CrimeReads

The Journal, Tuesday, December 11

Hey Folks, Again, nothing much to report. I do want to welcome any new subscribers. The novel still seems to be approaching the end game, but I thought the same thing around 10,000 words back. (grin) The characters continue to throw twists and turns, none of which I can foresee. It’s entertaining as all get-out, but still a little annoying when the ending seems to move two steps farther away for every step I take. There’s a lot of cycling with this one too. Whenever the characters toss in a new twist, it seems to require foreshadowing in one place … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, December 5

Hey Folks, Topic: A Realization or Epiphany Dangerous as it sounds, sometimes I feel as if I’ve been through it all as a writer. “Dangerous” because such a feeling is the surest way to stop learning and reach a plateau. Which is to say it’s the surest way to death as a writer. When we reach a plateau, a flattening-out of the attempt to keep learning, little things we’ve learned but haven’t yet tried tend to sift down through the holes and cracks in our knowledge. Without having practiced them, we forget them and have to be reminded. That’s the … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, November 29

Hey Folks, Well, yesterday was a very productive day, though not in writing. The trip to Sierra Vista took only a couple of hours. When I got back I activated my new phone, which is about the size of the flight deck on a small aircraft carrier. (grin) Then I played around with it for a little while. Afterward I read over the very valuable comments of my first reader on Nick 4 (Consequences) and applied most of them. Finally I uploaded the document to D2D, Amazon and Smashwords. It’s available at all three places for pre-ordering, and it will … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, November 21

Hey Folks, I hope each of you in America will enjoy your Thanksgiving Day tradition tomorrow. For those of you who do not live in the US, I hope you will pass a peaceful and lucrative day of your own, filled with joy and productivity. *** Time for another gentle reminder. From time to time, I hit upon a URL that’s so useful, so informative, so educational for fiction writers of all stripes, that I add it to one or more of the Writers Resources links on my main website. For a free education, please take time to visit http://harveystanbrough.com/writer-resources/. … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, November 18

Hey Folks, Glad I wrote early yesterday. Much of the rest of the day was filled with a shopping trip (an estate sale and then groceries) to Sierra Vista and then relaxing. For that reason, and because I already know the balance of the day will be filled with a major chore, I walked into the Hovel at a little after 2 this morning. Wheee! I learned from a Tatum NM (population 811 in the 2017 census) high school classmate on Facebook yesterday that our alma mater’s 8-man football team will play for the NM state championship on Saturday, November … Read more

The Journal, Friday, November 16

Hey Folks, Well, another tidbit on traditional publishing. In the fourth item in “Of Interest” today, two crime novelists are chatting (like a mutual interview). Early in that exchange, one says, “Both of us started writing our books after the 2016 election. This fall is really the first season when novels written after the election will be released….” Wow. Two years. From November 2016 through the present they were each writing one novel and waiting for it to come out. In that same amount of time, I wrote and published 16 novels, 4 novellas, and 23 short stories. The last … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, November 14

Hey Folks, Welcome to a new subcriber from Germany. I hope you’ll find something of value here. My characters will definitely wrap up the story in my 35th novel today. Somehow, 35 seems like a milestone to me. I’m not sure why. My new short-term goal now is to write at least 50 novels. We’ll see. *** I mentioned this a long while back, but if you haven’t subscribed to the newsletter from CrimeReads.com, you’re missing a bet. The focus at CrimeReads is recommending books on crime (duh), but they regularly interview writers about their process, about various genre touchstones, … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, November 8

Hey Folks, There’s a lot to explore in “Of Interest” today. I’ll begin with a new favorite quote: “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” ~ Ray Bradbury *** I have a slightly altered routine that I have to get used to. I’m leaving the writing computer in the Hovel now, hooked up to the big monitor, instead of carrying it back and forth to my office in the house. So I have to remember to carry a flash drive back and forth with me. Each day I’ll transfer the … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, June 7

Hey Folks, Well, it’s Thursday. That means I have a half-day. My wife and I decided we’d take one day off per week from walking, and we decided Thursday would be that day. That way I can start writing early and go straight through (with short breaks) instead of using an hour of that time for a walk. *** Still adjusting my way of doing things. I was determined to get up early this morning. But with the sun coming up earlier and going down later, it’s more difficult to go to bed earlier. And since we got rid of … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, June 6

Hey Folks, A very long post today. First a topic for folks who have joined the Journal recently and/or haven’t heard my speil on punctuation as a tool before. Then one of the personal tidbits some of you like. This one is a fairly brief bit on everyday life as a writer (or anyone else) in southeast Arizona. Topic: On Comma Use Recently, a major writer with whom I usually agree on most things handed out some bad information. And by bad I mean harmful. A writer commented that she doesn’t know where to place commas. The major writer advised … Read more