Month: November 2019

The Journal: Writing Boards and Other Silliness

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: Writing Boards and Other Silliness * From the Wow, That Didn’t Take Long Department * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Does anyone else feel imposter syndrome because they’ve had happy and stable childhoods and relationships?” Anonymous writer on a reddit writing board. For the record, I’ve never met any professional fiction writer, many more advanced than I, who does not succumb regularly to a sense of “impostor syndrome.” That’s just one more silliness the critical mind throws at us to keep us from writing. … Read more

The Journal: A Great Quote and a Lot in “Of Interest”

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “I’m not much of a fan of starting a novel off with unanchored dialogue. It’s hard to start investing before we know where we are, who the characters are, and how we should be contextualizing the conversation.” Nathan Branford, former literary agent Yes. In the opening of every chapter and every major scene, remember to ground your reader (pull him into the setting) Today will be similar to Saturday for me, with a necessary trip to Sierra Vista and much … Read more

The Journal: Getting Organized, Rights Grabs, and Learning

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: Preparation Saves Time and Prevents Typos * Topic: Another Rights Grab * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Thomas’s poetry is so narrow — just a straight conduit between birth & death, I suppose—with not much space for living along the way.” Poet Elizabeth Bishop in a letter to a friend after hearing of Dylan Thomas’s death Can you get a story or title idea from this quote? As a side note, my own favorite Dylan Thomas poem is “The Force That Through the Green … Read more

The Journal: Very Short Post Today

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Welcome and Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “If you get discouraged, think of Emily Dickinson, her life, and her words. There is no frigate like a book. You can build it at and on a desk and it can take you and your audience to places that they never would have imagined but for you.” (emphasis added) Joe Hartlaub Welcome to new subscriber Nancy. I hope you get something out of these posts. Thanks to Bob B for stopping by and leaving his own favorite … Read more

The Journal: Finished an Edit and the Critical Voice

In today’s Journal * Finished an edit * Topic: WITD, Cycling and the Critical Voice * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Well, I finished the copyedit I was working on, and Oh Wow was it ever a great read. The thing was so fast-paced I kept wishing it had already been copyedited so I could ‘just read’ it. I don’t usually announce new releases of any work but my own here, but I think I’ll announce this one when it’s published. It’s just that good. Topic: WITD, Cycling and the Critical Voice A writer wrote to ask me … Read more

The Journal: From our friend

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * From our friend * In the second item * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Oh that tricksy critical mind. My biggest challenge. The only cure is writing anyway.” Karen Riggs, novelist From our friend Bob B re the 20BooksTo50K writers’ conference in Vegas this week, They’re already starting to post videos from this year’s conference at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTrqmZBt-FWUWnxWD2x5Ucg/videos. Their Facebook Group is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/20Booksto50k/. Take advantage of this, folks. Tidbits like this don’t come along every day. *** In the second item in “Of Interest,” the … Read more

The Journal: Sorry to have been away

In today’s Journal * Sorry to have been away * Update on the Master Business Class * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Sorry to have been away for a couple of days. Honestly, there just wasn’t much to report, even in “Of Interest.” I’ve been working mostly on a lengthy copyedit and doing some things for my mentoring student, as well as working on the bible for the shared world I’ll reveal around the first of the year. Update on the Master Business Class Kris Rusch let slip in her most recent Patreon post (I’ll link to the … Read more

The Journal: A Reminiscence

In today’s Journal * Happy Veterans’ Day * If you’ll allow me a reminiscence… * Of Interest * The Numbers Happy Veterans’ Day, or as Marines call it, Recovery Day. (grin) We often joked that if an enemy of the United States ever wanted to attack this nation, they should do so on November 11 while the Marine Corps was nursing a collective hangover. Yesterday I spent the day with my wife, my youngest son and eldest grandson and with my friends (many in memoriam) from the Corps. For the first time since I joined, I didn’t toast my fellow … Read more

The Journal: Yesterday and Ghosting and Veterans’ Day

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Yesterday * Ghosting * My son and grandson * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Exactly like riding a rollercoaster… That’s writing a novel into the dark. Buckle in and believe you will end back up in the station, breathing hard and laughing.” Dean Wesley Smith Exactly. And this is why I cringe when I hear a writer talk about how “hard” it is to write a short story or novel. *** Yesterday I spent a few hours rearranging my author website at HarveyStanbrough.com to make … Read more

The Journal: Catching Up, Pricing Your Book, and More

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Yesterday * Pricing your book * Today * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Just let the writing be a fun place to go, to escape to. Don’t make it special. If you do, it gets wrapped into all the life drama. Just leave the writing as an escape to go play.” Dean Wesley Smith Yesterday I got the three covers done and the three short stories published, so I’m caught up for now in that regard. But there was zero extra time for writing or for working … Read more