Daily Journal

The Daily Journal, Saturday, March 9

In today’s Journal ▪ Update on my challenge ▪ On Daylight Saving Time ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers In today’s “Of Interest,” Dean Wesley Smith talks about firing up his challenge again. And again, I picked up a gem that helped me. At the moment and for the past few days, all three of my sons are visiting. I’m blessed. All are adults and successful in their own right, and each has a (very) unique personality. I love that about them, so I’m trying not to miss even a single moment of observing those personalities while … Read more

The Daily Journal, Friday, March 8

In today’s Journal ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Hmm. Not sure why the email version of the Journal didn’t go out yesterday. Thanks to Karen for letting me know. I went to MailChimp and double checked. It’s supposedly “sending,” but it verified the last one sent was on Wednesday. Anyway, you can see Thursday’s Journal at https://hestanbrough.com/the-daily-journal-thursday-march-7/. I hope you’ll check it out. There are a lot of Rolled out a little before 2 and was in the Hovel by 2. Followed my usual ritual and found little to nothing for “Of Interest.” And I got … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, March 7

In today’s Journal ▪ Daily diary and challenge stuff ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Rolled out at 3 this morning, per my internal clock. So far it’s a great but slow morning. One of my first readers read Blackwell Ops last night and responded already. Very fast. I applied his corrections and one suggestion. Then I completed a quick first-page critique for another writer and got that sent off. (I do still offer a free critique of up to about the first 500 words of your WIP, if anyone’s interested. Just email me.) After that I read a lot … Read more

The Daily Journal, Wednesday, March 6

In today’s Journal ▪ Update on the challenge ▪ No topic today, but ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Well, I’ll either wrap up the novel today or I’ll be one (or more) days behind when I go into the next one. Actually, it’s looking pretty good. I wrote the last major climax yesterday, so we’ll see. UPDATE: One son (and I think, two) arrived after I was in bed last night. One from Indiana and one from New Mexico. There were two vehicles in the parking area this morning. So chances are very good I won’t … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, March 5

In today’s Journal ▪ Update on Pro Writers Writing ▪ An experiment ▪ Topic: Reader Taste (Revisited) ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Well, the subscription form wasn’t working out. Each time I updated it, it disappeared. So if you’ve subscribed, please do so again. To subscribe, visit http://prowriterswriting.com and click Subscribe vis Email in the menu. We’re growing! Yesterday we added Terry Odell, and this morning we added Dawn M. Turner. *** It’s kind of hard to gauge how the experiment is going. Of course, I’m only one day in. When I’m writing, the story’s going … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, March 4

In today’s Journal ▪ Update on Pro Writers Writing ▪ An experiment ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers The contributors to Pro Writers Writing have begun scheduling their posts. We’ll kick the site off “live” on Monday, March 18. I hope all of you will subscribe. More than likely, I’ll reference some of those posts in my Journal in the “Of Interest” section. But I won’t reference all of them. If you subscribe, you will definitely find some things that work for you but that I might have skipped over. UPDATE: Terry Odell (http://terryodell.com), whose posts I … Read more

The Daily Journal, Sunday, March 3

In today’s Journal ▪ More on pacing ▪ A weird fact about me ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers A few days ago I mentioned pacing almost in passing. I got some good comments and a few emails about it, so I thought I’d expand on that in a topic. Then I remembered I’d written a post about the topic over on the big blog. To see that one (it holds up well) see “On Pacing and Paragraphing” at https://harveystanbrough.com/pro-writers/on-pacing-and-paragraphing/. *** Here’s a weird fact about me. I guess you could call it part of my process … Read more

The Daily Journal, Saturday, March 2

In today’s Journal ▪ Update on my challenge ▪ Topic: An Admission ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Man, a short day yesterday, and maybe a short day today and tomorrow. One of my sons and his wife and children are visiting. So I’ll visit. (grin) Meanwhile, time’s running out on my current novel (for the challenge). I’m also feeling a need for breaks more and more often, not from the WIP, but from the overall challenge. For the first time, I feel like I might not finish this one by the target date of March 6. … Read more

The Daily Journal, Friday, March 1

In today’s Journal ▪ A quiet rumination on days ▪ A happy announcement ▪ Topic: The Best Defense ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers When I close out each day and post the Journal, I go back and reset the Notepad document on which I type the original. Yesterday, I almost left February in place and changed 28 to 29. I always feel a little cheated at the end of February, even when it has 29 days. Seriously, couldn’t they have taken the extra day from a couple of those with 31 days and made every February … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, February 28

In today’s Journal ▪ Quote of the Day ▪ Topic: Words ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Via the Passive Guy, the quote of the day: “Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters.” ~ Neil Gaiman Topic: Words Words are our friends, writers. There have been many bits of advice handed down over the years, sometimes from “on high” by writers who have Made It. Like Stephen King famously writing “The path to hell is paved with adverbs” or Samuel Clemens’ admonition to hunt … Read more