I Got Nothin’
July 19, 2024 by Harvey
In today’s Journal
* I Got Nothin’
* The Numbers
I Got Nothin’
I’ve been in a TNDJ flurry recently. Most of the last 10 years, really, since I first started The Journal. Click this link to find the free, searchable PDF archives.
I love teaching, but I really miss teaching live seminars. I miss the instant feedback, the questions and comments, etc. I miss the opportunity to correct a misunderstanding or misinterpretation on the spot. Sometimes I miss it like air.
That’s been on my mind a lot lately. But I also feel a little helpless to do anything about it. I mean, I couldn’t even begin to get all the paid subscribers, much less all the free subscribers, together in one place to teach a seminar.
They’re scattered over at least three continents (maybe four) in at least seven or eight countries. Those in the US are still scattered over several states.
Even right here in Arizona, within say 100 miles of where I live, I suspect I could be sure only a few of those who live out here would show up. So I guess those days of spouting off in public are gone.
Whatever I want to pass along, I have to do so here in TNDJ. And I know my instruction is not always clear to everyone. So I can only hope the writers who bother to read this silliness can eventually correct their own misunderstandings.
Or maybe I’ll stumble around and inadvertently answer their unasked questions or unwritten comments in another TNDJ post. Hey, it could happen.
Of course, every now and then, there’s a day like today when I’ve literally got nothing. When no earth-shaking topics on writing occur to me. On those days, I just gotta wing it.
So today I thought I’d just toss out a few thoughts.
Yesterday, a fellow writer (humorist, essayist, etc.) mentioned he’s “getting the pulp fiction itch again, and it feels good.” He means to write it, not just read it.
In response, I wrote, “Go with what you love. And if that’s writing, it can take you in all kinds of directions.”
I wish I’d added “And don’t damn well worry about it,” by which I mean don’t be concerned or flummoxed. Just have fun. Enjoy it.
See, my writer friend already set aside one budding novel (and it was good), I suspect because it became too “important” to him. I suspect his critical mind latched onto that and said, “Wouldn’t you really rather be doing/writing (whatever)?”
Of course, only he knows for sure.
But it dawned on me that this goes directly to what I keep saying: If you’re a writer, THAT you write is what matters. WHAT you write really doesn’t.
And staying in your comfort zone doesn’t.
Just in case you’re young enough that you haven’t noticed yet, life really is far too short. The very best you can do is go with what you love doing—whatever that may be—in every spare moment you have.
I love writing fiction and I love teaching, passing along what I know.
If what YOU love is writing fiction, run with that. If you trust yourself and give yourself over to your characters, they will take you in all kinds of strange and absolutely wonderful directions.
And then it dawned on me that I’m even living proof of that. I’m not bragging here. Just reminiscing and saying You can do this too.
I’ve written westerns (and literally never saw that coming), both kinds of SF (“we go there” or “they come here”), mainstream action-adventure (this is literally my favorite genre to write), mystery, pulp detective/PI, horror, crime thrillers, etc. etc. etc.
And when I did all of that, unless I was glued to a series (and loving it) I never had the slightest clue what I was going to write next. And that includes all the novels that ended up being the “first” in a series.
Even while writing another book in a series, I never had the slightest idea how the story would unfold. Every story, every novel, was absolutely unique.
I still feel like I started only yesterday. But of course, the numbers tell me that’s BS. There have been a lot of series and books with sequels:
Wes Crowley (22, western)
Blackwell Ops (25, crime thriller)
Stern Talbot (7, detective/PI mysteries)
The Journey Home (10, SF)
For the Good of the Galaxy (2, SF)
In the Siberian Fields (2, SF)
The 13-Month Turn (2, SF)
Nick Spalding (4, action-adventure)
Jonah Peach (2, horror/crime)
Okay, if my math is right, that’s 76 novels in various series of at least 2 books. So of the 101 novels and novellas (92 and 9) I’ve written, that leaves 25 stand-alone novels or novellas in various genres:
Western (4)
Mystery (7)
Action-Adventure or Thriller (7)
SF (6)
Magic Realism (1)
Plus 17 five-story collections, 12 ten-story collections, and a BUNCH of uncollected individual short stories in all those genres and others.
Plus several feted poetry collections.
Plus 18 separate nonfiction books on writing or publishing (some of which are free at StoneThread Publishing. (Just click the link and then scroll down the page to get a free PDF of any of the books in the second group. All you have to do is click on the cover.)
Plus roughly a billion essays either in the Journal or for various other publications (The Writer, The Explicator, ByLine, Candlelight Poetry Magazine, et al).
All of that came from me just doing what I love and not worrying about it. And you can do the same or better. All you have to do is have fun.
Well, I said I’d offer a few thoughts, but I seem to have gotten stuck on one. And maybe I did have something after all. That’s up to you, in this case the readers.
I hope it helps. Next time I have nothing maybe I’ll flop out another thought or two.
Talk with you again soon.
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 970
Writing of Blackwell Ops 26: Tailor Moses
Day 1…… 2069 words. To date…… 2069
Day 2…… 3438 words. To date…… 5507
Day 3…… 1464 words. To date…… 6971
Day 4…… 2089 words. To date…… 9060
Day 5…… 1037 words. To date…… 10097
Day 6…… 1092 words. To date…… 11189
Day 7…… 1286 words. To date…… 12475
Day 8…… 3631 words. To date…… 16106
Day 9…… 2011 words. To date…… 18117
Day 10…. 2493 words. To date…… 20610
Fiction for July…………………….….… 25325
Fiction for 2024…………………………. 440236
Fiction since October 1………………… 720461
Nonfiction for July……………………… 21160
Nonfiction for 2024……………………… 232040
2024 consumable words………………… 646951
2024 Novels to Date……………………… 10
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 4
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)……………… 92
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 241
Short story collections…………………… 29
Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Unreasoning fear and the myths of writing are lies, and they will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.
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If you really want to do a live workshop, maybe consider using Zoom. It still takes the set up, prep, etc, But you can do the live stuff (better than YouTube), get the interaction, clear stuff up. There is a comment section and you can allow people to use the microphone if they want. It is best if you have a host/helper to watch the comment section and deal with tech issues to help you out.
I've done a number of workshops and seminars that way on art (taught them) and it works very nicely. You just have to decide your topic, do the advertising, collect the funds (or not) and go!
And as an added bonus, you get the recording, which you can give a copy to the participants (or you can separate it, such as free attendees don't get the recording, paid attendees get the recording free.) and package it up to see on the website to those who couldn't/didn't attend later.