Search Results for: opening

The Journal, Wednesday, 7/5

Hey Folks, If you like good westerns, two of my books are currently in the Guns of the West Bundle. Dean Wesley Smith also has two books in this bundle, plus there are books by 5 other writers. This is an excellent opportunity to get 9 amazing tales of the wild west for one low price. Visit https://bundlerabbit.com/b/guns-west/. Okay, I’ve mentioned a time or two a couple of other writers who currently have ongoing “writing in public” challenges. To watch their challenges unfold and support their efforts, visit these websites: Linda Maye Adams at http://lindamayeadams.com/. Christopher Ridge at https://creaturecritter.blogspot.com/. Topic: … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, 7/4

Hey Folks, In addition to being Independence Day, today is the birth date of the most important person in the world to me. My wife, Mona Gay Griffith Stanbrough (who much prefers to remain anonymous), was born on this date roughly 39 years ago. (grin) Happy birthday, sweetheart. Wow. Yesterday, not five minutes after I posted this Journal, I ran across this quote from The Passive Voice: “Sometimes it’s important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it’s essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists … Read more

The Journal, Monday, 7/3

Hey Folks, Happy July 4th tomorrow. More importantly, happy Independence Day. Well, I’m officially in a slump right now. (I know. Duh!) I wrote four openings today, and I wasn’t excited about any of them from the first word to the last. Every one of them dwindled and died, and what’s worse, I didn’t care. I’m not counting the words. I know better than to think I don’t want to write anymore or I don’t have anymore stories to tell or any silliness like that. But I am definitely in a slump. Maybe this is the “writer’s crash” Dean talks … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, 7/1

Hey Folks, Okay. The roller coaster continues. Maybe I’ll start the challenge today, and maybe I won’t. I’ll know by the end of the day. Or maybe I need to adjust the challenge. I don’t know. Again, I hope I’ll know by the end of the day Enjoying a visit with my youngest son, his wife, and three grandsons this morning. Today, and Writing No writing today. See you tomorrow. Of Interest Via the Passive Guy, see “The Opening as Part of the Closing … of the Deal” at https://killzoneblog.com/2017/03/the-opening-as-part-of-the-closing-of-the-deal.html. This is a really great article. You might also bookmark … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 6/30

Hey Folks, Yay! The last day of what turned out to be a major transition month for me. At least as far as life and websites go. This morning I realized there’s a glitch in my challenge plans. The challenge is to write a short story every day “in public,” meaning I’ll post it scene by scene over at hstanbrough.com. But sometimes a story grows into a novel. I usually recognize a budding novel at around the two-thirds point of a story. Last month, in only 8 stories, two also wanted to be novels. That made me wonder, for a … Read more

The Journal, Monday, 6/26

Hey Folks, Wow. I could post this right now and chances are you’d find value in it. Just check out today’s “Of Interest” to see what I mean. There’s a lot there. *** By the way, I requested and received a “free website critique” of my main website from Nate Hoffelder. In a word, the guy’s legit. He’s also super helpful. My website doesn’t suck, but (to continue the analogy) he pointed out a few places where vacuum leaks exist or are forming. So I’ll take care of those over the next week or so. So once again I encourage … Read more