Hi Folks, Note: This post was originally scheduled for 12/24/2013. It didn’t post to MailChimp, so I’m posting it again now. Besides, it’s kind’a timeless. A little pre-Christmas fun. Enjoy. Well, here we are. We’ve made another approximate revolution around the big yellow ball of fiery gas and come full circle to that time of the year when humans are expected to be giddily happy. And true to form, most of them are, bless their hearts. … Read more
Hey Folks, Rolled out right at 3:30, wide awake, then honestly did nothing for almost the first two hours. Babies to take care of and all that, so I got nothing accomplished. I took care of some small things around the house, then turned my attention to the edit from around 8 until noon. In that time I got 36 pages done, so I increased the bank by one. Now to fiction for the balance of … Read more
Hey Folks, Rolled out at 3, and by 4 the baby wanted to go outside for awhile. We did, and then (around 5) I put her in the house and went to the Adobe Hovel to explore writing some fiction. I started a magic realism story. I didn’t get very far (only a few hundred words) before my cigar was finished and I headed back to the house. Then an unexpected trip to the store for … Read more
Hey Folks, When discussing consistency in a seminar I taught a year or two ago, I mentioned as an example, that the writer should use either “toward” or “towards” throughout the manuscript. I also said, almost in passing, that “toward” is the American version of the word and “towards” (most often pronounced “t’ords”) is the Brit version. I wasn’t talking about the use of the word by a particular character or in a writing set in … Read more
Hey Folks, Today, as it turned out, is another nonwriting day. But read on. There are good things in this edition of the Journal. Windy here. Big wind. Strong stinkin’ wind. Even the cats don’t want to go out. Windy in New Mexico too. Two large trees hit my son and daughter’s house in Roswell. Damaged the roof and cut the electricity. Sigh. While visiting Amazon yesterday to place my short story and novella in their … Read more
Hey Folks, Last night after I sent off the Journal I wrote “Wow. I hope I’m ABLE to push aside the critical mind stuff and turn to writing when I’m through editing for the day.” But that’s just silly. I’ve experienced this kind of thought off and on (mostly on) for the past two years, yet I’ve accomplished more in that time than many do in an entire career. (grin) I always end up pushing down … Read more
Hey Folks, Got up late at 4 and went outside to get pics of the second supermoon in what, two months? Anyway, that took some time. Had to replace a battery in one camera, etc. Then I sipped hot coffee and hunted my kitten, who had jumped the fence while Dad was busy staring at the sky. Found her, got her back in and got some exercise to boot. The cultural editor of the Mexican magazine … Read more
Hey Folks, I’m about to embark on an interesting experiment. Yesterday I received a 200,000 word creative nonfiction manuscript to copy edit. First “real job” I’ve had in a while. It’s going to be interesting, to say the least, how this meshes with my writing. Notice that my concern is how the work meshes with my writing, not how my writing meshes with my work. Priorities. The two shouldn’t clash at all, and one shouldn’t create … Read more
Hey Folks, Rolled out at 3 this morning and started reading over an excerpt a friend sent me from his next novel. It’s gonna be a good story. The little girl is in the house this morning, though tapping on a glass pane near the bottom of the door now and again. She wants out, but there are two owls perched out there in the darkness. Uhh, no. When the moon set and the owls quit, … Read more
Hey Folks, Well, there is a very good chance this will be a nonwriting day. I’m working through a memoir for a long-time friend, and it’s fascinating. I hope to have it published for him as an ebook by the end of the day, so I’m going to stick with it for awhile and see what happens. Started the entry above (and working through the eformat and cover for my friend) around 4. By around 11:30, … Read more