In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Everybody’s Sleeping * Two Years in (Quick) Review * Happy New Year * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” Rudyard Kipling “I know I was writing stories when I was five. I don’t remember what I did before that. Just loafed, I suppose.” P. G. Wodehouse Everybody’s Sleeping If that’s you too, and if that’s what you want, I’m happy for you. I’m wide awake, but I’m not complaining. I am aware of ‘holidays’ and celebrations and mournings. I even … Read more

In today’s Journal * Novel Wrapped * Novel Published * Of Interest Novel Wrapped The Road to Santa Fe wrapped with fewer than 1000 words at a little over 42,000 words total and around 1100 words of cuts. I spell checked the manuscript, ran Find & Replace for a few common mistakes I make, then shipped it off to my excellent first reader, Russ Jones. Like many westerners, Wes enjoys taking his time. This novel turned out to be only the transition from Amarillo to Santa Fe. Of course, a lot of other characters were doing things and setting other … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * On yesterday’s post * Dean Wesley Smith * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Luck is when an opportunity comes along and you’re prepared for it.” Denzel Washington “”If you want to be thought a liar, always tell the truth.” Logan Pearsall Smith “There is one thing that matters—to set a chime of words tinkling in the minds of a few fastidious people.” Logan Pearsall Smith On yesterday’s post “Five Days Left, and Don’t Kill the Scene,” one anonymous commenter left the following, and I thought I’d share it. To make … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Five Days Left * Don’t Kill the Scene (notes from a grouchy old writer) * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “My stories have led me through my life. They shout, I follow. They run up and bite me on the leg—I respond by writing down everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off.” Ray Bradbury “The best description of my career as a writer is, ‘At play in the fields of the Lord.’ It’s been wonderful fun, and I’ll be damned … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “I’m too afraid to write.” Posted on reddit by u/OneRoundMate Yes, u/OneRoundMate was honest enough to actually write that in public. If you’d like to see for yourself the critical mind at work ripping apart writers left and right, visit https://www.reddit.com/r/writing/comments/zslqqi/comment/j1c4jia/. “Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.” Madam CJ Walker Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Wishing you all a merry Christmas—I hope the day is good to you whether or … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Best Advice Available and Christmas Gifts * What? Me Doing a TKZ Guest Post? * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “It’s much more likely that an asteroid will strike the Earth and annihilate life as we know it than AI will turn evil.” Oren Etzioni, founding CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence “People ask me to predict the future, when all I want to do is prevent it. Better yet, build it. Predicting the future is much too easy, anyway. You look at the people around you, the … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * One Final Bit of Writing Advice * Recommendations for Reference and Craft Resources * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words.” Philip K. Dick (Be sure to see “Of Interest” today.) “Certainly it constitutes bad news if the people who agree with you are buggier than batshit.” Philip K. Dick “It makes increasingly less sense even to talk about a publishing … Read more

In today’s Journal * My Best Advice for Fiction Writers, Part 4 * Of Interest My Best Advice for Fiction Writers, Part 4 See Part 1 at https://hestanbrough.com/my-best-advice-for-fiction-writers-part-1/. See Part 2 at https://hestanbrough.com/my-best-advice-for-fiction-writers-part-2/. See Part 3 at https://hestanbrough.com/my-best-advice-for-fiction-writers-part-3/. 11. Keep Coming Back. As most of you know, I recommend having a daily word-count goal, something that 1) drives you to the writing ‘puter but 2) isn’t difficult to reach if you stretch just a little. I also recommend taking a break every hour or so. You can train your mind to call for a break at regular intervals, or you … Read more

In today’s Journal * SnakeBeGone * My Best Advice for Fiction Writers, Part 3 * Of Interest SnakeBeGone Here at the GoodHovel SnakeBeGone the snake is, um gone. My wife and I moved things around, shifted desks, etc. and found 2 very likely and 3 plausible avenues of approach by which rodents or reptiles might relocate themselves to Inside the Hovel from Outside the Hovel. We assume our visiting snake poured himself back through one of those avenues while I was out. We went to our friendly Ace Hardware store where we purchased moth balls and coarse steel wool. We … Read more