Hey Folks,
I keep hammering away at this. But as an instructor, I know some folks “get it” when they hear information one way, and some get it when they hear it another way or from another source.
With that in mind, see Kris Rusch’s “Business Musings: An Agent Nightmare Revealed” at https://kriswrites.com/2018/05/30/business-musings-an-agent-nightmare-revealed/.
Yep. It’s so important I added it to the main body of the Journal. And shared it with several writer groups on FB.
***
Today should be a writing day, and it probably will be. It might be a percolation day.
A percolation day is a day when I allow a story to percolate in my mind.
I don’t “think” about it. I don’t give it any conscious thought at all. (That way lies madness.) I just leave it alone, let my subconscious have it. Let it boil around up there for awhile.
We’ll see.
Topic: Investing in Yourself, or Not
Recently, a correspondent and subscriber to this Journal emailed me. He wanted my recommendations on Dean’s workshops, which of course I was happy to provide.
Learn and practice. Learn and practice. That should be every writer’s mantra.
The gentleman also asked whether I would be recording anymore of my audio lectures. (You can see the lectures and their descriptions at http://harveystanbrough.com/lecture-series.)
I realized later that I hadn’t answered that particular question. Then I thought it might make a good topic, so I decided to answer it here.
The short answer is Nah, probably not.
Frankly, I can’t remember the last time anyone signed up for one of my audio lectures. Even after I slashed the prices in half. I cut them to $5 per audio session.
I offered the lectures directly via the link above and as part of a patronage package at http://harveystanbrough.com/be-a-patron/.
No takers.
Last month (April 2018) I even offered to send the codes for all of the lectures, free, to two writers (and editing clients) who need help.
One of those writers has published a few novels. The other has published a few short stories. Both would benefit immensely from even the most basic lectures.
But neither of them took me up on it. Yawn. Shrug. Business as usual.
I don’t know. Maybe it’s that old “implied value” thing. Maybe “free” implies subliminally that the courses are worthless. Maybe I should jack up the prices to, say, $25 per audio session instead of $5 per audio session.
Let’s see… that would make the Dialogue course $250 instead of $50. Writing Off Into the Dark would cost $225 instead of $45. The least expensive course on the page would cost $50 instead of $10.
Yeah, that ain’t gonna happen. For one thing, still nobody would buy them for whatever reason. For another, I’m in this at least partly to help other writers cut the learning curve. That’s why the prices were reasonable in the first place.
So for the time being, I won’t be recording anymore lectures. Too time consuming and too little return in the way of “Hey, good idea. This helped.” Much less any actual money. (grin)
Of course, I’ll leave up the ones that are already there. At least they’re available in case anyone wants them. And I’ve already made the investment so leaving them up isn’t costing me anything.
Please understand, though, this isn’t a plea. I mean, there are only about 60 people who follow this Journal, and not all of them are even writers.
But if you ARE a writer, even if you don’t learn from me, for goodness’ sake (and for your own sake), learn from Someone. Dean. The Kill Zone blog. Crime Writer Sue Coletta. ANY natioinal best seller who’s willing to teach, whether through seminars, workshops, or just by dropping the occasional gem in an interview.
Learn and then practice what you’ve learned. Learn and practice. Learn and practice.
***
Got a couple of good writing sessions, did some cycling and some writing.
See you soon.
Of Interest
See “Last Day: Special Time of Great Forgetting Offer Extended…” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/last-day/.
Via CrimeReads, if you’re into crime/detective/mafia fiction, check out “How Putin’s Russia Became Mafia Heaven” at https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gykvey/why-is-the-russian-mafia-vor-v-zakone-so-powerful-putin-trump.
Strictly for fun, see “A Model Privacy Policy Courtesy of XKCD” at http://www.thepassivevoice.com/a-model-privacy-policy-courtesy-of-xkcd/.
If you are the type of writer who likes to “create” characters in advance, Reedsy has come up with a nifty PDF guide you can download free at https://blog.reedsy.com/character-profile/. I won’t ever use it, but that doesn’t mean others shouldn’t.
Fiction Words: 1562
Nonfiction Words: 760 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 2322
Writing of Seduction (tentative title, novel)
Day 1…… 1586 words. Total words to date…… 1586
Day 2…… 1673 words. Total words to date…… 3259
Day 3…… 1562 words. Total words to date…… 4821
Total fiction words for the month……… 45678
Total fiction words for the year………… 206964
Total nonfiction words for the month… 14040
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 63510
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 270204
Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 4
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 1
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 11
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 31
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 5
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………………… 193