In Today’s Journal
* My Quote of the Day
* From Horror Writer Christopher Ridge
* Update on Mentorship Policy
* Nuances
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
My Quote of the Day
“Knowledge-in with the critical mind; story-out with the creative subconscious.” Harvey Stanbrough
From Horror Writer Christopher Ridge
I discovered an excellent website builder for writers: Tertulia.com.
This is a great website builder. Amazingly easy to work with for those interested in their own author site. Just pick a template, complete your author profile and send in an ISBN [or ASIN] on one of your books and they’ll upload the rest.
[At the site, it’s currently $7.99 billed annually], which I feel is well worth it.
You’ll get a domain of your choosing as well. I’ve started a blog, a free story tab and a book tab. You can also upload a link to your own store, which I’ll be doing soon. As an example, here is my Tertulia website.
Thanks, Chris.
Update on Mentorship Policy
In yesterday’s post I said the first month of your mentorship begins when I receive your $30 payment. But that isn’t quite fair to you, so I’m amending that.
When you pay your $30 that locks in your mentorship and takes up a slot.
But the mentorship month will actually begin when you ask your first question or questions AFTER you pay your $30.
Ideally the payment and the first questions will arrive on the same date, but that isn’t always practical for everybody.
So again, once you pay your $30, your mentorship is officially locked in. (You’ve taken a slot.) But the mentorship month actually begins on the date you ask your first questions.
As of this morning, all the slots are filled for now.
If you’re interested in doing a mentorship, visit either Substack or the Journal website for the particulars.
If you’re interested in being added to my waiting list for a chance to secure a slot later, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com.
When a slot opens, I’ll offer it to those on my waiting list in the order they applied. There are only three writers currently on the waiting list. Email me and I’ll add you. Being on the list doesn’t commit you in any way.
A slot might open at any time because
- one of my mentorship students changed his or her mind and I’ve issued a refund, or
- because a mentorship is completed. (It can run for as little as one month, depending on the student’s needs.)
- If I offer a mentorship to a writer on the waiting list and s/he can’t at the moment, I’ll offer it to the next person on the list
Nuances
Yesterday, prompted by a question from a young writer, I talked about using adverbs. You can read that post here.
What I wrote in my examples about how to replace adverbs was all about nuances.
The following example is also a nuance.
After I filed the Journal yesterday and took care of a little more business, I opened the current novel and started cycling through what I wrote the day before.
And I happened upon this passage:
Finally, on the afternoon of the third day, I picked up the phone, dialed Information, and asked for a home phone number for Diedre Watson in Boise, Idaho. Then I dialed the number.
She picked up on the first ring. “Hello?”
“Diedre? It’s—”
“Wesley?” She sounded excited. “Is it really you?”
What? She ‘sounded excited’?
See, that was me, the writer (albeit thinly veiled as the character), stepping in between the reader and the story and telling the reader how Diedre “sounded.”
Bad juju.
During cycling, Wesley (POV character) changed that. The passage now reads,
Finally, on the afternoon of the third day, I picked up the phone, dialed Information, and asked for a home phone number for Diedre Watson in Boise, Idaho. Then I dialed the number.
She picked up on the first ring. “Hello?”
“Diedre? It’s—”
“Wesley?” A smile sprang into her voice. “Is it really you?”
Just a reminder: Cycling is done with the creative mind. I just read. The character changed the line.
The explanation of that (both my writing it and you receiving it) comes from the critical mind:
Instead of the linking verb “sounded” in the original passage (the verb ‘links’ the subject “she” to the adjective “excited”), the description of her voice in the revised passage contains the action verb “sprang.”
Is the second passage better? That’s up to the reader. Wesley has made it as interesting as he can, and that’s all he or I can do.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
One More Time Before Moving On
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 770
Writing of Blackwell Ops 49: Wesley Stark
Day 1…… 2381 words. To date…… 2381
Day 2…… 3283 words. To date…… 5664
Day 3…… 2934 words. To date…… 8598
Day 4…… 2305 words. To date…… 10903
Day 5…… 3356 words. To date…… 14259
Day 6…… 2295 words. To date…… 16554
Day 7…… 3271 words. To date…… 19825
Day 8…… 2660 words. To date…… 22485
Day 9…… 3120 words. To date…… 25605
Day 10…. 2141 words. To date…… 27746
Day 11…. 4001 words. To date…… 31747
Fiction for October………………… 55302
Fiction for 2025…………………… 633840
Nonfiction for October.…………… 16140
Nonfiction for 2025……………….. 226250
2025 consumable words………… 852521
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 15
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 32
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 119
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 306
Short story collections……………………. 29