"The trick is not to become a writer, it is to stay a writer. Day after day, year after year, book after book. And for that, you must keep working, even when it seems beyond you."
Harlan Ellison  (In a career spanning more than 40 years, he has won more awards for the 75 books he has written or edited, the more than 1700 stories, essays, articles, and newspaper columns, the two dozen teleplays and a dozen motion pictures he has created, than any other living fantasist.) 
I wondered why I was not familiar with Harlan Ellison until I looked at his work. I have to say he uses more profanity and vulgarity than I can handle. But his quote is wonderfully right on target. If you really enjoy writing, then you also constantly try to improve your skills. Every book is a challenge. With every book, you raise your standard. And logically, every book is harder to write. It doesn't get easier; it gets harder. In addition to that, you have lost the glow of first love. The honeymoon is over. This is work. (Pardon the cliches. I wouldn't allow those in any book I wrote, but I'm going to trust you can handle two cliches so I can get this posted and get back to work.)
I admit, from time to time, I've fallen into the pit of "beyond you." Didn't Little Christian of Pilgrim's Progress fall into the slough of Despond? I have to give myself a lecture. "This is fun. Quit thinking about the miles of work ahead and stick to the moment. Because, talking dragons are fun. Yes, they are. You betcha!"
This Twilight Zone was written by Harlan Ellison.

I'm going to go have some fun now. You keep at it, too!

Let it go

"Kipling believed that the author's intent is the least important aspect. What is important is that the author create his work. The later interpretation of it has nothing to do with him, being entirely in the hands of the reader."
Jorge Luis Borges (a prolific writer from Argentine, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. His work embraces the "character of unreality in all literature." He dabbled in everything from poetry to photography.

Borges makes clear a concept that is sometimes hard for an author to accept. Once your thoughts are formed into to words, the words are put on paper, and a random reader takes up the book, the author is no longer in control of his work. All written communication is at the mercy of the interpreter. This is a good and a bad thing. 
The writer must represent many things to produce meaning in the readers' minds, and feel confident enough to allow the reader to claim the images evoked and shape them to his own understanding.

To say windmill might bring up the image of an old wooden contraption on an dilapidated farm. Or, windmill might be visualized as rows and rows of tall, sleek steel generating energy on a wind farm.
  


^{When the reader is allowed to bring his own memories and experiences to a book, he or she invests in the story. The consumption of the book is a more satisfying adventure. 
A good description is only specific enough to make parameters for the reader to use in constructing his own image of the scene.}

It, that, them, and so on

finished Chapter 13; 24,810 word count

Writing Tip: Avoid indiscriminate pronouns. These are place holders for better nouns most of the time. This principle should be used in the same way that the admonition not to use -ly words is used. In other words, know the rule, follow it mostly, but don't go quackers trying to avoid them.
Example from today's writing:
“Every minor dragon collects information from the people around them. They collect songs as well as musical history. You might have heard the other verses, and they were buried in your brain. In that case, she dug them out. Or she recognized something she had learned somewhere else and remembered it.”

“Every minor dragon collects information from the people around them. Singing dragons collect songs as well as musical history. You might have heard the other verses, and the lyrics were buried in your brain. In that case, she dug the words out. Or she recognized something she had learned somewhere else and mined the information she had stored.”

Woot! Passed 300 pages!

Finished chapter 32; 56,766 word count

Writing Tip: In this passage, I did something I usually avoid. I like telling straight out tales, and I stick to that in most cases. But this chapter is a turning poin,t and I picked up the challenge of creating image within image.
The country is being invaded, and ordinary men are going to be called into extraordinary circumstances. One young man realizes this, and he contemplates the serenity of the moment he is presently in, knowing that all that is about to change. He picks two things from nature, a dried leaf and a handful of dirt, and looks more deeply into what they are. He doesn't vocalize any great metaphor, but in his analysis of what these things are, the reader should be able to make deep comparisons.
Now, a lot of readers will zip through these two pages and not bother to make the connections. That's okay. But perhaps some English teacher, somewhere , sometime, will torture a class into really thinking about dead leaves and decomposing stuff that makes dirt. And maybe some philosophical reader will mull over these things without the threat of a C- if he doesn't come up with something profound.

Too Much

Finished Chapter 19; 34,534 words

Writing tip: I wrote a sentence and then looked at it with my editor eye. I began trimming.

Her tight muscles complained as she followed Rayn’s directions to slowly stretch each set to loosen them.

It was just too long, saying more than was needed. First of all, why say "to loosen them"? I already said they were tight muscles so it is pretty apparent the stretching was done to loosen them. I have pretty intelligent readers. Authors should respect the brain power of their audience.

Do I have to say "each set"? Nah. How many of you quickly stretch? I didn't hear anyone say, "Me, me!" So slowly gets deleted.

Now the sentences says,

Her tight muscles complained as she followed Rayn's directions to stretch.

Day One

Presently I am working on the sequel to The Vanishing Sculptor. This one is The Wandering Artist.

I'm on chapter 19; word count is 32,519.

Writer's Tip: writing tighter. Eliminating verbosity for clearer meaning and/or smoother reading.

First draft of the sentence:

Tipper gritted her teeth against the pain that shot from her foot, up her shin, and beyond her knee.

Edited version:

Tipper gasped as the pain shot from her foot, up her shin, and beyond her knee.

The red flag in the original sentence is the word "that." As soon as I saw "that," I knew to reread and rewrite if possible. A writer does not have to eradicate all "thats" from her work, but it is good to see if the sentence would benefit from rephrasing. I switched from "gritted her teeth" to "gasped" not because I wanted fewer words but because I acted out in my mind what reaction I would have to the first time I took a step on an injured foot. I would grit my teeth on the second step. On the first, I would be surprised by the severity of the pain.