The Daily Journal, Wednesday, February 13

In today’s Journal ▪ Draft2Digital ▪ Behind the scenes: an announcement ▪ Crime Writer Sue Coletta ▪ The daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Draft2Digital, the ebook distributor where you can also create print books, has a new refer-a-friend royalty program. At least it’s new to me. Basically, if someone opens a new account at Draft2Digital and uses my link — https://www.draft2digital.com/referHS — I earn 10% of D2D’s royalty share (not yours) for the next two years. As you know, I’ve been recommending D2D as a distributor for the past couple of years. So if you haven’t joined … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, February 12

In today’s Journal ▪ The WIP ▪ The daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Weird. As I close in on the end of the WIP (I don’t know what the end will be and it’s probably still some 20,000 words in the future) I seem to be writing it in spurts. Again, every book writes differently, but this is a huge difference for me. It seems every time I sit down my fingers fly over the keyboard. Yet at the end of the day I have fewer words done than I expected. It’s true that I’ve absented myself … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, February 7

Hey Folks, In today’s Journal ▪ Dean’s Kickstarter funded ▪ One more note on first readers ▪ The daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Wow. Dean’s Kickstarter funded (for about an hour before one guy pulled out). But he’s honoring both stretch goals anyway. That’s the kind of guy he is. So everyone who pledged at any amount gets all the rewards he offered in the Kickstarter stretch goals. Very cool. This is just one more reason I try to support him in his endeavors. *** One commenter on yesterday’s post mentioned that some folks (especially readers of … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, February 4

Hey Folks, In today’s Journal ▪ An opportunity for a free writing webinar ▪ Topic: Ramblings on a Minor Crisis ▪ The daily diary ▪ A LOT in Of Interest ▪ The numbers According to the latest Reedsy newsletter, there’s a new live webinar this Wednesday (Bebruary 6) at 2 p.m. eastern time. Ann Leslie Tuttle, who “spent over 20 years as an editor at Harlequin, the world’s leading publisher of romance,” will present “What Makes the Perfect Romance.” For more information or to register, visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/what-makes-the-perfect-romance-registration-55070670859. Did I say it’s free? *** Topic: Ramblings on a Minor Crisis Yesterday … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, January 31

Hey Folks, Probably my best day of writing fiction ever. (grin) Today we have an absolute must-read as the first item in “Of Interest.” Read it a few times, even. Be sure you understand it. Especially you younger writers who have the potential for a long-term (20+ years). Plus there’s a lot more in “Of Interest” and a short topic today. Today is a built-in short day for me (ends around noon) so I’m in the Hovel early today. Topic: Writing in Challenges and What’s Truly “Special” Be sure to see Dean’s new challenge (the second item in “Of Interest”). … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, January 29

Hey Folks, A rather troubling topic today, one of those things for which, before you pick it up, you should pull on a pair of latex gloves. And so much in “Of Interest” that I almost want to apologize. A thought struck me last night. Things are looking good so far for the challenge. I’m almost certain to finish this one before February 4, putting me ahead of schedule once again and keeping spare days in the safe. *** Topic: Crap, This Is All About Racism and (Other Forms of) Prejudice Racism, bias and prejudice, whether intentional or subconscious, run … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, January 24

Hey Folks, I think a lot of you didn’t receive the Journal yesterday. My apologies. A glitch in the system. I hope now it’s been corrected. There’s a topic in yesterday’s post (“Speaking of Challenges and Goals”) as well as some great stuff in “Of Interest.” If you want to see it, please visit https://hestanbrough.com/the-daily-journal-wednesday-january-23/. At least for Phillip McCollum’s post in “Of Interest.” Since I was involved in cleaning up that mess, I also added a new RSS feed from from Pro Writer Blog to the left sidebar of the Journal. If you aren’t subscribed to Pro Writer Blog … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, January 22

Hey Folks, First, thanks to my new donor and the first person to take advantage of my Patronage program. Thanks, Scott T! This morning during my wake-up period, I remembered a friend wrote me recently to request a “Search this site” feature on my website. She wanted to see whether I’d talked about Digital Rights Management, but didn’t find it in the tag cloud at the bottom of the site or anywhere else. That request served initially as a catalyst for my brief topic on DRM a couple of days ago. This morning, I added a search feature to both … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, January 17

Hey Folks, Oof. Rough night. The moon was big outside I guess, seeping through and around the venetian blinds that cover all our windows. So the ladies (our two cats) played tag all night. Most often the tag consisted of the tagger pouncing unnannounced and landing on the taggee as if dropped from six feet up. And most often it occurred right next to my midsection. When I am jarred awake, I usually can’t get back to sleep for an hour or so, and last night was no different. So I think I got maybe 4 hours of sleep last … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, January 14

Hey Folks, In today’s “Of Interest” DWS talks about trusting your character(s). As usual, he’s spot-on, and with a very timely post. And there’s an absolute must-read from The Kill Zone blog. Enjoy. Topic: Averting a Conscious-Mind Attack Yesterday, in addition to what I wrote and reported here, I also took a wrong turn in the story and wrote 560 words that I didn’t report. How did I know it was a wrong turn? Because the writing began to trudge along. I’d write a sentence, then stop. Then I’d think “Just write the next sentence,” and I did. And then … Read more