the writing life

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, July 2

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Recap * Topic: On Writing Fiction * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quotes of the Day “It’s not Dostoevsky. It’s not going to tax your mental capacities. It’s not ahhrtt.” Judith Krantz on her writing “I’ve been absolutely dead earnest and I’ve told the story I had in hand as best as I possibly could.” Herman Wouk on his writing “I make no conscious effort to be tough, or hard-boiled, or grim, or any of the things I am usually called. I merely try to write as the … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, July 1

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Recap * Topic: On Writing This Journal and Teaching * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quote of the Day Via the Passive Voice, “People are always asking me, ‘What do you want people to say about you a hundred years from now?’ I want them to say, ‘Dang, don’t she still look good for her age?’” Dolly Parton *** Yesterday I updated my production spreadsheet to get it ready for July. Then I looked over my notes from the Pacing workshop and decided I didn’t need to view … Read more

The Daily Journal, Sunday, June 30

In today’s Journal * Recap * Topic: On Building Suspense and Creating Tension * The midpoint of the year * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Yesterday I remembered I hadn’t updated my writer website at HarveyStanbrough.com. So I added In the Cantina at Noon and Change of Plans to the Westerns page, then created new book pages for each of those. Then I added Quiet the Critical Voice to the nonfiction books page. Sometime soon I probably should create a separate book page for each of those, but for the time being prospective readers can see the … Read more

The Daily Journal, Saturday, June 29

In today’s Journal * Recap * Quiet the Critical Voice (and Write Fiction) and Change of Plans * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Yesterday I attended the Adding Suspense workshop and thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s more of an awareness workshop than anything else, bent toward teaching the writer how to study the suspense element in other works. For the workshop, DWS broke suspense down into five major elements, yet those elements are intertwined when at work in the novel. It was interesting to see how they interact (and are interdependent) on the micro level. No telling how … Read more

The Daily Journal, Friday, June 28

In today’s Journal * Thanks * Recap * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Thanks to Diane Darcy and Phillip McCollum. Both for their comments on yesterday’s post and for spreading the word about the book. Phillip actually plugged it on his blog. (grin) If any of you bought the Amazon version of Quiet the Critical Voice (and Write Fiction) and found it doesn’t have a table of contents, I’m not sure why they did that. If you email me, I’ll send you a Kindle version that DOES have a TOC. A table of contents is valuable in … Read more

The Daily Journal, Thursday, June 27

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Recap * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quote of the Day “The … published book, is not the holy grail. The story, the thing that the writer has created, is the holy grail. Before publication of any kind. Because publication is a license.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch (see “Of Interest”) KKR’s post today is nothing short of earth-shattering. Let s/he who has ears listen. *** I really thought I’d get the Critical Voice book finalized and distributed yesterday. Didn’t happen. So I’ll do that today. Had trouble finding cover … Read more

The Daily Journal, Wednesday, June 26

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Topic: I Almost2 (Squared) * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quote of the Day “All generalizations are dangerous, even this one.” Alexandre Dumas *** Topic: I Almost2 (Squared) 1. I almost tossed out the Critical Voice book this morning. After all, pretty much everything in the book flies in the face of one lie or another (DWS calls them “myths”) that writers have been taught over the years. But if you’re one of the minority who were looking forward to the book, don’t sweat it. I will publish … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, June 25

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Early wrap up * Still looking * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Quote of the Day “Truth, like light, blinds. Falsehood, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight that enhances every object.” Albert Camus (via The Passive Voice) As a guy who puts the truth in its proper perspective (lies) for a living, I really like this quote. Of course, I substituted “Fiction” for “Falsehood.” (grin) *** Yesterday I created a cover and promo doc and distributed the Sam Loredo novella, now titled Change of Plans, to D2D, … 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, Sunday, June 23

In today’s Journal * Happy Anniversary * My first readers * Daily diary * Of Interest * The numbers Happy Actual Anniversary to my wife, who’s put up with me for roughly 60 years, ever since June 23, 1984. *** I turn out so much work so often my first readers are somewhat overworked. I hope they’ll continue to provide input as they have so graciously for the past several novels, but I’m calling for backup. If any of you would like to serve as first readers, please email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. I’d like to have at least 5 or … Read more