Daily Journal

The Journal: Discipline, Study, Keep Coming Back

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Discipline, Study, Keep Coming Back * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill “Not everything warrants description—only details that matter to the character.” Joe Ponepinto “There are no shortcuts to success on the field or in life.” Tom Brady, in his retirement message Topic: Discipline, Study, Keep Coming Back Some writing lessons today from James Scott Bell over at the Kill Zone blog, taken from how the now-retired quarterback Tom Brady lived … Read more

The Journal: Writers Are the Worst

In today’s Journal * Topic: Writers Are the Worst * Of Interest Topic: Writers Are the Worst Well, the worst judges of their own work. (grin) We’ve all heard that a zillion times, and most of us have said it at one time or another, usually to another writer. It’s one of those truisms we bat around to show our contemporaries how smart we are. I’ve written on this topic recently, but it reared its head again yesterday in an email from a writer, Matt, who often inadvertently provides me with topics for this Journal with his emails. (Thanks, Matt.) … Read more

The Journal: Always Be Learning

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: Always Be Learning * Of Interest Quote of the Day “There is nothing like the death of a moneyed member of the family to show persons as they really are, virtuous or conniving, generous or grasping.” Jesse Dukeminier and Stanley M. Johanson, estate planning attorneys. (Possible story idea?) Topic: Always Be Learning The old salesman’s mantra, the ABC of selling, is Always Be Closing. For the serious fiction writer, the mantra is Always Be Learning. Over at Kill Zone today, Garry Rodgers discussed Dieter Rams’ ten design principles and theorized … Read more

The Journal: Guest Posting?

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * I meant to make this brief * Atticus looks good * Topic: Want to Guest Post? * Of Interest Quote of the Day “If there are only one or two things you can add to your plate this year, make designing and maintaining an online ebook store one of them.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch I meant to make this a brief post again today, mostly because the stuff in the next couple of paragraphs seemed too important to wait for a day when I had more to say. But then I got … Read more

The Journal: Happy February

In today’s Journal * Aggregators (Distributors) and a new resource. * Of Interest Only a very short post today.For some reason I wanted to mark the passing of February 1 or something. Hey, a happy belated welcome to February 2022. Full disclosure, frankly I’m still wondering what happened to 1978. Anyway…. You can still get a PDF copy of my slightly outdated but still very useful book The Essentials of Digital Publishing, a $10 value, free if you email me and ask. The addy is harveystanbrough@gmail.com. Also, you can still get the full PDF searchable archives of this Journal all … Read more

The Journal: Cover Design and Publishing

In today’s Journal * Topic: Cover Design and Publishing * Of Interest Topic: Cover Design and Publishing A writer emailed to ask about cover design. He’s starting from scratch. As I told him, it’s a massive question with several facets. First, you’ll need cover art. Via Dean Wesley Smith, for fiction it’s better to use illustrations than actual photographs. (Perusing the covers of best-selling novels at Amazon or in other venues bears this out.) You can find and download either kind of image at any of several places. My favorite paid sites are Deposit Photos, CanStock Photos, and BigStock Photos. … Read more

The Journal: The Series Bible

In today’s Journal * A great deal of good information * Topic: The Series Bible (and the Reverse Outline) * Of Interest There is a great deal of good information in today’s “Of Interest.” I strongly recommend you get your beverage of choice and settle in to read. You might even want to try a few of the things they recommend in the different articles as you go. Topic: The Series Bible (and the Reverse Outline) One of my favorites in “Of Interest” today is James Scott Bell’s post on the creation and use of a series bible. As some … Read more

The Journal: Rushing This Out

In today’s Journal * The Indie Author Mindset * Something to Bear in Mind * Of Interest Rushing This Out I came to the Journal late this morning. I have a lot about writing to talk about, but that will be for later. For now, for those of you who are interested in marketing, I suggest Adam L Croft’s The Indie Author Mindset and maybe more specifically to marketing, David Gaughran’s book, Amazon Decoded: A Marketing Guide to the Kindle Store. In full disclosure, I have not read either of these books, but both come highly recommended from a trusted … Read more

The Journal: You Can Comment

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * You Can Comment on Journal Posts * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “To be clear, PG isn’t saying that every pirate site for free [or cheap] ebooks is infected with malware, but enough are that it’s a good idea to stay away from all of them….” The Passive Guy “Because it goes to a very fundamental principle of all nations, which is that our borders should be inviolate, and that our sovereignty should be respected.” Jonathan Finer, a White House deputy national-security adviser, on why Americans should care about what’s … Read more

The Journal: Readership and How to Get One

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Today, again * “What it is” * Readership and How to Get One * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Actually, practically nothing is going on.” Kurt Vonnegut “Having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes.” John le Carre “Film adaptations of books gross 44% more at the U.K. box office and a full 53% more worldwide than films from original screenplays.” Adam Rowe in Forbes magazine “Writing is exactly like having a rare disease.” Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt Today I’m just chatting. Again, … Read more