Cycling

The Journal, Wednesday, May 16

Hey Folks, First session today, I hit only a little over 1200 words. If I didn’t have an edit to do, I might finish my WIP today, but I think I’ll stick to the schedule of switching from one to the other. One problem with writing my own stuff while I’m editing for someone else is that I’m tempted to stay in the chair longer than I should when I’m writing. I feel pressured (a little) to get as much writing done as I can. That was the case this morning. This morning I got to the Hovel at 8:30 … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, May 12

Hey Folks, Okay, first, a happy Mother’s Day (tomorrow) to all the moms out there. I hope it’s a great day for you. Well, it’s getting too hot in the afternoon even to write out in the Hovel, so adjustments are coming. For those new to the Journal, the Hovel is a rammed-earth structure, basically a cave, with walls that are three feet thick. I have a box fan out there right now, and I bought a portable swamp cooler that works too, though I have no ready source of water out there for it. But both are noisy enough … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, May 6

Hey Folks, Just nothing happening yesterday. Went to bed late, got up late, no writing, so a day off and no Journal. This morning I rolled out late too. Got out to the Hovel at around 8:30, and played a few games of spider. Then a name popped into my head. Ronald Jackson. Just a name and an image of a guy in a suit about to walk through his front door into his house. I opened the novel, typed in Ronald Jackson, and kept typing. With one short break, by 11:40 I’d written “Excesses,” the next short story in … Read more

The Journal, Friday, May 4

Hey Folks, Draft2Digital, the distributor through which I distribute most of my books, is hosting a FREE webinar on May 10 on Marketing. This should be great advice for marketing both ebooks and paper books. It will be presented by Kevin Tumlinson, who’s a best-selling author in his own right and the marketing director for D2D. I urge you to sign up (registration is required for attendance) and attend. To register for your free ticket(s), click https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-to-create-a-proper-marketing-plan-for-your-next-book-tickets-45685445397. *** I’ve decided to retitle The Storytellers. It’s, uh… evolved. In a play on the syllable count in the song title “Like Desperados … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, April 22

Hey Folks, Well, I’m posting this very early today. The sun has almost come up. (grin) Today will be a non-writing day, but some good items in “Of Interest” below. After a very short night of sleep, I still managed to get out to the Hovel early, as I’d hoped I would. I continued the current story/chapter, then hit a snag and cycled back to repair it. That took me almost to the beginning of that chapter, so I settled in and read through the whole thing, still cycling. I added a few hundred words, but not enough to count … Read more

The Journal, Friday, April 20

Hey Folks, Wow. I have to admire Dean’s tenacity. He started a challenge to write 30 stories in 30 days while moving. But also, his wife, friend and life partner is physically hundreds of miles away. Even with the availability of phone calls and emails, not having the energy of that physical presence around has to be a trauma. Plus he’s giving up a beautiful home he’s lived in for a very long time. That’s a major trauma. Plus his responsibilities at WMG Publishing, and the workshops, and the emails etc. etc. ad nauseam. And on top of all that, … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, April 19

Hey Folks, Another very long post today. Get your beverage, settle in and enjoy. Way back on January 7, I started a story called “The Storytellers.” On the first trip to the Hovel this morning, I happened across it while looking for Versailles. An idea occurred to me last night, and I was going to apply it this morning. Remember yesterday I mentioned I wished I could work on both of them (Versailles and Pulp 9) back and forth? Be careful what you wish for. Curious, I opened “The Storytellers” and glanced over it. As I read, naturally, I did … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, April 11

Hey Folks, Sorry I took off yesterday from posting the Journal. The first day of a copyedit is always the most difficult with the most concentrated effort. As a result, I totally spaced posting an edition of the Journal. So to today… Well, I’m writing again. The current copyedit is a long one. It will probably take me the better part of two weeks, and I didn’t want to go that long without writing. In fact, on my recent two and a half-day camping trip, I was already jonesing to write on the morning of the second day. So this … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, March 31

Hey Folks, I jumped ahead a bit and published my latest last night, distributing it via Draft2Digital. Then I sent the Kindle file to my donors and to a few relatives who’ve shown an interest. This morning I sent it to Amazon and BundleRabbit. Finally, I created a new page for the book at HarveyStanbrough.com and then updated the Mystery Novels page on the same site. Then I did the same thing over at StoneThreadPublishing.com. So a lot of admin stuff this morning thus far. I expect to get back to the new WIP sometime today. But it’s the weekend, … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, March 29

Hey Folks, A lot of good links included today. The learning truly never ends. I started the morning per usual, cycling back over what I wrote yesterday. As I went, I realized I’d left some sensory detail out of a few scenes at the beginning of chapters. That “grounding the reader” thing. It’s important. So why do I have to do that while cycling? Well, I don’t always. Most of the time I remember to ground the reader at the beginning of each major scene and chapter as I’m writing it. But that’s the value of cycling. Of being “unstuck … Read more