Daily Journal

The Journal, Tuesday, January 8

Hey Folks, Numbers, numbers, numbers… I just realized, since I adjusted my goal from writing 10 novels in 100 days to writing 10 novels in 150 days, I don’t really need the daily goal of 4000 words per day. (grin) Most of my novels are in the 35,000 to 50,000 word range. For example, if I write at least 3000 words per day (on average) for 150 days, that’s 450,000 words. More than enough. But I’m gonna stay with the 4,000 words per day goal anyway because it stretches me a little. And if I can write 4,000 words per … Read more

The Journal, Monday, January 7

Hey Folks, A fairly short Journal entry today. I’m sure you’re relieved after the past few days. (grin) Wow, what a day. A dear friend asked yesterday for a copy of a short story I wrote a couple of years ago titled “Ila and the Piñon Tree.” She wanted to review it for me. So I sent it to her. This morning, she emailed to say some of the text was missing. She was right. What made it even worse is that this edition also contained the Spanish translation by the editor of EstePaís magazine. After about a 20-minute search … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, January 6

Hey Folks, Well, I’ve decided I’m going to write another Blackwell Ops story. Not because I’m not interested in Nick and Marie anymore, or in Stern Talbot, or in the other ideas I listed yesterday. I want to start the challenge with another Blackwell Ops book because I don’t want to take the time to read over the last Nick Spalding book to refresh my memory about the main characters. (grin) I’m just that lazy. And if I start with another Stern Talbot book, I’ll have to include a new technique I re-learned recently. I’m not sure I want to … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, January 5

Hey Folks, A long post this morning, so consider yourself warned. (grin) This morning, writer Mark Alpert over at the Kill Zone blog titled his post “Five Ways to Become a Happier Writer.” All well and good. I thought I was in for a real treat. Uh, no. The more I read, the more depressed I became. The five points he laid out are valid. But the stuff he wrote below them, for the most part, was “not to my taste,” as Dean says. (grin) Now, I’m aware all writers are different. But frankly, Mark’s post left me wondering why … Read more

The Journal, Friday, January 4

Hey Folks, Yesterday, I went to D2D and found I already had an author page set up. That was kind of neat. Then I realized hardly any of my books were grouped together. Most of my novels were grouped with my short stories in “Other Books.” I’d failed to put the series tags and numbers on actual series, and the other books were just all over the place. So I put series tags and numbers on the books that are in actual series. Then I started lumping all the mysteries together into a Mystery “series” (group), SF into an SF … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, January 3

Hey Folks, Today’s “Of Interest” is long and loaded with great links. I encourage you to read them. You’ll learn a ton. I considered pasting an excerpt of Kris Rusch’s post on Pricing here, but I decided against it. All you have to do is click the second link below and you’ll get the whole thing. And it’s good. To see what I was going to paste, scroll down to “Here’s [sic] the other things you need to do on setting the right price”. *** Whether or not you decide to use BookFunnel (mentioned recently by Kris Rusch), for some … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, January 2

Hey Folks, Our second snowfall of the year (yes, here in the desert) started this morning. Creating, of course, the illusion that the world has shifted on its axis and it’s going to snow every day during 2019. (grin) This is a “real” snow, with about 4″ on the ground at the moment and plenty more coming. My wife’s considering granting herself a 2-hour delay if she goes in at all. Fortunately, my own commute to the office is only about 200 feet outside my back door. (grin) *** We have one little hummingbird who stays with us year-round. He … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, January 1

Hey Folks, Be patient. There’s a LOT in today’s Journal and in the “Of Interest” section. I hope you will find most of it entertaining and/or useful. Happy new year, everybody! May we all have a year filled with peace and good health. I don’t mention prosperity because, after all, we really can’t take it with us. My strongest personal urge is to live as long as I can and leave a legacy of sorts. As they say down south, can I get a big “Hell yeah!”? Like so many, I’m personally glad 2018 is behind us. Without belaboring the … Read more

The Journal, Monday, December 31

Hey Folks, Rolled out early this morning, excited to get started on covers. I started the day by downloading several photos from Unsplash at https://unsplash.com/. I can’t recommend them highly enough. Great royalty-free stock photos and they’re free. I redesigned the cover for Nick 4 (Consequences), which will release on January 15. Then I designed the cover for Situation Solved, which will release on February 15. Later today, I hope to design a cover for Blackwell Ops. It will be with my first reader as soon as I find one. (grin) I haven’t decided yet whether to release Blackwell Ops … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, December 30

Hey Folks, If any of you would like to serve as the first reader for my current novel, please email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. This is an origin novel that I expect will introduce a series. It isn’t so much a mystery novel (though there is some mystery and many twists and turns) as a crime novel. It’s an accounting of one operative’s life as he makes his way through various assignments for a secretive organization called Blackwell Ops. I probably won’t write any fiction tomorrow, but I’ll do a wrap-up on the Journal with some year-end numbers and some goals … Read more