Reedsy

The Journal, Saturday, December 22

Hey Folks, Happy Winter Solstice yesterday. I forgot. (grin) Topic: The Importance of Paragraphs While glancing over the internet this morning for items of interest, I checked in on a blog I’d saved in my bookmarks but hadn’t looked at recently. When I save one in my bookmarks, it’s because I hope it will provide valuable, or at least valid, information. A writer posed this implied question: I have trouble trying to figure out when to begin and end paragraphs and when to have dialogue included in the paragraph and when to have it stand on its own as an … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, December 20

Hey Folks, Very strange goings on here at the Stanbrough Camp for Odd People. Two days ago, I didn’t write any fiction at all. The story was there, but I wasn’t. Yesterday, I stopped a few hundred words short of 4,000 because I just ran out of steam. My fingers were beginning to hit the wrong keys. Today, just before noon, I had 4,967 words and was NOT out of steam. Part of it’s because the story is really flowing. And the part I finished today is a novellette at 9500 words. It’s the story that wants to be a … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, December 18

Hey Folks, Wow. I stayed up to watch about 3/4 of the football game last night. It was difficult to watch the Saints pitted against both the Panthers and the referees (grin), so I finally gave up. But by then it was late. I couldn’t sleep, so I stayed up even later and didn’t roll out this morning until almost 5. Ugh. So a late start to the day. No Internet in the Hovel this morning, so I did the preliminary “Of Interest” stuff and this bit of the Journal up at the house with my first cup of coffee. … Read more

The Journal, Friday, December 14

Hey Folks, Topic: On Challenges (It’s That Time of Year) In Dean’s post today (see “Of Interest”) he’s talking about restarting his challenge on January 1 to write 10 novels in 100 days. His plan is to write 10 50,000 word novels in that time. It will “stretch” him (and hence, be a challenge) because he isn’t sure he can write 5,000 words per day consistently for 100 days. I’m considering joining him in that challenge, but with a twist. I would write 10 novels in 100 days, but probably in a particular world, so a series. Or maybe two. … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, December 13

Hey Folks, Well, the would-be novel previously (and tentatively) titled Dread is now finished and titled Situation Solved. It’s a hard-nosed police procedural mystery. It came in at 58,000 words. See the numbers below. I completed the “second draft” (spell check) in about ten minutes and it’s now winging its way through the ether to my first reader, a retired Tucson police detective. She’s also a woman, which helps since my protagonist this time around is a woman. (grin) Topic: On (My) Manners A few days ago I mentioned that when you are invited to present sessions at a writers … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, November 28

Hey Folks, This might be the earliest I’ve ever posted an edition of the Journal. Today will be a non-writing day. I wasn’t able to go to Sierra Vista yesterday, so I’m going this morning while it’s too cold for my babies to go outside and play. When I get back, in addition to setting up my new phone, I’ll return to Nick 4 for awhile. My wonderful first reader got her input back to me this morning. So I want to finalize Nick 4 and upload the finalized document to all the right places. That novel doesn’t release until … Read more

The Journal, Monday, November 19

Hey Folks, Feeling fine this morning. Also, the second book in the Nick Spalding series launched this morning. You can see the cover and read the description at http://harveystanbrough.com/transitions/. The universal link for all retailers is https://www.books2read.com/u/38r5WO. The next two books in the series will launch, respectively, on December 15 and January 15. If you (or someone you know) enjoy rich settings in action-adventure romantic-suspense novels and being immersed in the characters, you will enjoy this series. *** To the Hovel at 3 and spent the first hour+ dinging around the Internet and updating my publisher website. (Much more to … 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, Tuesday, October 30

Hey Folks, I’m a very lucky guy. The first reader for my Nick Spalding series sent me an email last night. (I got it this morning.) While reading back through Nightfall (Book 1) she noticed I’d misspelled “cannon” as “canon.” In her email, she sounded as if she were hyperventilating. (grin, but great catch, Nan) So when I emailed her back this morning, basically I just told her typos happen (yes, even in books published by the “Big 5”) and to not worry about it. It was an easy fix. Then, because the typo occurred in the first few pages … Read more