Author: jwjudge (page 1 of 36)

I didn’t have a lot of time to write since it’s pack and travel day. But the writing time I did have was efficient and effective: 858 words. That puts me just under 6,000 words total for vacation and and on the verge of finishing another chapter. Honestly, I had hoped for a little more, but that’s not a bad way to cap things off.

I wrote 175 words today. The words did not come very easily because I’m feeling my way around in this chapter; in the most general sense, I know what needs to happen, but I don’t have any of the specifics nailed down. It’s looking liking the writing portion of vacation is going to end with a whimper. Tomorrow will likely be an abbreviated writing session as well since we are heading back home.

0 words. Work really got in the way of my writing time and demanded that some things be done.

The words had a lot harder time finding their footing this morning. I don’t know why. Some days are just like that. I struggled through the first couple hundred words, but they came easier after that. Finally, I managed my way to 946 words and the end of another chapter.

At this pace, I can get another two full chapters written before the week is out. I’ll feel pretty good about that.

I feel like I’m in a bit of a groove now. The outlining work from Day 1 is absolutely paying off. I wrote 851 words this morning, finishing a chapter and starting on a new one. With that work, Novel No. 6 went over the 50,000 word mark. I anticipate this will come in around 70,000 words total.

I could have written more this morning, but I took my son and nephew fishing. They caught three fish, saw a porpoise and some jellyfish, and had a crane looking over their shoulders to see if they would have anything to offer. But it showed up too late.

It was definitely worth the sacrificing the couple hundred more words that I could’ve gotten in.

Also, Watch Party picked up another 5-star review on Amazon and Goodreads.

Afternoon update: I wrote another 218 words during some downtime this afternoon. I really wanted to get that word count up over 1,000 so it stands out when I’m looking at my spreadsheet.

This is what I had in mind when I thought about what writing would look like on vacation. 1,117 words. 90% of that was in Novel No. 6, meaning that tomorrow, I’ll finish the current chapter (hopefully) and start a new one (which is already outlined, thanks to yesterday’s efforts). The other 10% were in a special project for Casual Business with Fairies, that I’ll promote later.

Also, I went on a 3-mile walk with my wife, and we saw a juvenile osprey. Since he was standing beside a busy road, we were worried about him and called the local wildlife conservation folks. They were aware of him and had already checked on him this morning; apparently, his nest is nearby. They promised to check on him again.

To date, 2024 has been my least productive writing year in a long time. It’s trending toward my worst year since I started keeping a word count log in 2019. But I’d venture to guess it’s my least productive since first starting a law blog in 2016. That is mostly a result of a work schedule that’s been overly busy and left me devoid of creative energy.

So I’ve resolved to use vacation to make significant headway on finishing the Middle Build (Act II) of Novel No. 6. I ran into difficulty there too. While I’ve known the major plot points that are ahead of me for the rest of the novel, I haven’t known how the various dots will connect.

This morning, instead of writing, I had to figure out where I was going. I spent a couple of hours plotting out the next five chapters of Novel No. 6. This had the added benefit of helping me fill in some gaps for the Ending Payoff (Act III). While my word count for today will be inconsequential, having chapter outlines for the next section of the book will pay huge dividends.

For most years over the last seven years (since I started blogging at the tail end of the blogging bubble — good timing on my part), I have shared the books that I’ve read in a given year. This is that list for 2023.

I have an entirely subject 4-star rating system, based mostly on how much I enjoyed a book. I have noted over the years that for books I’ve read more than once, the ratings are not consistent from one reading to the next.

• Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert (second reading, link) — I anticipate a third reading in a few years — ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman (link) — I will definitely be reading more of his books in the future — ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Upgrade by Blake Crouch (link) — I’ll read everything he writes for the foreseeable future — ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson (link) — I really hope there are more books coming in this series — ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Mistborn: The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson (link) — a good finale to the second half of the series — ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
• Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo (link) — Bardugo is another author currently on my “read everything they publish” list — ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
• The Expanse: Abaddon’s Gate by James S. A. Corey (link) — I loved this finale to the first trilogy of the series — ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Fairy Tale by Stephen King (link) — between this book, Billy Summers, and The Institute, I have really enjoyed the run that King has been on lately — ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Murderbot Diaries: Network Effect by Martha Wells (link) — ⭐⭐⭐
• Raylan by Elmore Leonard (link) — Leonard is one of the great stories tellers; I love how he captures the essence of a particular people and place — ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (link) — I re-read this one because I was using elements of the structure for my forthcoming novel Watch Party, which I’ve described as a mash-up between this book and Cast Away — ⭐⭐⭐
• The Originals by Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal — ⭐⭐⭐
• The Noise by James Patterson and J. D. Barker (link) — ⭐⭐⭐
• Killing Floor by Lee Childs (link) — Thrillers aren’t really my jam, but I was giving them a shot this year; I came to the conclusion that I’m just not the intended audience — ⭐⭐⭐
• The Deep by Alma Katsu (link) — ⭐⭐⭐
• A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher (link) — I had never read any of her books before, but now I want to read all of them — ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang (link) — There were parts of this book that I really liked, but I had some hangups with it too — ⭐⭐⭐
• The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake (link) — ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Atlas Paradox by Olivie Blake (link) — ⭐⭐⭐
• The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal (link) — ⭐⭐⭐
• Murderbot Diaries: Exit Strategy by Martha Wells (link) — ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (link) — I really loved this story the first time I read it several years ago; less so this time through — ⭐⭐⭐
• Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree (link) — ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
• Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (link) — I was definitely not the intended audience for this one — ⭐⭐ 1/2
• Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher (link) — This is the last book I’ll finish for the year and was a great one to end on — ⭐⭐⭐⭐

In other news, my fourth novel, Casual Business with Fairies (link), came out in 2023. And I wrote my fifth novel, Watch Party (pre-order link), which is scheduled for release on April 9, 2024.

My first novel, Vulcan Rising, was born out of a particularly strange and vivid dream about a trio of men kidnapping a pegasus. So when it came time to write my first non-fantasy novel, it was only fitting that it’s genesis was a post-apocalyptic dream in which a friend and I found a pile of watches that had been deserted on a beach at the end of the world. Watch Party is a suspense/mystery novel that took a very different turn than the dream that catalyzed it.

Watch Party is scheduled for publication on April 9, 2024. Stay tuned for when it becomes available for pre-order in early 2024.