Daily Journal

The Daily Journal, Monday, January 28

Hey Folks, Some amazing stuff in “Of Interest” today, and maybe a topic on a new writing exercise you can try. But first to the novel. I rolled out a little late this morning, and I’m anxious to get to it. (grin) Though I did take a brief side-trip to share an excerpt from it on Facebook this morning. Topic A New Excercise to Try A few years ago, when I first became convinced one of the most important components of a story is the opening, I designed an exercise for myself. I wasn’t in the middle of a novel … Read more

The Daily Journal, Sunday, January 27

Hey Folks, Be sure to click through and read the whole post. Some great “Of Interest” items, not to mention a topic and the other stuff. Yesterday, Scott Thrall commented that he hopes Dean keeps drinking the water in Vegas that’s making him go nuts with prizes for his KickStarter campaign. Apparently he drank another tall glass. Read about it in “Of Interest.” A great deal, not to be missed. *** Topic: Are You a Self-Saboteur? Have you ever sabotaged yourself? I don’t mean with the usual conscious mind stuff: doubting your abilities, feeling you’re a pretender, worrying about where … Read more

The Daily Journal, Saturday, January 26

Hey Folks, I think maybe the water in Vegas is affecting Dean’s brain. For as little as a $20 pledge to his KickStarter, you can now get a credit for a $150 classic workshop as well as two books. And at least one of those books is chock full of blog entries that can’t help but be informative. Check it out in “Of Interest.” I recommend making a $20 investment in your writing. *** Well, I bought a computer, an HP ProBook 11. It’s basically the same machine as my writing ‘puter but with a tiny, 11.6″ screen that I’ll … Read more

The Daily Journal, Friday, January 25

Hey Folks, Well, I’m in the hunt for another laptop. I like the 14″ size and I like HPs. I’ll use the new one up at the house. I’ve noticed more and more I’m not liking the one I have up there and doing most everything on this one, which is supposed to be my writing ‘puter. That can be a little distracting, to say the least. Calling the writing early today to do other things. Talk with you again tomorrow. Of Interest See “What is Adipocere?” at https://www.suecoletta.com/what-is-adipocere-or-corpse-wax/. Via Linda Maye Adams, see (video) “10 Scientifically Impossible Places That … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, January 24

Hey Folks, I think a lot of you didn’t receive the Journal yesterday. My apologies. A glitch in the system. I hope now it’s been corrected. There’s a topic in yesterday’s post (“Speaking of Challenges and Goals”) as well as some great stuff in “Of Interest.” If you want to see it, please visit https://hestanbrough.com/the-daily-journal-wednesday-january-23/. At least for Phillip McCollum’s post in “Of Interest.” Since I was involved in cleaning up that mess, I also added a new RSS feed from from Pro Writer Blog to the left sidebar of the Journal. If you aren’t subscribed to Pro Writer Blog … Read more

The Daily Journal, Wednesday, January 23

Hey Folks, NOTE: You’ll get this one late by a couple of hours. Tomorrow it will be back at its normal time. Rolled out at 3 this morning after a good night’s sleep. To the Hovel shortly afterward where I visited some sites that are new to me and did the “Of Interest” thing. One of those new sites is of former traditionally published, now indie-published, romance writer Terry Odell. I didn’t find anything there today for “Of Interest” but that doesn’t mean you won’t find something there that rings your personal bell. Check it out at https://terryodell.com/. Or go … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, January 22

Hey Folks, First, thanks to my new donor and the first person to take advantage of my Patronage program. Thanks, Scott T! This morning during my wake-up period, I remembered a friend wrote me recently to request a “Search this site” feature on my website. She wanted to see whether I’d talked about Digital Rights Management, but didn’t find it in the tag cloud at the bottom of the site or anywhere else. That request served initially as a catalyst for my brief topic on DRM a couple of days ago. This morning, I added a search feature to both … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, January 21

Hey Folks, Update: I talked with Mark Alpert via email. He did not take down his post at the Kill Zone blog. According to Alpert, unspecified others at TKZ took it down because it was “too political.” I can understand that, given that the stated purpose of the blog is to provide “Insider perspectives from top thriller and mystery writers.” But I still don’t like censorship. Oddly, I lost a long-time (over a year) subscriber yesterday too. I believe she left because of my response. Possibly I wrote too much re the Alpert column. I can’t apologize for that. This … Read more

The Daily Journal, Sunday, January 20

Hey Folks, My apologies if you went looking for Mark Alpert’s post on “The Ultimate Taboo: Killing The President” at the Kill Zone blog yesterday. I went back this morning to see whether he replied to my comment, and apparently he’d taken the post down. It wasn’t there. That was not my intention. Free speech is perhaps the most important freedom guaranteed by our Consititution, and I value it even when I disagree with the speaker. That’s why I passed along the link to Mr. Alpert’s post in the first place. If you didn’t get to read it, in the … Read more

The Daily Journal, Saturday, January 19

Hey Folks, Even though it’s a Saturday, I didn’t get up until almost 3. There’s a ball game starting at 1 that I want to watch, and if my wife wants us to do anything together, I will give that precedence. So possibly a short day today. Days like this are why it’s good to have a few days in the bank. (grin) This WIP is filled (thus far) with psychological minutae, so up to this point it’s necessarily slow going. This one will fluctuate, but I’m hopeful. The first novel in this series came in at around 53,000 words. … Read more