In today’s Journal
* Correction
* Reminder
* Goals for the New Year
* The Writing
* Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Correction
Typos happen. But not with names. Ugh.
For some reason, I see Dr. Mardy Grothe‘s name in my head with an extra E shoved in between the O and the T. And that’s how I wrote it (several times) in yesterday’s Journal.
That despite the fact I own several of his books and have followed his weekly quotes for several years. Sigh.
Sorry, Mardy. You are hereby authorized to spell my last name Stanbreaux. I prefer it anyway. (grin)
Reminder
Hey kids, the Bradbury Challenge continues.
I don’t expect anyone new will hop on board this week (though all are welcome at anytime), but for you more experienced players, just think how good you’ll feel knowing even Christmas couldn’t interrupt your streak. (grin)
Get your story info in before midnight Arizona time.
Goals for the New Year
Mentorship Goals —
Nobody can say what the new year will hold, but I’m tentatively planning to offer a paid limited mentorship on Writing Dialogue and Pacing and possibly another one on Pulling the Reader Into the Story (or Grounding the Reader).
Either mentorship will require writing. As part of either mentorship, I will field questions and offer detailed instruction-on and explanation-of the concepts, as well as advice on mechanics, flow, and the interaction of characters in any genre.
If either or both of these mentorships would be of interest to you, please either leave a comment or email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com.
Of course, you are not committing to anything by indicating your interest. If there is no interest, I’ll shelve the idea.
Nonfiction and Publishing Goals —
In 2024, I plan to write at least two new nonfiction titles under the new Harvey Stanbrough Writing Guides (or something) umbrella. I will also revamp, update, rebrand, and reprice six (maybe seven) of my previous books on writing. A few I probably will rebrand as pamphlets.
Finally, I’ll also rebrand and reprice the eight nonfiction titles that do not need to be updated:
- Writing the Character-Driven Story
- Quiet the Critical Voice (and Write Fiction)
- Punctuation for Writers (2nd edition)
- Creating Realistic Characters
- Writing Effective Dialect
- The Craft of Poetry: Structure and Sound
- Poetry Techniques for the Fictionist
- The Art of Writing Flash Fiction
I might revamp and rebrand Writing Realistic Dialogue & Flash Fiction or I might write a new companion book, the equivalent of a sequel in fiction. Or I might write a new book and trash the old one.
For the rebranding, I’ll design new covers (and in at least one case a new title), and offer all of them under the same umbrella imprint.
Fiction Writing Goals —
If my health holds, and I see no reason it won’t, I also intend to write and publish 19 new novels (my baseline is 12), which will bring me to 101 during 2024 while doing all of the above. It’s easily doable according to the math.
- I write 1000 +/- words per hour (a blazing fast 17 words per minute), and
- When it’s time to write, I show up.
I typically write 4000 words per day (so four hours per day) of clean, publishable fiction. So that’s 28,000 words per week.
There’s nothing magical about it. I’m a fiction writer, so I write fiction. Still, I only do my “job” four hours per day, plus a lunch break. (grin) Much, much better than when I had to report from 9-5 to do something I didn’t enjoy.
Given that a novel typically takes me two weeks or less from start to finish, and given that I’ll probably be writing no more than four new nonfiction books, that should leave me plenty of time for staring off into space, twiddling my thumbs, and attending to other important matters.
The Writing
I’m writing this yesterday, before I begin writing fiction. I dedicated a lot of time to the stuff above, so I’ll probably miss my daily goal for today. That’s fine.
I expect the current novel to wrap sometime in the next five or six thousand words. I’ve already decided I will not start a new one until at least January 1. A “clean start” and all that. Give my creative subconscious a short vacation and maybe see what new lessons I can pick up from the King (IMHO, the only Stage 5 writer writing today).
I plan to write fiction on the 23rd (today, as I write this) and on the 24th (today, as you read this) and 25th if there’s still anything left to write on the novel.
But I also will visit with my wife, my youngest son and his girlfriend on those days. If the word count suffers, it won’t suffer much. And as always, tomorrow begins a new day and the goal resets.
Update: I not only missed my daily goal yesterday, I didn’t write any fiction at all. Maybe the novel wants to wrap on Christmas morning. (grin) Had a great visit though.
(Remarkably, see Dean’s post in Of Interest for today.)
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
I will almost certainly work on Christmas, as I do on any day when the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. To be sure I don’t forget to extend my own greetings to you, I want to express them today.
Whether or not you celebrate the day as either the official birthdate of the Christ child or simply a festive holiday, I hope you will have a very merry Chrismas.
If you do not celebrate Christmas, I hope you had or will enjoy a special, thoughtful and joyful holiday.
And may the upcoming new year be among the best for us all.
An Addendum
I wish the above even for those who believe they have the right to control how others write, speak, think, love or worship. May they develop wisdom and the courage to act on it.
And I wish it even for those who believe they can alter the past by eradicating the markers that indicate it. May they develop some level of humility. And may they one day strive to be as selfless and courageous as those whose monuments and memories they have defiled.
Not that I have anything personal against those folks. I don’t. I simply don’t care about what “offends” them — including this post — anymore than they care about what offends me or anyone else.
Of Interest
Sometimes Just Take a Day Off (grin)
The Former Navy SEAL Who Keeps Churning Out Hit Books
Dr. Mardy’s Dictionary of Metaphorical Quotations I’ve mentioned this before. It’s a great resource.
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 980
Writing of Tarea-Garcia 1
Day 1…… 4968 words. To date…… 4968
Day 2…… 3677 words. To date…… 8645
Day 3…… 3307 words. To date…… 11952
Day 4…… 4467 words. To date…… 16419
Day 5…… 4193 words. To date…… 20612
Day 6…… 2061 words. To date…… 22673
Day 7…… 3250 words. To date…… 25923
Day 8…… 2036 words. To date…… 27959
Day 9…… 3789 words. To date…… 31748
Day 10…. 4093 words. To date…… 35841
Day 11…. 0000 words. To date…… 35841
Writing of “The Love of Soleada”
Day 1…… 1079 words. To date…… 1079
Day 2…… 1444 words. To date…… 2523
Day 3…… 0225 words. To date…… 2748
Day 4…… 0747 words. To date…… 3495
Fiction for December…………………… 90048
Fiction for 2023…………………………. 490822
Fiction since August 1………………… 375258
Nonfiction for December……………… 18870
Nonfiction for the year……………… 274450
Annual consumable words………… 761825
2023 Novels to Date……………………… 10
2023 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2023 Short Stories to Date……………… 8
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………… 81
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)…… 236
Short story collections…………………… 31
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Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Unreasoning fear and the myths of writing will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.