Got this jolt from Blake today in a coffee house…
Degrade first the Arts if you’d Mankind Degrade.
Hire Idiots to Paint with cold light & hot shade:
Give high Price for the worst, leave the best in disgrace,
And with Labours of Ignorance fill every place.
-William Blake
(I’ve nothing to add.)
~Daniel
December 30, 2013 | Categories: ►Spare Thoughts | Tags: art, Books, commercial, crap, hacks, novels, shit books, william blake, writers, writing | 6 Comments
Want to get rich quick? Be famous with a life of ease? Then being an author is a terrible move for you.
~~What the outsiders think the writer’s life is like…
Virtually all of the money which makes it into a writer’s pocket goes to a tiny fraction of the authors. For every Stephen King and John Grisham out there, there are thousands of (more…)
December 27, 2013 | Categories: ►The Craft of Writing | Tags: author, authors, fantasy, fiction, novel, novel writing, published, publishing, time, writer, writers, writing | 7 Comments
I have only posted about Self-pubbing once, wherein I talk about the downside to the “Revolution.” This post by Kristen Lamb is well-considered and well-written. I encourage all Indie-pubbers out here to read it.
~Daniel
December 18, 2013 | Categories: ►The Craft of Writing | Tags: Books, editing, fantasy, fiction, novel, publishing, Self-publishing, writer, writers, writing | 6 Comments
My gift to you for Krampus Day… Backup all the data that you care about keeping onto a cloud storage.
I’m an IT Pro for a University, and every couple of months we see a 
tear-smeared student lamenting the loss (more…)
December 18, 2013 | Categories: ►Spare Thoughts | Tags: art, Backup, Books, Cloud storage, Computer data storage, data, Google Drive, Hard disk drive, Hardware, Storage, writing | 13 Comments
(It’s dark because it’s buried under a bunch of junk in the garage.)
OK, I guess the secret’s out now… I do have a superpower. Thanks a lot, Lois Lane– I mean, Vicki Vale– I mean, Skiffy & Fanty for blowing my cover. 
Enjoy,
Me
~~
December 17, 2013 | Categories: ►After Life (novel), ►Spare Thoughts | Tags: author, Books, Daniel Ionson, fantasy, horror, humor, medieval, mystery, novels, publish, writer, writers, writing | Leave a comment
After I have done all that I listed here I finally get to sit down at the keyboard and start typing it.
1) I am sure to have a “sacred space” for my writing without distractions. I write in my basement where there is (by design) no Network connection. (I even went out a few years ago and bought a used laptop with a broken wireless adapter for this purpose.) I also set the mood for my writing.
2) I lay out my scene list from my pre-drafting work and start typing. I have a master folder on each computer wherein I put a folder for that day’s work. I make a different Word doc for each chapter. (more…)
December 16, 2013 | Categories: ►The Craft of Writing | Tags: Arts, Book, draft, editing, fantasy, fiction, novel, process, Proofreading, publishing, revision, Slush pile, writer, writers, writing | 7 Comments
Happy to have set my brain on fire this weekend. I have, after 9 weeks of planning a series (a septology), begun Draft One of book one.
This septology is an epic (I loathe how this word has been kidnapped by the equivalent of neo-valley-girls) dark medieval Fantasy series. I’m hoping that my skills as an author have improved to the point (more…)
December 16, 2013 | Categories: ►Spare Thoughts | Tags: author, Daniel Ionson, dark, draft, epic, fantasy, medieval, novels, progress, writer, writers, writing | 6 Comments
We all have a method to our novel-writing (even if we’ve never charted it out). These are the 7 steps I go through before I begin Draft One.
[Note: I have no illusions that this is my creation. I simply absorbed the ideas of multiple veteran writers and synthesized them into a working model for myself.]
1) Pure Musing
- After getting the seminal idea for the story, I spend time concentrating on it, but (more…)
December 11, 2013 | Categories: ►The Craft of Writing | Tags: Arts, author, charting, craft of writing, draft, Enneagram, fantasy, fantasy books, fantasy novels, fantasy writing, Fiction writing, Larry Brooks, novel, story, Subconscious, Subconscious Programming, writer, Writer Resources, writers | 11 Comments
Thanks to the folks at There and Draft Again for giving away critique prizes. I won a First 5K word critique by K.L. Schwengel.
She wrote, and I love that she asked how brutally honest I wanted her to be. I told her to unload both barrels. This is what helps us grow as writers, hearing unveiled honesty from those in the know.
~Daniel
December 8, 2013 | Categories: ►The Craft of Writing | Tags: author, Books, critique, editing, fantasy, feedback, K.L. Schwengel, novel, writer, Writers Resources, writing | 6 Comments
My experience with authors is that story-telling has been part of their lives for as far back as they can recall. It’s true of me as well. Authors I have spoken with express the same joy (and need) of writing. But why are most novels so humdrum? How is it that we (the authors) can be so exuberant about our stories and yet leave so many who read our stories so lukewarm? The primary problem, I think, is that we don’t take the writing craft seriously.
When I began my first novel I had a premise which I (and others) fell in love with. And so I sat down and started writing it. I was educated, had been writing for school for years, was well-read, etc.. But between the completion of Draft 1 and Draft 2, I did the best thing possible for my writing—I schooled myself.
(more…)
December 5, 2013 | Categories: ►The Craft of Writing | Tags: Art of Fiction, Arts, author, authors, Book, craft of writing, fiction, learning, novels, Online Writing, story structure, Storytelling, writers, Writers Resources | 1 Comment
(Part 1 of this topic is Here.)
It’s because we have to live with ourselves, day-in/day-out, month following month, year stacking on year, that we cannot see our potential. We all feel that we “know ourselves”—our habits, our patterns, moods. But we’re wrong about a great number of things. Being so buried in our subjectivity, we cannot see that so many of the things we don’t like about ourselves/our lives are changeable.
A core, governing element of changing is Willpower.
[4 links for you: McGonical (book) and lecture, Baumeister (book) and QnA.]
The quickie-version: Willpower is not a static limitation; it is a muscle that we can build. We can become, with time, people with strong wills, people who are highly disciplined. And this means that we can become vastly superior artists (either in word, canvas, etc.) than we have been in the past.
(more…)
December 3, 2013 | Categories: ►The Craft of Writing | Tags: change, discipline, guilt, habits, kelly mcgonigal, psychology, roy baumeister, Self-control, time management, willpower, writing | 1 Comment
Daniel Ionson 