In today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* K.M. Robinson (again) and Marketing
* Math Doesn’t Lie
* Of Interest
Quotes of the Day
“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” Isaac Newton (Somehow this seemed pertinent to writing fiction.)
“Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.” Martin Luther King Jr.
“Small goals allow things to be attainable, but small goals add up in the long run.” K.M. Robinson
K.M. Robinson (again) and Marketing
Today, a short post to share a few extra notes on marketing. As I’ve said all along, to be successful in any business venture, you have to do the work up front.
Now, in K.M. Robinson we’ve found that rarest of business people: a writer and author who actually shares her techniques for success free of charge as a way of paying her success forward. If you missed it, I first mentioned her on October 28 at https://hestanbrough.com/omg-k-m-robinson/. I recommended her then, and I recommend her more strongly now.
Before you read this post further, II suggest you visit and read the comments at https://hestanbrough.com/omg-k-m-robinson/#comments. I recommend you read (or re-read) all of the comments to get the context, primarily because K.M. Robinson, whose website and marketing efforts were the thrust of that post, stopped by and left two comments herself.
One of her comments was to me (I replied) and the other, more lengthy one, was to writer Maggie King. (Maggie, stop by and reply if you want.)
One other note: I don’t know how K.M. or others are notified that someone has mentioned them or their website or whatever, but I use TalkWalker Alerts (https://talkwalker.com). It’s free. I have one alert set up for my name and one for each of my major websites. To me, that’s another part of marketing.
Math Doesn’t Lie
In a post over at the Kill Zone today (see “Of Interest”), John Gilstrap talks about his efforts to get the book he just finished in to his publisher slightly after the deadline:
“Because I tend to write down to the wire on deadlines, those last weeks closing in on the final sentence are face-on-fire marathons of 12-hour writing days. For Harm’s Way [the title he just finished], I believe I wrote about 50,000 words in five weeks.”
Wait. I suspect he did a lot more than writing if he was enduring “face-on-fire marathons of 12-hour writing days.” Why? Because he says he believes he wrote “about 50,000 words in five weeks.” By itself, that doesn’t equate to 12-hour days. Not without some magical math or extremely slow typing.
The Math—Five weeks is 35 days. Divide 50,000 words by 35 days and you’ll find that’s only 1,429 words per day. Spread that over 12 hours, and he was writing a paralyzingly fast 119 words per hour, or 2 words per minute. Quite a face-on-fire marathon.
No, I’m not stupid. When he said he spent “12-hour writing days,” I’m sure he meant writing, then revising/rewriting/polishing etc. to make things as perfect as possible. Of course, that’s fine. Hey, his way is his way and who am I to judge. The guy’s a bestselling author.
But while he’s posting things that younger writers will read and take to heart, I only wish he’d check his math, that’s all.
Also no, I didn’t leave a comment. When I see something like that, I figure it’s best to just move along quietly. No reason to insert my Grumpy Gus self into the midst of the shower of congratulations and accolades.
Besides, I wouldn’t want to say anything that might cause John any embarrassment. He’s one of the authors whose work I regularly promote in my own novels.
But as an abject lesson, this really is too good not to pass along. Just do the math for yourself.
By the way, I just posted the first free short story of the week over at the reader site. Take a look at https://harveystanbroughwrites.com/category/short-story-of-the-week/. Enjoy.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “10 of Isaac Newton’s most famous and revolutionary inventions” at https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/10-of-isaac-newtons-most-famous-and-revolutionary-inventions.
See “The cosmologist who claims to have evidence for the multiverse” at https://www.newscientist.com/article/0-the-cosmologist-who-claims-to-have-evidence-for-the-multiverse/.
See “How to Promote Your Book Globally and Build an International Readership” at https://www.amarketingexpert.com/2022/11/01/how-to-promote-your-book-globally-and-build-an-international-readership/.
See “FCC Calls for TikTok Ban” at https://www.axios.com/2022/11/01/interview-fcc-commissioner-says-government-should-ban-tiktok.
See “Empty Brain Syndrome” at https://killzoneblog.com/2022/11/empty-brain-syndrome.html.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 730 words
Writing of The Stirchians (novel, tentative title)
Day 10… 1330 words. Total words to date…… 28459
Day 11… 2337 words. Total words to date…… 30836
Day 12… 2115 words. Total words to date…… 32951
Day 13… 2242 words. Total words to date…… 35193
Total fiction words for November……… 2242
Total fiction words for the year………… 163767
Total nonfiction words for November… 1610
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 177240
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 341007
Calendar Year 2022 Novels to Date…………………… 2
Calendar Year 2022 Novellas to Date……………… 0
Calendar Year 2022 Short Stories to Date… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 68
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
Disclaimer: In this Journal I promote Writing Into the Dark, a Zen-like letting go and trusting yourself and your characters. I have never said (and never will) that WITD is the “only” way to write, but it greatly increases both your productivity and the amount of practice you get as a writer, and it provides a rapid ascension along the learning curve of Craft. This is not opinion. It is all numbers and facts.