One thing about writing is that it is hard and a person needs a tough skin to survive, but there’s one more thing too: having fun.

If you don’t truly enjoy what you’re doing, and have fun at it, then it becomes a chore and you become miserable after that. Try to have fun while you’re writing, ok?

I don’t normally go on a post that’s a pure rant like this one is, but I feel the need to vent. On one of the writing forums is a wannabe intellectual who has diarrhea of the fingers. Today he’s trying to tell folks chapters have
to be a certain length.

What a pile of complete bullshit!

Chapters in a novel are as long as they need to be! While I tend to write 3-5k chapters, that doesn’t mean every book needs ones that big. Some are as long as one word, one sentence or one paragraph. But to tell someone they have to be a certain length not only forces a new writer into a mold they don’t need to be in but it can hurt them in the long run.

Frankly, I get so damn tired of listening to the bullshit that comes from so many artistes who will never be published in their lives. All they want to do is tell folks how to be ‘artists’ but it pushes new and aspiring authors into going in a direction that’s not commercially viable.

If you sit back and read other novels, which I challenge folks to do, you’ll find that each writer’s chapters are a different length. There’s no hard and set rule about it!

God, I’m so tired of seeing such stupid shit pushed upon aspiring writers as a rule.

I have 8″ of snow on the ground, freezing rain falling, which has stuck to the trees, making them pretty and more coming today. I took some pictures a little bit ago. Will post some of them later today.

One hour ago it started snowing less than 100 miles from my house. The sense of both excitement and dread hangs in the air like the odor from a dead fish.

We’re still preparing like crazy for the incoming storm. The kerosene heaters aren’t working so we’re getting new ones for the house in case of loss of power. The graphics card for my desktop has arrived, and been installed so that’s taken care of. Now, I’m just sitting back, writing and waiting for the snow to fall. With any luck it’ll start during the daylight hours so I can see it.