In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* A New Short Story
* Saturday
* This Morning
* Reminder
* Microsoft Word for Writers
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
“I’d rather focus on writing something true and good instead of thinking about promotion or money.” Clint Watsonhttps://clintavo.substack.com/ (I recommend checking this out.)
“Here’s the deal: once you learn to have fun as a writer, to write one good, clean draft, and get it out there either traditionally or independently, you will see something amazing happening. You will be developing an audience for your stories.” Vin Zandri (see Of Interest)
“Remember that the one and only true rule for the first paragraph is that it has to make the reader want to read the rest of the book.” John Fox, writer and editor (per Dr. Mardy’s Quotes of the Week) (see Of Interest)
A New Short Story
“The Last Amarillo Raid” went live on Friday on my Stanbrough Writes Substack. Go check it out.
Saturday
was my first day not posting the Journal in a long time. It felt a little weird, but also good. Even on days when I don’t post, I’m making notes for the next time I do.
And this new non-schedule gives me more time to begin ramping up my own writing again, as you’ll see in the numbers below.
I’m still excited about posting the Journal and helping in whatever way and to whatever degree I can. But I’m also excited again about letting my own characters’ stories run. And that’s pure gold.
Anyway, I used part of that time yesterday to do a quick read-through critique of a story from one of my mentoring students and sent it off to him. I’m still waiting for a story from another mentoring student. (Ahem, FT. [grin])
After that I started cycling over my WIP again. Then I slipped straight back into the story and kept writing. I’m working to increase my word count and get back to what I know I’m capable of doing.
Speaking of mentorships, if you have a special problem with writing that you’d like me to help you address, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com and make your case. It won’t cost more than you can afford.
When the current round of mentorships are finished, I’ll probably stop offering them for awhile.
This Morning
I did a critique on the opening of a story for a long-time Journal supporter. It was primarily a “meet-cute,” and I love those.
The writer did a great job, too. My primary task was helping her clean up a few mechanics (punctuation, dialogue tags, etc.).
That was a great start to my day. I’ll carry that sensation forward as I continue writing on my own WIP.
Reminder
Those of you in the Bradbury Challenge, be sure to get your story info in to me before the Journal goes live tomorrow.
And thanks for participating! You are an inspiration to other writers.
Microsoft Word for Writers
If you haven’t yet discovered what a wonderful tool is Find & Replace or the Paragraph Formatting tool or if you don’t know yet how to create an em dash (a “long” dash) in Word, check out my free Microsoft Word for Writers series of posts. You won’t be sorry.
Talk with you again tomorrow.
Of Interest
Three Life Lessons Most Writers Don’t Learn Until It’s Too Late A great post, and I agree with every word.
8 Books You Didn’t Know Were Originally Self-Published
Dr. Mardy’s Quotes of the Week: “Variations on the Golden Rule”
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 590
Writing of Blackwell Ops 27: Sam Gentry
Day 1…… 3004 words. To date…… 3004
Day 2…… 2111 words. To date…… 5115
Day 3…… 1726 words. To date…… 6841
Day 4…… 2092 words. To date…… 8933
Day 5…… 1306 words. To date…… 10239
Day 6…… 2523 words. To date…… 12762
Day 7…… 3018 words. To date…… 15780
Fiction for August…………………….….… 15780
Fiction for 2024………………………….… 499960
Fiction since October 1………………… 747830
Nonfiction for August……………………… 10070
Nonfiction for 2024……………………… 257080
2024 consumable words………………… 701853
2024 Novels to Date……………………… 11
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 4
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)……………… 93
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 241
Short story collections…………………… 29
Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Unreasoning fear and the myths of writing are lies, and they will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.
If you find this blog of value, please support it with a paid subscription. You may click the Subscribe button below, or you may click Donate Here and set up a recurring donation of $5 per month OR make a one-time (annual) donation of $60 via PayPal. Thank you!
Visit StoneThreadPublishing.com for all your fiction and nonfiction needs. Buy Direct!