From Great Story Ideas to Waiting and Watching

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Great Story Idea? What Next? * Waiting and Watching? Um, No. * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Some writers struggle with ever getting one word of their Great Idea down on the page, for fear of crafting an imperfect beginning.” Joni B. Cole “Now comes the waiting, the watching. Your book is out there on its own. The initial thrill begins to fade, replaced by that onerous irritant, expectations. You’re hoping—for sales, great reviews, a bestseller list, a call from Spielberg.” James Scott Bell Oh my god, I think I’d … Read more

Tags and Tag Lines

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Tags * Tag Lines * Of Interest Quote of the Day “[S]creenwriting is work, it’s a chore, you’re writing for other people and rewriting constantly, while I don’t consider novel writing work at all.” Elmore Leonard Tags You know that the Journal archive is free, and you also know it’s in PDF format (so it can be printed out) and that it’s searchable. You can download the archive, year by year, at https://hestanbrough.com/the-daily-journal-archives/. But sometimes we’re at a loss for the right search term. That’s where tags can come in handy. … Read more

Another Post for “Of Interest”

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Oops * Another Post for “Of Interest” * Publishers and Rejection Slips * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “What allures people, what do they want to read about? Money, sex and death, but especially money.” Catherine Baab-Muguira “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make but about the stories you tell.” Seth Godin “PG suggests that a writing career should depend on how many stories you have inside you instead of how many corporate drones need to say yes before one of your stories finds its readers.” The … Read more

Busting Some ISBN Myths

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Busting Some ISBN Myths * The Novel (and Keep Coming Back) * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “I’ve never experienced writer’s block. That is especially true after discovering WITD. … If you don’t know the path (only the characters do), then it’s impossible for a block to exist. [F]or the writer, the path to be blocked doesn’t even exist. And therein lies the fun.” Dan Baldwin on an article in yesterday’s “Of Interest” “[PG] suggests that anyone designing a book cover needs to understand that good levels of sales … Read more

Mostly “Of Interest”

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Mostly “Of Interest” * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “In his memoir On Writing, Stephen King reflected, ‘Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.’ At the suggestion of a friend, the writer [Ann] Patchett attached a sign-in sheet to the door of her writing room to ensure she wrote every day.” Kalpana Jain, theconversation.com “No matter how accomplished a writer, he or she will inevitably struggle with writer’s block.” Kalpana Jain, theconversation.com Hmm. I guess that’s good to know. But … Read more

Recommendations for Study, and the Novel

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Topic: Recommendations for Study * The Novel * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” Orson Welles “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” Jack London “A rut is a grave with the ends knocked out.” Dr. Laurence J. Peter (Thanks to Dan Baldwin) Topic: Recommendations for Study In his post today, Dean Wesley Smith talks about “advanced classes” on which he and Kris received input and which they … Read more

This Will Sound Silly

In today’s Journal * This Will Sound Silly * Of Interest This Will Sound Silly but I have to interrupt the writing of The Stirchians (tentative title) to read the novel for which it’s supposed to be the sequel: The 13-Month Turn. By the way, if anyone else would like to read The 13-Month Turn in advance of the second novel in the series being finished, I’m giving it away right now. Just email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com and let me know which e-version you would like: .mobi, .epub, or .pdf. Late yesterday morning as I started to write, I had … Read more

Questions and Answers

In today’s Journal * Questions and Answers * One More Unsub * The Novel * Of Interest Questions and Answers Today over on the Kill Zone blog, Dale Evans Smith asked 4 questions and then posted responses from other TKZ contributors’ previous posts. Then he opened it up to everyone. If you want, stop by “Writing Strategies” at https://killzoneblog.com/2022/10/writing-strategies.html, read the post, and add to the discussion. Here are the questions and my responses: 1. Do you have tips for breaking through a minor writer’s block? N/A. Mechanics, plumbers, cabinetmakers, etc. don’t get mechanic’s block or plumber’s block or cabinetmaker’s … Read more

What I and Others Teach

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Investigating Unsubs * What I and Others Teach * The Novel * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.” Reggie Leach, retired Canadian hockey player. “Do you set yourself on fire when you write? When the flame gets low, how to you make it glow again?” James Scott Bell Hmm. If you WITD, you’re just having fun, so the flame never gets low. Nor do you ever burn out. But no, I didn’t leave a comment. HS “You … Read more

Someone at Google Sucks

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Novel * Someone at Google Sucks * Of Interest Quote of the Day “The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” Isaac Asimov The Novel I’ve settled on the next novel. It will be SF, The Stirchians, the long-awaited (ha) sequel to The 13-Month Turn (description here). I offer the description because you can get The 13-Month Turn free in .mobi, .epub, or .pdf for a limited time by emailing me at harveystanbrough@outlook.com (note the new email address) or at my … Read more