Daily Journal

Aspiring Authors

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Welcome and Back to 10 * Topic: Aspiring Authors * Of Interest Quote of the Day “Aspiring authors, get this through your head. Cover art serves one purpose, and one purpose only, to get potential customers interested long enough to pick up the book to read the back cover blurb. In the internet age that means the thumb nail image needs to be interesting enough to click on. That’s what covers are for.” Larry Correia Welcome and Back to 10 Welcome to laider7. I hope you find the Journal useful. Glad … Read more

The Journal: The Value of Goals

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * TinyLetter? * Topic: The Value of Goals * Of Interest Quote of the Day “I’m ready to finally take the plunge into WITD.” Chynna Pace I love that kind of committment. (grin) No “thinking” no “considering” no “maybe.” Just a healthy dose of Let’s Do This. TinyLetter? Has anyone else heard of TinyLetter? It’s by MailChimp, but it costs nothing and is absolutely no-frills. When I closed my MailChimp account, with its dying breath it said I might want to check out TinyLetter. I’m glad I did. TinyLetter is billed as … Read more

The Journal: It Worked!

In today’s Journal * Welcome * It Worked! * Of Interest Welcome Welcome to Chynna P, Russ J, gldlubala (GD, I think), Frank T, and any others who have subscribed recently. Glad to have you aboard. If you’re interested in a particular aspect of the writing craft, enter a search term in the Search box in the left sidebar at the Journal website. As an alternative or in addition, you may also download the free, fully searchable PDF archives. And of course, you may always email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. I’d be happy to help in any way with your writing … Read more

The Journal: Moving, and The First Reader

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Moving to MailerLite * Topic: The First Reader * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Binance executive Patrick Hillmann alleges hackers successfully used an AI-generated hologram to impersonate him on video calls with cryptocurrency firms….” Techjuice (Science fiction ideas, anyone?) “No passion in the world, no love or hate, is equal to the passion to alter someone else’s draft.” H. G. Wells Moving to MailerLite Hello everyone. This post will come to you twice today if everything works as planned. You will receive this one at 10 a.m. from MailChimp, but … Read more

The Journal: Do I Use a Copyeditor?

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Do I Use a Copyeditor? * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Science fiction is the only genuine consciousness-expanding drug.” Arthur C. Clarke “Without goals, training has no direction.” Natalie Coughlin which is why I recommend a daily word-count goal “So next time you sit down at your writing computer, just let the creative voice run and play…. You might be surprised at how much fun you have writing and how good what you write turns out to be (if you leave it alone.)” Dean Wesley Smith “Do or do … Read more

The Journal: Playing Catch-Up and a Personal Note

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Playing Catch-Up * The Older We Get (a personal note) * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Inspiration is throttled by indecision, hesitation and self-doubt.” Dan Baldwin “The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” Dorothy Parker Playing Catch-Up Early this month, Bob C. wrote, “I stumbled across this today and thought it was excellent: https://literariness.org/2019/01/02/analysis-of-elmore-leonards-novels/.” If you’re a fan of Elmore Leonard’s work, there you go. Bob also related this personal anecdote: “I’ve always been a huge Elmore Leonard fan, maybe because I met him when … Read more

The Journal: A Frenzy of Fuzzy Disequilibrium?

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: A Frenzy of Fuzzy Disequilibrium? * Of Interest Quote of the Day “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Arthur C. Clarke Topic: A Frenzy of Fuzzy Disequilibrium? Over at the Kill Zone blog today, James Scott Bell offers “How to Form Your Bestseller in 10 Days” and offers a system for doing so. The keyword there is “form.” For those who are satisfied with the labor involved in that, it’s fine. Jim posits that “the word system immediately sets the various hairs on the back of an ‘intuitive’ … Read more

The Journal: Blackwell Ops 8

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Blackwell Ops 8 * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” Ernest Hemingway “Storytelling is a natural, instinctive act. If we weren’t taught so stringently that plotting and criticism and rewriting were necessary, we would never bother with them. As a result, our stories would be far easier to write. They would also be better, by which I mean original and unique to the writer’s own (creative subconscious) voice.” Me in reply … Read more

The Journal: Welcome, and We’re Searchable

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Welcome * We’re Searchable * The Novel * Of Interest Quote of the Day “I don’t try to describe the future. I try to prevent it.” Ray Bradbury Welcome Been awhile since I issued a formal welcome. Welcome to Frank T, Marcy C, and anyone else who has joined our Journal family recently. Glad to have you aboard, and I hope you find the Journal useful. We’re Searchable I’ve mentioned before that the Journal archives are fully searchable right on the Journal website. Just type your topic into the search box … Read more

The Journal: The Novel and Thoughts on Mentoring

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The Novel * Thoughts on Mentoring * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “I almost think it is the ultimate destiny of science to exterminate the human race.” Thomas Love Peacock “Science fiction is no more written for scientists than ghost stories are written for ghosts.” Brian Aldiss “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” Mae West “It isn’t true that you live only once. You only die once. You live lots of times, if you know how.” Bobby Darin The Novel I expect (and … Read more