Month: January 2023

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

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Heinlein’s Rules Redux (you want to read this) * I didn’t write much * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.” Muhammad Ali “Recent experiments on mice have shown that aging is reversible and can be moved forward and backward in time.” a subheadline from the 1440 Daily Digest Heinlein’s Rules Redux I think I mentioned awhile back that Garry Rodgers, a regular contributor at TKZ, invited me to write a guest post on Heinlein’s Rules for that online … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Some Notes * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “The conventional army loses if it does not win. The guerrilla wins if he does not lose.” Henry Kissinger “People who don’t have a clue about the creative process will never let that lack of knowledge interfere with criticism of a writer’s work.” Dan Baldwin “Why can’t we have several versions of a book in digital form: an author’s cut with extra material at a premium price, a quick-read simple version for less money, a kid’s version of the adult book. It’s … Read more

In today’s Journal * Seminars on DVDs Flash Sale * Kris Rusch on Direct Sales * Of Interest Seminars on DVDs Flash Sale (Fizzled) I held this sale back from the general public, wanting to give Journal readers first crack. I honestly expected the seminars to sell out in an hour or so. They didn’t. Knock me over with a feather. Even one writer who earlier bemoaned the fact that she was not able to attend my live seminars in person didn’t write in to buy a set. If I were still conducting live seminars, I guarantee the fee would … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * I forgot to mention * Flash Sale: Video Seminars on DVD * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “We never know the whole man, though sometimes, in quick flashes, we know the true man.” Agathe Christie Seems appropriate for a mystery writer “Science debunks ‘no pain, no gain.’” Um, how do you “debunk” something that only served as a motivational saying in the first place? “When a poet sees a rock in the road, he may write ‘a rock lay in the road.’ A false poet will hoke it up in … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * A Fun Diversion * Of Interest Quote of the Day “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” Henry Ford By Way of Example, A Fun Diversion I just did some math. In 2021 I was on pace to surpass 1,000,000 words of fiction in a year for the first time. So we’re all on the same page, let me ‘splain what I mean by “on pace”: In the first 7 months of 2021 (through August 2) I wrote … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Went Out and Played * SNAFU 1—Rose’s Story * SNAFU 2 (No, I am not kidding)—Blackwell Ops 8 * Comments Matter * Of Interest Quote of the Day “Just because electronic copying is very simple to do and happens trillions of times per day on computers around the world doesn’t mean that making an electronic copy of a bunch of organized electrons that are protected by copyright law is not a violation of copyright law.” The Passive Guy Went Out and Played Day before yesterday, the well that provides our water … Read more

In today’s Journal * A New Story Posted to Stanbrough Writes * Of Interest A New Story Posted to Stanbrough Writes I just remembered this morning it’s been a week or so since I posted a story over there, so I posted one. To see it, click the Story of the Week tab over at https://harveystanbroughwrites.com/. The title of the current story is “Going Back.” There are several other stories below that in different genres. This one has a butt-ugly cover but it’s a pretty good story. I’ve often thought of expanding it into a novel. No fiction writing yesterday. … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * “Um, You Weren’t There” * A Fun Diversion * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, but you won’t come up with a handful of mud, either.” Leo Burnett “The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see.” Ayn Rand “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” Soren Kierkegaard “Um, You Weren’t There” I learned a … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The Secret to Being Prolific, Part 2 * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “‘Can’t’ never did anything.” My stepmom, about 65 years ago when I complained that I couldn’t do something. As usual, she was right. “Can’t died in the house of trying.” Yvonne C. (via Bob B.) “Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainty.” Erich Fromm “We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.” Kurt Vonnegut “I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.” … Read more