of around 400 words to finish the big battle scene from yesterday. This is an extremely emotional scene. Whew. No walk this morning as I wasn’t feeling well. Nothing serious, just blah. Finally decided to hit Walmart early in the day to … Read more