Daily Journal

The Journal, Monday, August 27

Hey Folks, Well, one of my novels is in a new bundle from BundleRabbit: Cosmic Clashes. So that makes eight active bundles. (grin) You can see all of the bundles that contain my work at http://harveystanbrough.com/bundles/. *** Worked through the day yesterday and finished the copyedit. Looking very forward to getting back full-time to my own WIP today. *** My first reader is excellent. Chief (to me) among her finds were places where my character “secreted himself” instead of simply “hid.” (grin) In every case, those were places where I allowed the language to take precedence over the story. I … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, August 26

Hey Folks, As I expected, no fiction writing yesterday. If I write today, I’ll report it on Monday. I received feedback on my previous novel from my first reader yesterday, and this morning I applied that feedback and (I hope) enlisted her aid as the first reader for the one I’m working on now. (grin) Now I just have to come up with a couple of titles. One for Nick Spalding 2 (the one I finished) and another for Nick Spalding 1 (the WIP). In the meantime, here’s Part 2 of the topic I started yesterday. (You can see Part … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, August 25

Hey Folks, A lot going on today, so if I write any fiction, I’ll report those numbers for today and tomorrow in Monday’s Journal. Topic: Preaching to the Choir, Part 1 Yeah, Parts 1 and 2. I was going to post the whole topic, but it came in at around 1500 words, so Part 1 today, Part 2 tomorrow. (grin) By “preaching to the choir,” I mean reminding folks of things they already know, but maybe of which they can use an occasional reminder. I received a particularly interesting blog post in my email, one that reminded me of myself … Read more

The Journal, Friday, August 24

Hey Folks, Well, if you publish your books to print, don’t miss “Of Interest” today. Extremely important news. It’s been awhile since I stopped taking my books to print, so I was behind the curve on this one. Please spread the news to any other writers or writers groups you know of. *** Out to the Hovel a little late. I got a two short, disjointed sessions done, then one good third session and wound up with just over 2000 words of fiction on the day. But I’m feeling a little under the weather so I’ll cut my losses and … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, August 23

Hey Folks, If you own your own hosted website, this will be of interest to you. It’s important enough that I’m putting off my own writing to report. Below in “Of Interest,” Kris Rusch talks about problems with a particular web host. Having had similar experiences with that web host, I concur. So I’m searching for a new web host. The first lesson is not to believe everything you read online, at least at first glance. For example, I clicked a link that offered the “Top 15 Web Hosts.” But when the page came up it listed only 7 hosts, … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, August 22

Hey Folks, In response to my post at harveystanbrough.com about “Reviews,” I received an email from a guy who agreed with me. Sort of. Then he launched into a heated rant about “rich people” and then politics. Specifically, American politics, specifically at the national level. I strive to keep politics out of my blogs. It isn’t always easy because on the one hand, they’re my personal blogs. But on the other, my stated purpose for them is to help other writers cut the learning curve in the craft of writing. That’s regardless of the writer’s race, skin tone, nationality or … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, August 21

Hey Folks, A lot in “Of Interest” today from the somewhat sublime to the outright silly. Enjoy. The plan for today was to get to the Hovel early to begin writing New Words on my WIP. Yesterday I got out there a little late and still had some cycling to do, so I ran out of time before I had to return to the copyedit. For various reasons, I didn’t get out there early. When I do get back (some time or other, and I hope it’s today) I’ll roll straight off the edge into the trenches of the story … Read more

The Journal, Monday, August 20

Hey Folks, No Journal for yesterday. We did a lot of yard work and other necessarys, and I did some editing but that’s it. There was nothing even for the “Of Interest” section. I did receive an email yesterday from Kris Rusch. Her website is being migrated from one ISP to another and the RSS subscriptions didn’t migrate with it, at least not yet. That just means for now it’s better to check the site manually. Which you can do at http://kriswrites.com. *** If you use dictation for your writing, PLEASE be sure to read it over afterward (preferably aloud) … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, August 18

Hey Folks, A few days ago, for some reason, the RSS feed for Kristine Kathryn Rusch failed, on my end or on hers. You’ll remember I referenced this in “Of Interest” when Dan Baldwin told me of a great new post. This morning I explored her site a little more. Finally, on the Contact Kris page (https://kriswrites.com/contact-kris/) I scrolled down and found two subscription forms. One is to “Subscribe to Blog via Email” and the other is to “Subscribe with RSS.” (Both of these are only for the overall blog. She also writes several smaller occasional newsletters to which you … Read more

The Journal, Friday, August 17

Hey Folks, A day or two ago in “Of Interest” I mentioned an essay by former US Poet Laureate Donald Hall. He also has two books of essays available. One is mentioned in the article I referenced. If you’d like to get the books, I recommend buying them from Amazon. The publisher sells them both, but the price is marked up. You can get A Carnival of Losses: Notes Nearing Ninety (hardcover) from Amazon for only $19, and Essays After Eighty (paperback) is available for only $10.84, both brand new. I’m not sure why traditional publishers are so upside down … Read more