In Today’s Journal
* My Quote of the Day
* BO-49 Is in the Books
* A Great Start to the Mentorships
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
My Quote of the Day
“I only write when I’m inspired, so I see to it that I’m inspired every morning at 3 a.m.” Harvey Stanbrough
This quote used to appear in the signature line of my emails. It’s a takeoff on a quote widely attributed to Peter DeVries but probably first uttered by William Faulkner. I list it today in response to the second item in Of Interest.
Blackwell Ops-49: Wesley Stark Is in the Books
The novel wrapped. I think maybe I’m back.
I actually thought it was going to wrap yesterday, but as it turned out I wrote past the ending.
Those words written past the ending are usually “wasted” words. No big deal. Words to a writer are like nails to a carpenter: If you find a bent one, you pitch it and get a new one.
But yesterday morning as I cycled over the final segment, I realized the mini-scene I wrote past the ending actually belonged at the end of an earlier chapter.
Weird. That’s a first. But whatever.
I made the change, ran a spell check, and sent the thing off to my excellent first reader, Russ. He sent it back this morning.
Then I went about creating a cover and a promo doc.
I’ll publish this one to Amazon and D2D today for release on November 8. Of course I’ll make it available for purchase immediately at a discount at my online store.
The publication of this one and the previous one put me back on my every two week novel-release schedule.
If I can keep it up, I should finish this calendar year with 20 novels. If I can get one more out by December 31, that’ll be 21. Woohoo!
A Great Start to the Mentorships
This morning I answered a few questions that were specific to a short story opening one of my mentorship students sent me.
Another student is reporting his daily word count to me (yes, I can serve as a place to report) to help hold himself accountable. His questions will begin on Monday with a short story he’ll send me for critique.
A third student asked several questions outright, all basic about how to get started, etc.
I’ll be teaching him about Heinlein’s Rules and Writing Into the Dark and Trusting His Characters and his own creative subconscious and shoving aside his conscious, critical mind.
So three current students, from a relative beginner to two excellent storytellers, one of whom has already had multiple paid publications.
This is great for me. The different levels and types of questions keep me on my toes.
Also, writing my responses provides me with reminders of topics I need to mention (or mention again) sometime in TNDJ. Plus the questions and responses provide a flood of great memories of my own fiction writing journey thus far.
In fact, I’ve decided to add a couple of lines to my numbers below (see Mentorship Words and Total Nonfiction) to reflect nonfiction words I’ve written in response to my mentorship students. Yesterday that was 2170 words.
All of this is great fun for me. And knowing that sharing my own journey with these writers might cut their learning curve even a little makes me feel really good.
Of course, my hope is that it will cut their learning curve a lot. (grin)
I have only three potential students on the waiting list at the moment. If you’d like me to add your name, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com.
I’ll let those on the waiting list know when a mentorship ends or a student drops out. And frankly, once I see how next week goes, I might open up another slot or two anyway.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Search Is Changing. Here’s How Authors Can Benefit
Waiting for Inspiration to Strike, a Writer’s Dilemma See the quote of the day. The “muse” is actually whatever character, line of dialogue, or situation springs to mind. The “muse” is not a fully-formed idea, but a story starter.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 680
Mentorship Words……………… 2170
Total Nonfiction…………………. 2850
Writing of Blackwell Ops 49: Wesley Stark
Day 1…… 2381 words. To date…… 2381
Day 2…… 3283 words. To date…… 5664
Day 3…… 2934 words. To date…… 8598
Day 4…… 2305 words. To date…… 10903
Day 5…… 3356 words. To date…… 14259
Day 6…… 2295 words. To date…… 16554
Day 7…… 3271 words. To date…… 19825
Day 8…… 2660 words. To date…… 22485
Day 9…… 3120 words. To date…… 25605
Day 10…. 2141 words. To date…… 27746
Day 11…. 4001 words. To date…… 31747
Day 12…. 0649 words. To date…… 32396 (done)
Fiction for October………………… 55302
Fiction for 2025…………………… 633840
Nonfiction for October.…………… 18220
Nonfiction for 2025……………….. 228330
2025 consumable words………… 854601
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 16
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 32
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 120
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 306
Short story collections……………………. 29