New Business Cards

In today’s Journal

* Quotes of the Day
* New Business Cards
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Quotes of the Day

“I had eight weeks to finish my novel. Eight weeks. And I was on Chapter 10 – a long way from the end. If I wanted to finish on time, I’d have to write 4,500 words a week. I could do that. If I switched to extreme writing mode. In other words, ‘neglect everything else’.” A prominent, regular contributor to TKZ

When I read “I’d have to write 4,500 words” I was expecting the next to words to be “a day,” not “a week.” This sort of quote makes me very, very, very glad I’m me. 4500 words is literally 4 and a half hours’ work at most. h

“Nobody can consciously ‘think up’ anything spontaneous. Spontaneity is a characteristic of real, unscripted life and, in fiction, of the creative subconscious mind.” Me, in a comment on a Passive Voice post

New Business Cards

I haven’t used a business card or bookmark or anything else with my information on it, since the early 2000s when I was still speaking at writers’ conferences and conventions. I don’t think I ever gave out a business card even to my students when I was teaching in-person seminars.

But John Gilstrap’s recent TKZ post about business cards started me thinking. The way he uses business cards now is exactly the way I used to use them. And you can never tell how many new readers you might find with the simple act of handing out business cards.

I do recommend one caveat: be sure the would-be recipient actually wants your card. Otherwise you might as well drop it into the trash and save him or her the trouble.

I researched different business-card printers for my specific requirements and settled on GotPrint.com. You can design your card on their site, but I didn’t do that. I designed my card, front and back, on a separate program (Serif PageMaker 9.0), saved the designs as .jpg files, and uploaded them.

Finally I ordered 500 double-sided business cards for around $50 plus shipping. The front is matte black with my personal and promotional information (see below) and the back is off-white and displays a QR code for my publisher, another for my YouTube channel, and another for this Journal.

Shipping took about a week, and the cards came in yesterday. I was a little disappointed at first glance. Because their cutter was maybe 1/32nd of an inch off, there’s a thin line of white across the bottom and up the right side. But it almost looks like part of the design. It also gives the card a bit of a 3D effect, so I don’t mind.

I can read the front of the card all right, though font size I chose for the genres is a bit small. I’ll change that a little next time. I’ll increase the font size a bit, put the genres on two lines, and nudge my email addy down a little. Otherwise I like the design as-is, and the QR codes on the back work just fine.

By the way, I looked at different QR code generators, but most were ploys to get me to sign up for an account, etc. It was more than a little frustrating.

Then I realized, happily, that Serif PageMaker has an on-board QR code generator. That solved that problem. If you have a particular design program you like, check to see whether it has a QR code generator.

Here’s the obverse of the card. What looks like off-whitish smudges are not apparent on the card. They’re a trick of my phone camera.

And here’s the reverse. The QR codes are scannable. G’head, try ’em:

If you’re seeing this on Substack, visit https://hestanbrough.com/new-business-cards/ to see both pictures.

Talk with you later.

Of Interest

See “WGGB publishes policy position…” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/wggb-publishes-policy-position-on-risks-and-benefits-of-ai/. See PG’s take.

See “Princess, Washerwoman, Warrior, Goatherd: How Real are Your Characters?” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/princess-washerwoman-warrior-goatherd-how-real-are-your-characters/. Yet another series of problems we who write into the dark never encounter.

See “How to Figure Out Which Writing Advice Fits You Best” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/how-to-figure-out-which-writing-advice-fits-you-best/. Blah, blah, blah.  Been there, done that, and bought in for far too long before learning the truth. There’s only one question to ask: Would you rather knuckle under to unreasoning fears and never reach your potential (or even know what that potential is) or would you rather believe in yourself, take a deep breath, and dive in?

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 650

Writing of “Marvin McTavish Decides”

Day 1…… 326 words. Total words to date…… 326
Day 2…… 346 words. Total words to date…… 672

Writing of “A Midnight Sketch”

Day 1…… 1341 words. Total words to date…… 1341

Writing of Rose Padilla (WCG10SF5)

Day 1…… 4283 words. Total words to date…… 4283
Day 2…… 3963 words. Total words to date…… 8246
Day 3…… 1463 words. Total words to date…… 9709
Day 4…… 2445 words. Total words to date……12154

Total fiction words for July……… 2013
Total fiction words for 2023………… 112035
Total nonfiction words for July… 7490
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 139040
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 251075

Calendar Year 2023 Novels to Date…………………… 2
Calendar Year 2023 Novellas to Date……………… 0
Calendar Year 2023 Short Stories to Date………… 4
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 73
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………… 221
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31

Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark, adherence to Heinlein’s Rules, and that following the myths of fiction writing will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.