Daily Journal

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Blackwell Ops 10 is LIVE on Vella! * Learning as You Go * For Anyone New to the Journal * Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting * My Own Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I try to leave out the parts readers skip.” Elmore Leonard “New Ideas come into this world somewhat like falling meteors, with a flash and an explosion.”Henry David Thoreau (courtesy of Dan Baldwin) “I’ve never been in charge of my stories, they’ve always been in charge of me. . . . Jump off … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Nothing to Talk About Today * A Reminder * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I think it is not just about not planning, but not thinking at all while writing. I just follow my characters and write down how their stories unfold. When I think about how the story should go, I step into the way of my characters.” Balázs Jambor “This week I struggled with my writing, until I got to the revelation that I don’t have to wait to write until I feel good enough … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Vacation Was Short-Lived * Yates Briscoe… * How Much Description Is Too Much? * Well, Kindle Vella * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I finished my first novel that I seriously tried WITD on, and I’m sad to be done but also so thrilled! It was so much fun. My characters took me places I never expected. Literally, some things came up where I thought, ‘Did I just write that? I never would have planned that’.” Erin Donoho, recent convert I wrote back to welcome Erin to … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Writer’s Block Strikes Me Down No “Of Interest” or “Numbers” today Quote of the Day “Infinite toil would not enable you to sweep away a mist; but by ascending a little you may often look over it altogether.” Arthur Helps Writer’s Block Strikes Me Down This is a guest post by Dan Baldwin. Enjoy. I’ve posted many, many, many times that I do not believe in writer’s block. I’ve said, often, that the phenomenon represents something else entirely and that the something else varies from writer to writer: Fear of completion … Read more

In today’s Journal * KDP Select and Vella * Vacation * Of Interest * The Numbers KDP Select and Vella Just in case any of you were wondering the same thing…. Yesterday, I got online in a chat with an Amazon rep (Raul). I asked whether I could simultaneously publish a novel to KDP Select and then also serialize it in Vella. I figured it was a stupid question, but I couldn’t know until I’d asked. I’d never heard of anyone doing that before, and for me it would be perfect. To my amazement, Raul asked me to give him … Read more

In today’s Journal * Started a New Novel * Blackwell Ops 9: Cameron Stance * No Vella Yet * Of Interest * The Numbers Started a New Novel Turned out I wanted to write another story in the Blackwell Ops world, or at least the character Jeremy Stiles wanted me to. I saw him on stage, of all things, waving and saying goodnight to a studio audience. In starting this one, I relied on my novel template, a thing I put together awhile back. The forematter and back matter are already in place along with the corrct font sizes and … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Late Last Night * Elements of Your Stories * Finished the Novel * The Bradbury Challenge * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “It’s your reaction to your failures that make your success.” Adam Levine to a contestant on The Voice back in 2018 (per Dean’s post yesterday) Late Last Night I added a new page to HarveyStanbrough.com, then copied it over to the Journal website at HEStanbrough.com. You can find it on either site by clicking the tab labeled If You Really Want to Write Fiction. Elements … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Welcome * More Short Stories Coming * Great Articles * The Value of New York Editors and Publishers * A Bonus Topic: The Writing * So I Don’t Forget * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “I remember when I would sent out hundreds of copies of a book to agents hoping to get an agent. I felt like it was a job interview. And I felt that I, the one who actually wrote, had to impress some nonwriter to ‘get my foot in the door’.” George Kordonis … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Time Flies When You’re Having Fun… Writing * I Am Not an “Actual Author” (grin) * A New Story * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Whatever your impressions of pulp fiction are, no one can deny that the best of the pulp writers paved the way not just for modern genre fiction, but for future masters of the craft. … There is no reason we cannot do the same now. Write Fast, Write Clean, Publish Often.” Frank Theodat, editor of Pulp, Pipe, & Poetry magazinehttps://pulppipepoetry.substack.com/ in “The … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Writing * Speaking of Reverse Outlines * A Whole Other Level of Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Why would I write from AI outline? it wouldn’t even be my story.” Balázs Jambor in a comment on yesterday’s post The Writing Yesterday I went to the Hovel at 6:30 but spent the first almost four hours of the morning finally putting together a reverse outline. Duh. During my absence and spotty return to writing fiction, I’d forgotten how necessary this is. When I stopped for … Read more