My thoughts on writing and progress updates.
A.C.’s Journal: Entry 28 – Gratuitous Sex
You’re reading a nice short story, doesn’t matter what genre – romance, Sci-Fi, horror, mystery, etc. – and suddenly some woman is unzipping some man’s pants. That’s known as gratuitous sex. I reached that point in a story recently – a fairly interesting story up to that point – and…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 27 – Controlling MS Word’s Grammar Feature
Dear Microsoft Word, no, I do not want to use “important” instead of “momentous.” I chose “momentous” after some deliberation. This is just one of many instances when I have exercised control over the software’s grammar feature. Other instances include ignoring it highlighting my very correct wording of something and…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 26 – Location, Location, Location
Writers are often advised to write about what they know. I read a story recently that was located in eastern Washington State and seemed like the writer had lived there. I have bounced around the planet (mostly the U.S.) a bit, and chose some of those locations to use in…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 25 – A Poem for Writers
How can I lie cozy abed While ideas do swirl in my head A critical dialogue line A love scene that’s oh so divine And words that are driving me mad Like “angry,” or “miffed,” or just “sad” The sun is still soft in the east And cares for all…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 24 – A Workhorse Writing Day
People keep posting on social media about 5k to 7k per week is a lot. I just calculated my average over the past four years on just the Freelan novels, and it came to 12,207 per week. Of course, that’s an average and doesn’t include my little “side trips” into…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 23 – The Push-Pull of Writing
A few days ago, I sat trying to decide whether to push or give into the pull of writing. “What’s that?” you ask. Good question. Answer: It’s something I just made up. To me, the push of writing is new stuff, pushing at my brain to get out, get typed…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 22 – That “Gee, I Wrote This?” Moment
You’ve all probably experienced it – that moment when you’ve reread something you wrote days, weeks, months, or even years earlier and are struck with how good (or bad) it is. That’s the test of time, when you think “Gee, I wrote this? It’s darn good (or terribly bad)!” The…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 21 – Becoming a Storyteller
Not sure how or why, but since I began working on my first long work of fiction Hammil Valley Rising, following it up with eight or nine more drafts of rather long works and then deciding to veer off into short stories for a bit of a “side trip,” I…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 20 – Originality
Tough to be original. I wrote a short story (about 8300 words) titled Book of Memories about 27 years ago. Last summer, I revamped the story and submitted it to the National Fantasy Fan Federation for their Eldritch Science publication (it’s in the October 2022 issue). The editor told me…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 19 – Type-isms
In addition to word-isms about which I wrote here, I have type-isms, that is, typos that I make as a matter of habit. Some are caught by Spellcheck in MS Word while others are not. Catchable type-isms are “jsut” which autocorrects to “just,” things like “sawt he” which usually autocorrects…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 18 – Writing Partner
My hubby is, quite fortunately, a great writing partner in that, he not only comes up with great ideas, he also catches my errors (timeline issues, inconsistencies, typos) as well as adding philosophical explanations and humanizing touches, things I tend to forget as I’m speedily typing along and trying to…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 17 – Thoughts on Cutting Words
Doing a final read-through of Hammil Valley Rising and thinking of what a publisher/editor has on her website: I often tell writers to cut about a third of the word count without cutting the content – they complain, and I don’t blame them, but they also find it’s one of…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 16 – Entering a Writer’s Mind
Ever want to get inside another person’s mind? You can – no joke. This isn’t about psychic ability, extra sensory perception, or any other phenomena that saw a surge in popularity in the 1970s and continue to be widespread today. There are no gypsies here gazing into their crystal balls,…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 15 – Catching My “Write-isms”
Having surpassed 2.5 million words in the Freelan series of WIPs, and adding even more in a collection of short stories as well as in a book of fantasy stories underway, I have begun noticing certain “write-isms” (not sure what else to call them). These are words and phrases that…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 14 – Keep Writing During the Holiday Season
This time of year can be a challenge for us creative types. It’s a real break in routine. Whether we deal in the visual, musical, or literary arts, that break can throw us off our stride. I’ve found the best remedy is a bit of fore planning. For example, for…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 13 – Being Moved by Your Writing
A hard thing for us authors is gauging when we have struck the right emotional chord. Shock, horror, empathy, sympathy, happiness, joy, and laughter – did we get there or not? The best way to tell is to have someone else read what you wrote. Another way is to let…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 12
Some thoughts on writing as I write (and drink my tea or cocoa): Writing is a lonely endeavor, even when done in a crowd. Writing can be like walking down an unknown road with fog and mist hiding the twists and turns, but when you look back at from where…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 11
Easy to lose focus sometimes. An idea for a fantasy story popped into my head, and I wanted to pursue it. A follow-up story then came to me, so I pursued that. And then another … And then I saw how far afield it was all leading me, so it’s…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 10
Writers tend to have favorite words. Here are some of mine: Mettle — noun – 1. The quality of a person’s disposition or temperament. 2. A person’s spirit or courage. 3. The natural vigour or spirit of an animal, esp. a horse.adjective – 1. Of spirited temperament. 2. having a…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 9
Writer’s dilemma: getting the wording just right. Sometimes it can take days to decide, with the options whirling in my head as I continue writing other scenes. I’m sitting here debating these wordings for a particular scene: “A large, brightly wrapped package was on the table along with a couple…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 8
I have the best editor/beta reader/co-writer/whatever. He reads through my manuscripts, catches contradictions and inconsistencies, enhances some of the ideas being portrayed, adds in some humanizing touches that I miss as I’m speeding along typing up my ideas, and gives me great feedback overall. How did I get so lucky…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 7
My “deep read,” as I call it, of the several manuscripts I’ve written over the past 3.5 years is like a long road trip. Things go along smoothly, and suddenly there’s a glitch – a flat tire, the radiator overheating, or (as hubby and I experienced one time) the brakes…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 6
A realization has hit me: when I reread what I’ve written, it’s easier to catch inconsistencies, but when I’m writing new stuff, my mind is focused ahead and forgets what I may have typed as little as a minute earlier. Not sure if this is a common issue for writers,…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 5
This is not a movie review. There’s a point at the end of this, so please bear with me. Thanks. I recently watched a romantic comedy movie on DVD and noticed at the end of it that it had a lot of similarities with an earlier romantic comedy movie starring…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 4
Someone asked how the editing was going on the manuscript for the third book in my series. I replied, “Mopping up my messes.” By mess, I mean what results when the ideas flow so fast that my fingers can’t quite catch up, and then I go back and read through…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 3
Working on a series of novels (not what I started out to do but what evolved over a couple years) has its benefits. Three come to mind as I sit rereading a manuscript. The main benefit is that character and plot developments can be edited in the earlier manuscripts to…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 2
Inexact word usage drives me nuts as a writer. Someone on a news show just used “besides” when he seemed to mean “instead of.” Sometimes, such fluidity is good when trying to be more picturesque, but in that context, it was unconscionable. Clarity is key in news (yeah, I know,…
Keep readingA.C.’s Journal: Entry 1
The first entry in my author’s journal, sharing thoughts that occur to me as I’m writing. It’s a way of letting them out of my system – sorta like that teakettle whistling to let out steam. Someone posted a cartoon about writers wanting to be home (or wherever they write)…
Keep reading
A.C. Cargill, Author 