the writing life

The Journal, Sunday, 7/9

Hey Folks, Doing very little thus far this morning but relaxing my way into the day. And did very little the rest of the day so far too. Puttered around outside, a little yard work, a little more on the Hovel, some automotive stuff. The highlight was a trip to the store for tea and locking gas caps. (Hey. There’s a title for you. “Tea and Locking Gas Caps.) Today, and Writing Nothing today. Unless a plane lands on my house tonight and I’m in it (plane or house) I’ll be writing fiction tomorrow. Probably all day. See you then. … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, 7/8

Hey Folks, Basically just a placeholder post today. The Hovel’s back in shape. I’ll be moving out there to write pretty soon, though probably not today. It’s Saturday, so…. Maybe I’ll do some cleaning out there, get it ready. Be glad when this dam breaks. In the meantime, I have a couple other personal adjustments to make too. I won’t bore you with details on those. Just habits to break and habits to assume. Oh, about yesterday’s topic. Hey, if you prefer reading books in the paper edition, good. Enjoy. I was only trying to dispel some longstanding misconceptions. Today, … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 7/7

Hey Folks, Long post today. Sorry about that. But I think you’ll like most of it. I’ve been a bit remiss in not mentioning another bundle that contains one of DWS’ SF books. The Sci-Fi July Fever Fun bundle is on sale at https://bundlerabbit.com/b/sci-fi-july/. I’m not in this one, but if you enjoy great SF, it’s bound to please. Topic: “Real” Books vs. Ebooks On my Facebook pages, I recently announced the BundleRabbit bundle (Guns of the West) that includes two of my books, two of DWS’ books, and one each by five other writers. (You can see it at … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, 7/6

Hey Folks, Topic: On Original Thought Know what? Anyone who wants to be a writer should strive, every day, to have at least one original thought. On politics, religion, social hot buttons, or whatever. To become a successful writer — by which I mean a writer who turns out work regularly and that work is regularly sold and read — the writer should strive ALL day every day to have original thoughts. If you’re mimicking the sound bites that pass for news and social repartéé — well, good for you. But chances are, you won’t be successful, or not as … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, 7/2

Hey Folks, I always hate registering a zero for fiction writing for the first day of the month. But it is what it is. I didn’t clear the decks quite well enough to approach my much-touted WIP challenge in July. My wife’s birthday and vacation are both this month, and my son recently moved to Arizona, so visits will ensue. I’ll get back to the challenge sometime in the future. No rush. For now I’m going to not think about challenges other than the ongoing novel-a-month thing and just get back to writing. Yesterday, ideas were lining up outside my … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, 7/1

Hey Folks, Okay. The roller coaster continues. Maybe I’ll start the challenge today, and maybe I won’t. I’ll know by the end of the day. Or maybe I need to adjust the challenge. I don’t know. Again, I hope I’ll know by the end of the day Enjoying a visit with my youngest son, his wife, and three grandsons this morning. Today, and Writing No writing today. See you tomorrow. Of Interest Via the Passive Guy, see “The Opening as Part of the Closing … of the Deal” at https://killzoneblog.com/2017/03/the-opening-as-part-of-the-closing-of-the-deal.html. This is a really great article. You might also bookmark … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 6/30

Hey Folks, Yay! The last day of what turned out to be a major transition month for me. At least as far as life and websites go. This morning I realized there’s a glitch in my challenge plans. The challenge is to write a short story every day “in public,” meaning I’ll post it scene by scene over at hstanbrough.com. But sometimes a story grows into a novel. I usually recognize a budding novel at around the two-thirds point of a story. Last month, in only 8 stories, two also wanted to be novels. That made me wonder, for a … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, 6/28

Hey Folks, Well, frankly I was too tired to keep going yesterday. I didn’t upload stuff to BundleRabbit, and I didn’t update my novel-novella page and my short fiction page on my website. So probably one more nonwriting day today. I’m getting a lot of “writing related” stuff done, but I’m not writing. Writing is putting new (fiction) words on paper. Ah well. Either way it should be a banner July. Guess we’ll see. *** Had a guy unsubscribe today from the big blog. I wouldn’t mention it but he listed the reason as “Did not sign up for list.” … Read more

The Journal, Tuesday, 6/27

Hey Folks, Wow, there sure are a lot of blank spaces on my spreadsheet where there should be fiction numbers. I don’t imagine that bothers you a lot since they’re my goose eggs and not yours. But just in case, I can promise you they’re going to change pretty soon. (grin) Probably in a big way. What follows is a bit of personal rambling, which is why it isn’t preceded by the word “topic.” I might have mentioned here before an old Marine Corps acquaintance of mine. I won’t mention his name here. It wouldn’t mean anything to you, and … Read more

The Journal, Monday, 6/26

Hey Folks, Wow. I could post this right now and chances are you’d find value in it. Just check out today’s “Of Interest” to see what I mean. There’s a lot there. *** By the way, I requested and received a “free website critique” of my main website from Nate Hoffelder. In a word, the guy’s legit. He’s also super helpful. My website doesn’t suck, but (to continue the analogy) he pointed out a few places where vacuum leaks exist or are forming. So I’ll take care of those over the next week or so. So once again I encourage … Read more