DeanWesleySmith.com

Today’s Journal, My Writing, and Subscriptions

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Today’s Journal * My Writing * Subscriptions * Of Interest Quote of the Day “Ehh, good enough.” Mediocretes (from a meme a friend sent me) Today’s Journal First, a personal note: Happy Birthday to my youngest son, Roy, who turns 37 years old today. I’m shaking my head, wondering where the time’s gone. The first three items in “Of Interest” are all from Jane Friedman’s blog digest. The first two repeat some things I’ve been teaching for years. But they say those things in a different way, and in the first … 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

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

I Celebrate Beginnings, But I Mourn Endings

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Today or Tomorrow * Topic: I Celebrate Beginnings, But I Mourn Endings * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “You never learn by turning around and going backwards. Learning in writing is practice, working on the next new story and applying the knowledge your creative voice has gained from the last stories.” Dean Wesley Smith “Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.” Janis Joplin Today or Tomorrow Over the past three days, I’ve managed to lose two subscribers. One was with us for only a month. The other, since January … Read more

Yes, Whatever Works For You Is Fine

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The Novel * Topic: Yes, Whatever Works For You Is Fine * Of Interest The Novel As you can see from the numbers below, yesterday was not a good writing day. It was barely a writing day at all. We had a great visit with our son, though, so no biggie. I’m also notorious for slowing my writing toward the end of a novel because I hate to see it end. But last night I realized I’ve been pressuring myself too, and that’s just stupid. Because I felt I was closing … Read more

The Invaluable Daily Word Count Goal

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Novel * Topic: The Invaluable Daily Word Count Goal * Of Interest Quote of the Day “Do you have a rough idea what the novels will be?” comment on Dean’s post from yesterday “No clue. I’ll write what strikes me when I sit down on the first day. That’s as much planning as I ever do.” Dean Wesley Smith The Novel Welp, the story didn’t wrap yesterday, and here we are in a brand new month and a brand new quarter. This day has never happened before, so we can … Read more

Challenge Time?

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The Novel * Topic: Challenge Time? * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “So [my] new challenge, starting October 1st, is two novels a month for the last three months of the year.” Dean Wesley Smith Ahem. I’d like to note for the record, I set my adjusted goal for the rest of this year before I read what you see above in Dean’s post for today. (grin) “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” Truman Capote (born on this date, 1924) “New robotic drug capsule drills through mucus … Read more

Why Do You Want to Write?

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Why Do You Want to Write? * Stephen King (Again) * Of Interest Quote of the Day “If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.” John D. Rockefeller Why Do You Want to Write? Today over at the KillZone Blog, Garry Rodgers asks, “Why do you want to write?” My response: Sheer, unabashed, unapologetic escapism. My characters live in a world in which I wish I lived too. And I can, but only as I’m running through the … Read more

Two Fiction Writers

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * JA Konrath * Stephen King * Google Translate * Of Interest Quotes of the Day “Three months until the end of the year. You can get a lot of writing done in three months.” Dean Wesley Smith “[I]f you had a bad summer, fell off your goal for the year, whatever, reset your goal and when you get to January 1st, you will be feeling positive.” Dean Wesley Smith “The past is always tense, the future perfect.” Zadie Smith Fiction Writer JA Konrath This guy is special. He’s a very prolific … Read more