The Daily Journal, Wednesday, March 20

In today’s Journal ▪ I’m still offering ▪ I’m also considering ▪ I’ve listed the first few ▪ The famous novelist suffering ▪ Topic: On the Need for Authenticity… ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest (a boatload of links) ▪ The numbers I’m still offering a free first-page critique, say up to 500 words or so. Send what you have as a .doc, .docx or .rtf attachment via email to harveystanbrough@gmail.com. *** I’m also considering serving as a personal writing tutor for up to three writers/students. We’ll work our way through Your manuscript, focusing on Your writing problems or weaknesses … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, March 19

In today’s Journal ▪ Dean Wesley Smith ▪ Mea culpa ▪ Catching up ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest (a boatload of links) ▪ The numbers If you missed it, do yourself a valuable favor and watch the half-hour video at https://selfpublishingadviceconference.com/how-to-write-a-novel/. Dean basically presents a masters class on writing fiction. I recommend you take notes. I did, and I also watched and listened to the video twice. It is incredible. I added this in several categories to my Writers Resources page. And for one of the most excellent and shortest posts I’ve ever seen, see “A Reminder” at https://phillipmccollum.com/a-reminder/. … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, March 18

In today’s Journal ▪ If you’re reading this ▪ Topic: The Most Important Advice I Can Give You ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest If you’re reading this, I’m still messing around down on the Gila. I’ll be back “live” tomorrow. The topic below is a repeat from the big blog over on HarveyStanbrough.com and it might have appeared here in the Journal earlier too. But it bears repeating. Topic: The Most Important Advice I Can Give You About Writing, Editing and Publishing (Seriously) This post might have as easily been titled “What I Wish I’d Known When I Started … Read more

The Daily Journal, Sunday, March 17

In today’s Journal ▪ I’m on the road ▪ Topic: Critical Reading Plus ▪ Of Interest Today I’m somewhere in southwest New Mexico braving the absolute beauty of nature. I’m probably poised some 500 feet above the roaring Gila River in the Lower Gila Box Wilderness. The makeshift campsite is around 20 miles as the hawk flies north-northwest of Lordsburg and there’s a probably 10,000 year old pueblocito about a half-minute walk from the camp. I wish all of you could see it, especially if you write westerns or SF. I even placed one detective/crime novel there, and my friend … Read more

The Daily Journal, Saturday, March 16

In today’s Journal ▪ Repeating a reminder… ProWritersWriting blog ▪ Topic: On Character and Setting ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers I thought I’d repeat this reminder… the PWW blog goes live on March 18. I believe this will be a valuable new resource. If you subscribed to http://prowriterswriting.com through a “form” on the website in the early days, you need to subscribe again. I got rid of the form and that subscription service. Now you only have to click a link in the menu at the website. If you want to subscribe via RSS, you can … Read more

The Daily Journal, Friday, March 15

In today’s Journal ▪ New release and this morning ▪ Just a reminder… ProWritersWriting blog ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Blackwell Ops 2: Charles Claymore Task released this morning, so I uploaded it to BundleRabbit. This morning I’ll put together a few blog posts for Sunday through Tuesday (just in case). Then while I’m gone it will be just like I’m here except the fiction numbers below won’t change over those 2 or 3 days. But they should take a nice leap when I get back. *** Just a reminder… the PWW blog goes live on … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, March 14

In today’s Journal ▪ Quote of the day ▪ Update on admin stuff ▪ Topic: Four Harsh Truths ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers “You only fail if you stop writing.” Ray Bradbury *** Well, I got my main author website up to date yesterday. And I got Blackwell Ops 4: Melanie Sloan uploaded for advance orders. It will release officially on April 15. The universal link is https://books2read.com/u/4NZxYz, but it’s currently available only in a few stores. (It takes a few days to get into all the stores.) The publisher website is going to take a … Read more

The Daily Journal, Wednesday, March 13

In today’s Journal ▪ Welcome and today in “Of Interest” ▪ Topic: What Is a Scene? ▪ Update on my challenge ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Welcome to our newest subscriber, Judy M. Thanks for coming along for the ride, Judy. Tell Ron W. I miss his tired old self. (grin) (By the way, most of my Journal entries aren’t quite as long as this one. You picked a good day to start.) Today in “Of Interest” John Gilstrap (at TKZ) talks about what constitutes a scene. He has an interesting take, and he asked readers … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, March 12

In today’s Journal ▪ Topic: Reader Taste Revisited ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Topic: Reader Taste Revisited Well, I started a minor firestorm with my offhand comment in my post “On Readers’ ‘Taste’ and Writers’ Ability” over at https://harveystanbrough.com/pro-writers/on-readers-taste…-writers-ability/. (grin) The point of the article was based on a simple but solid premise: that all fiction writers who are (or profess to be or want to be) professionals are responsible for their own work and should strive to learn how to keep readers in their stories. After all, if every unfinished reading experience can be marked … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, March 11

In today’s Journal ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Rolled out at 2 and found some amazing stuff for “Of Interest.” If you write fiction and have the means, consider signing up for Dean’s Anthology Workshop for next year. I’m a little stuck on the WIP. Somewhere along the way I lost interest in it. I’ve done this enough to know that means somewhere along the way the story veered in a wrong direction. So at 4 when I opened the file, I scrolled up to the top and started reading. I’m not even cycling. Just reading. … Read more