The Journal: Gems About Writing

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Dean Wesley Smith * John Gilstrap * Confidence Matters * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “In this line of work, every moment we live and every person we interact with is a moment of research. More times than not, I find that the really good stuff comes less from studying books than it does from passive listening and watching. It doesn’t take work so much as it takes paying attention.” John Gilstrap “Want to write about quilting? Go where quilters go and then shut up and listen.” … Read more

The Journal: Whalin’s 10 Publishing Myths

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Whalin’s 10 Publishing Myths (a review) * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “A Lisbon, Portugal court just ruled that rather than the ‘official’ 17,000 COVID deaths reported by the health ministries, only 152 actually died of COVID.” Russell Blake Now there’s a current story idea if I ever saw one. “Experience the place through your characters’ eyes [ears, nose, etc. and] … Speak to the senses.” Erika Liodice I recommend Blake’s post on the push to vaccinate children too, especially now that the president seems to be … Read more

The Journal: Tough Love

In today’s Journal * The last item (tough love) * There’s a good chance * Of Interest * The Numbers The last item in “Of Interest” today is titled “An Editor’s Guide to Why You Don’t Suck.” I almost didn’t list it, for a few reasons. 1. The article was written by a “developmental editor.” In other words, someone who believes he understands the content of your book (your story) better than you do. Of course, that’s a scientific impossibility. How can ANYone know “your” story, something that resides in your creative subconscious, better than you do? Well, except your … Read more

The Journal: On the Use of Language

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: On the Use of Language * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Polish-American scientist and philosopher Alfred Korzybski remarked that ‘the map is not the territory’ and that ‘the word is not the thing,’ encapsulating his view that an abstraction derived from something, or a reaction to it, is not the thing itself.” Wikipedia On the Use of Language Most if not all nouns and verbs and phrases in the English language have at least two meanings: the actual definition(s) (the denotation) and the implied meaning in … Read more

The Journal: Mentorships Updated

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Mentorships Updated * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won’t. Habit is persistence in practice.” Octavia Butler on inspiration “I tell the students that there comes a time when you want to either burn it or flush it. But if you keep going, you know, that’s what makes you a writer instead of an ‘I wish I was a writer.” Octavia Butler … Read more

The Journal: Marketing and Promotion

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Thanks * Topic: Marketing and Promotion * There’s also a link * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “I believe it was Shakespeare, or possibly Howard Cosell, who first observed that marriage is very much like a birthday candle, in that ‘the flames of passion burn brightest when the wick of intimacy is first ignited by the disposable butane lighter of physical attraction, but sooner or later the heat of familiarity causes the wax of boredom to drip all over the vanilla frosting of novelty and the shredded … Read more

The Journal: In Memory of Casey

In today’s Journal * In memory of Casey * Bestselling Author Russell Blake * I got a very brief start * Of Interest * The Numbers In Memory of Casey As most of you probably know, it’s difficult to lose a little friend who’s been with you awhile. Forgive me the lack of talk about writing today. As this really is my only outlet, I want to devote part of this space to that special little guy. Casey, our little Chihuahua-mix pup, passed yesterday at around 15 years old. He was probably a couple of years old when we got … Read more

The Journal: The Becoming A Writer Mentorships

In today’s Journal * Topic: The Becoming A Writer Mentorships * Of Interest * The Numbers Topic: The Becoming A Writer Mentorships First, an update: The mentorships came together more quickly than I expected. They went live this morning. But I decided to post some of my working notes on the Becoming A Writer mentorships because they make for a good topic. There are many more topics in the actual mentorships than are shown here. You can view the complete mentorships by clicking https://harveystanbrough.com/mentorships/ (it costs nothing to look) and then choosing one link or the other. I’m glad it’s … Read more

The Journal: Weird and Weirder

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Weird and Weirder * The monsoons are here * Topic: Deciding Who You Are * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “If you could go on a no-return trip into the future, say hundreds of years, would you? And why would you do that?” story prompt from Dean Wesley Smmith Weird. I couldn’t help but notice the novel wrapped on Writing Day 14. That seems to happen a lot. Talk about an active creative subconscious! It even crossed my mind that maybe my creative subconscious was jerking me … Read more

The Journal: NOW the novel is wrapped

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Happy Father’s Day * I added two chapters * Recently some overzealous writer * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Those are great days, when you’re writing, when something happens that you know works and you don’t have any self-doubt about, and you never saw it coming.” Dean Koontz “One of the biggest keys to success at anything hard is believing that you can figure it out as you go along. A lot of people won’t start until they figure it out. And because most hard things can’t … Read more