Month: January 2023

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Another Q&A & Rewards * Free Journal Archives * Off For Awhile * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.” Franklin D. Roosevelt Um, writers, likewise. “Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein Another Q&A & Rewards Had another good comment from Heather H yesterday. You can read her comment and my response at https://hestanbrough.com/the-journal-dvds-mentoring-and-more/#comments. Partly because of … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Journal, DVDs, Mentoring and More * Of Interest Quote of the Day “It was one of the dullest speeches I ever heard. The Agee woman told us for three quarters of an hour how she came to write her beastly book, when a simple apology was all that was required.” P.G. Wodehouse, The Girl in Blue The Journal, DVDs, Mentoring and More Heather H. sent a fairly lengthy comment. I thought it was of sufficient public interest that I decided to enter my response here as an edition of the … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The Journal Archives * Other Resources * Of Interest Quotes of the Day Just some beautiful writing… “Just then it came to him that he was going to die. It came with a rush; not as a rush of water nor of wind, but of a sudden evil-smelling emptiness and the odd thing was that the hyena slipped lightly along the edge of it.” Ernest Hemingway in “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” “You’ve never seen death? Look in the mirror every day and you will see it like bees working in a … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * WPS Office * Comments on the DVD Seminars * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Selling catalogs [of our novels and stories] to Alternative Investment Managers of Equity Funds and Hedge funds is in our future.” Dean Wesley Smith “PG wonders how humankind was able to evolve from pond scum into its present form without trigger warnings.” The Passive Guy in a comment on the last linked article in “Of Interest” “Hope is like a road in the country; there never was a road, but when many people walk on it, … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Follow-Up Comment * A Techy Morning * Of Interest Quote of the Day “I strive to remain invisible in my writing. I want my readers to be fully aware of everything my characters are thinking and feeling, thoroughly immersed in [the story]. The moment I draw attention to myself, I show disrespect to my characters and their tribulations. “Writerly affectations–lack of quotation marks for dialogue, impossibly long paragraphs, and the like–annoy me. They eject me from the story.” John Gilstrap in “The Invisible Writer” at KillZone blog Follow-Up Comment If you … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * An Unfolding Idea for an SF Novel * Artech HW086 Keyboard (Review) * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “The united voice of millions cannot lend the smallest foundation to falsehood.” ~ Oliver Goldsmith “Truth is a clumsy servant that breaks the dishes while washing them.” Karl Kraus “We’re still in the first minutes of the first day of the Internet revolution.” Scott David Cook, co-founder of Intuit An Unfolding Idea for an SF Novel Yesterday in Quotes of the Day I wrote these two paragraphs: “Genetic control will be the … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Clunking Along * Every Novel Writes Differently * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Genetic control will be the weapon of the future.” Jeanette Winterson An appropriate topic for a novel as our own federal government recommends and moves toward mandating “vaccines” that will alter the recipient’s RNA “Have no fear of perfection—you’ll never reach it.” Salvador Dalí “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Clunking Along Of course, I do realize how fortunate I am to have … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Being a Hobbyist is Fine * A Change of Plans * Of Interest Quote of the Day “The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication.” Cecil B. DeMille Being a Hobbyist is Fine I received a nice email from a former seminar student. I hadn’t heard from her in several years. She had requested a full set of the DVD seminars I’d offered, had received them, and wrote to say she looked forward to watching … Read more

I did not want to embed videos in this post. I wanted only to display links. Why does WordPress and other platforms (ahem, Substack) remove our ability to choose? What does it possibly matter to them? In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Famous Writers Speak * A Novel Published * A New Novel * Of Interest Quote of the Day “[T]rust your own writing and voice. Act like an artist instead of a doormat for heaven’s sake.” Dean Wesley Smith Famous Writers Speak I hope I’ve been intelligent enough to share these with you before, but just … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Novel Wrapped * On Revision (Gasp! What?) * Genre Doesn’t Matter * Audio Lectures * Of Interest Quote of the Day “Write the slow parts fast and the fast parts slow.” Lee Child on pacing Ooh, study that until you understand! The Novel Wrapped Welp, the novel wrapped with 46545 words, 1401 of which were cuts. (Note that’s an average, over 18 writing days, of just over 2500 words per day. I need to increase that average if I’m to have any chance of reaching my annual goal.) I ran … Read more