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 alignment for the title, chapter heads, and text. I’d be happy to share. Just email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com.
Anyway, I took the opportunity to revise it slightly. The last item in the end matter, the Disclaimer, now reads
This story was created in its entirety without the slightest bit of input from any generative artificial intelligence. It is a work of fiction, a story that unfolded as the author ran through the trenches of the story trying to keep up with his characters. In other words, for those of a more traditional bent, it is strictly a product of the author’s imagination. Either way, any perceived resemblance or similarity to any actual events or persons, living or dead, and any perceived slights or people, places, or organizations are a product of the reader’s imagination. Probably.
Feel free to use it or part of it if you want.
After my work yesterday morning to get the novel below published, my wife and I took a break and went to the grocery, then ate lunch. I thought I might take the rest of the day off.
But when we got back, Jeremy Stiles was still nagging me. Okay, so I went back to the Hovel, opened my writing ‘puter, and slapped down just over 1600 words in a little over an hour. I think this one’s gonna be fun. (grin)
Blackwell Ops 9: Cameron Stance
This one is subtitled A Romantic Thriller. My first reader tells me it earned the title. (grin)
I got it put up on StoneThread Publishing yesterday. If you’re interested, you can read the description (sales copy) at https://stonethreadpublishing.com/bo-9/.
And if you’re ready to “buy,” it’s currently free with Amazon Kindle Unlimited at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CH91LT99.
No Vella Yet
I didn’t even go look. I felt dumb considering serializing a novel that’s finished. My first reader got his annotations back to me last night. Talk about a fast turnaround.
Yesterday, I applied Russ’ changes. A little later I designed a cover and a promo doc, and then I published it. As I mentioned above, I went to Amazon Kindle Select first.
After a few months (I believe it’s a 3-month minimum) I’ll pull it out of Select and publish it wide to over 400 markets and 1200 libraries worldwide. It’s a great time to be a fiction writer.
Even though it’s been awhile since I
- designed a cover,
- wrote sales copy,
- edited the Crime-Thriller & Action-Adventure page and
- put up a new book page on StoneThread Publishing, and
- uploaded to Amazon,
the whole process took only about three hours. I’m okay with that. (grin)
Oh, another note on royalty-free photos. I realized this morning, all the covers for my Blackwell Ops series came from Unsplash. Just sayin’.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
See “An Interesting Thing Happened…” at https://www.youtube[dot[com/live/wzRAi1N5NQc.
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 560
Writing of Blackwell Ops 10: Jeremy Stiles
The Way Things Go
Day 1…… 1635 words. To date…… 1635
Fiction for September…………………… 11982
Fiction since August 1………………… 68878
Fiction for 2023………………………… 164291
Nonfiction for September……………… 5020
Nonfiction for the year……………… 179490
Annual consumable words………… 343781
2023 Novels to Date……………………… 3
2023 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2023 Short Stories to Date……………… 4
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………… 74
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)… 232
Short story collections…………………… 31
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.