M. Byerly

The Journal, Monday, September 30

In today’s Journal * Today, I hope * Unfortunately * Of Interest * The Numbers Today I hope to read my novel/novella and recognize what it is. I say “recognize” because this will be a subconscious reading and recognition (or not). Either way, I won’t evoke the conscious mind to “decide” what to do next. Not my job. If you don’t understand the difference, email me and I’ll try to explain further. Awhile back I wrote and published (right here in a series of topics first) what I commonly call The Critical Voice Book: Quiet the Critical Voice (and Write … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, August 13

In today’s Journal * Topic: More on (My) Priorities * More Mentoring Options Now Available * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Topic: More on (My) Priorities Yesterday I talked about priorities. My own priorities lately are shifting. I recently realized, for a few months now my number one priority has been this Journal. (If you don’t believe that, look back over how many topics I’ve written in the past few months.) Writing fiction slipped to being my second priority. At about the same time, writing fiction also got tangled up with learning about licensing, and to a … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, August 5

In today’s Journal * Topic: Which Brass Ring to Grab? * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Topic: Which Brass Ring to Grab? An Allegory When you decide to learn the craft of writing (or any other craft, really), it’s like being set at the edge of a wilderness that’s steeped in a forbidding haze. To either side are a million other aspirants, all wanting the same thing, all eager to become Real Writers. From either side, you hear a million advisers say to their charges, “The journey might take years. But if you want to excel at … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, July 30

In today’s Journal * I almost * Topic: A Good Problem to Have (and More on My Process) * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers I almost gave you another two-fer of topics today. At the last moment, I decided to save one for tomorrow. I think the recent surge of topics is a result of my having been away from fiction writing for so long. I think my subconscious wants so much to play that it keeps coming up with topics, which I then write on the spot and post here. (grin) So today, “A Good Problem … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, June 24

In today’s Journal * Of particular importance * Topic: Brief, Grouchy Thoughts on Publishing * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers In her June 22 post on PWW, Michaele Lockhart wrote about the importance of word choice. It was an excellent post, one that I thought would serve as a catalyst for dozens of comments. It did not. Early this morning, I realized why. Word choice is a topic about which any group of craft-wise and craft-serious writers could talk for days—or weeks—on end and never say the same thing twice. So I left a comment on the … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, April 23

In today’s Journal ▪ Pro Writers Writing blog ▪ Topic: You Have a Choice ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Well, for the second day in a row the post at PWW didn’t go out via MailChimp as it was supposed to. As a result, I deactivated the “missed-post trigger” plug-in that obviously isn’t working and activated another one. I also went into MailChimp and re-set the posting time to 9 a.m. So we’ll see. UPDATE: The PWW post went out! Woohoo! I’ll leave the posting time at 9. Wouldn’t want to upset anything. In the meantime, … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, April 16

In today’s Journal ▪ We’re a strange lot ▪ Topic: Mentoring (or Not), A Cautionary Tale ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers We’re a strange lot, we humans. I left work and turned on the television yesterday, then flipped through news channels (all of the “biggies” as well as a few lesser-knowns) for coverage of the Notre Dame tragedy. There was good coverage for about an hour, complete with all the drama of disbelieving news anchors, trembling in their chairs as they guided on-scene witnesses through first-hand accounts of what was happening at the moment. Then news … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, April 9

In today’s Journal ▪ Today I’ll start ▪ Topic: The New World of Publishing ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest (a LOT of links) ▪ The numbers Today I’ll start that new novel. I’ve had four days away from fiction writing, and frankly, I’m jonesing for it. Or as my wife put it, “Honey, you’re getting grouchy.” (grin) I thought I’d start writing again yesterday, but I wasn’t ready. Instead I spent a lot of quiet time with Jim Glaser and thought about the recent visit with my old friend and did some other things to slowly move myself back … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, March 7

In today’s Journal ▪ Daily diary and challenge stuff ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Rolled out at 3 this morning, per my internal clock. So far it’s a great but slow morning. One of my first readers read Blackwell Ops last night and responded already. Very fast. I applied his corrections and one suggestion. Then I completed a quick first-page critique for another writer and got that sent off. (I do still offer a free critique of up to about the first 500 words of your WIP, if anyone’s interested. Just email me.) After that I read a lot … 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