the writing life

The Daily Journal, Wednesday, March 13

In today’s Journal ▪ Welcome and today in “Of Interest” ▪ Topic: What Is a Scene? ▪ Update on my challenge ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Welcome to our newest subscriber, Judy M. Thanks for coming along for the ride, Judy. Tell Ron W. I miss his tired old self. (grin) (By the way, most of my Journal entries aren’t quite as long as this one. You picked a good day to start.) Today in “Of Interest” John Gilstrap (at TKZ) talks about what constitutes a scene. He has an interesting take, and he asked readers … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, March 12

In today’s Journal ▪ Topic: Reader Taste Revisited ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Topic: Reader Taste Revisited Well, I started a minor firestorm with my offhand comment in my post “On Readers’ ‘Taste’ and Writers’ Ability” over at https://harveystanbrough.com/pro-writers/on-readers-taste…-writers-ability/. (grin) The point of the article was based on a simple but solid premise: that all fiction writers who are (or profess to be or want to be) professionals are responsible for their own work and should strive to learn how to keep readers in their stories. After all, if every unfinished reading experience can be marked … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, March 11

In today’s Journal ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Rolled out at 2 and found some amazing stuff for “Of Interest.” If you write fiction and have the means, consider signing up for Dean’s Anthology Workshop for next year. I’m a little stuck on the WIP. Somewhere along the way I lost interest in it. I’ve done this enough to know that means somewhere along the way the story veered in a wrong direction. So at 4 when I opened the file, I scrolled up to the top and started reading. I’m not even cycling. Just reading. … Read more

The Daily Journal, Sunday, March 10

In today’s Journal ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Back on schedule, at least for now. Rolled out at 2 a.m. after sacking out last night at 6. But in addition to doing what’s necessary to put out this Journal every day, I also fooled around for awhile and didn’t get to the novel until 4:30. Frankly, I’m having a little trouble writing this one too. (ATTN: WHINE ALERT!) Between the positive life roll and the Blackwell Ops books being in the back of my mind as I write, it’s slow going. (grin) I also think my … Read more

The Daily Journal, Saturday, March 9

In today’s Journal ▪ Update on my challenge ▪ On Daylight Saving Time ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers In today’s “Of Interest,” Dean Wesley Smith talks about firing up his challenge again. And again, I picked up a gem that helped me. At the moment and for the past few days, all three of my sons are visiting. I’m blessed. All are adults and successful in their own right, and each has a (very) unique personality. I love that about them, so I’m trying not to miss even a single moment of observing those personalities while … Read more

The Daily Journal, Friday, March 8

In today’s Journal ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Hmm. Not sure why the email version of the Journal didn’t go out yesterday. Thanks to Karen for letting me know. I went to MailChimp and double checked. It’s supposedly “sending,” but it verified the last one sent was on Wednesday. Anyway, you can see Thursday’s Journal at https://hestanbrough.com/the-daily-journal-thursday-march-7/. I hope you’ll check it out. There are a lot of Rolled out a little before 2 and was in the Hovel by 2. Followed my usual ritual and found little to nothing for “Of Interest.” And I got … 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, Wednesday, March 6

In today’s Journal ▪ Update on the challenge ▪ No topic today, but ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Well, I’ll either wrap up the novel today or I’ll be one (or more) days behind when I go into the next one. Actually, it’s looking pretty good. I wrote the last major climax yesterday, so we’ll see. UPDATE: One son (and I think, two) arrived after I was in bed last night. One from Indiana and one from New Mexico. There were two vehicles in the parking area this morning. So chances are very good I won’t … Read more

The Daily Journal, Tuesday, March 5

In today’s Journal ▪ Update on Pro Writers Writing ▪ An experiment ▪ Topic: Reader Taste (Revisited) ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers Well, the subscription form wasn’t working out. Each time I updated it, it disappeared. So if you’ve subscribed, please do so again. To subscribe, visit http://prowriterswriting.com and click Subscribe vis Email in the menu. We’re growing! Yesterday we added Terry Odell, and this morning we added Dawn M. Turner. *** It’s kind of hard to gauge how the experiment is going. Of course, I’m only one day in. When I’m writing, the story’s going … Read more

The Daily Journal, Monday, March 4

In today’s Journal ▪ Update on Pro Writers Writing ▪ An experiment ▪ Daily diary ▪ Of Interest ▪ The numbers The contributors to Pro Writers Writing have begun scheduling their posts. We’ll kick the site off “live” on Monday, March 18. I hope all of you will subscribe. More than likely, I’ll reference some of those posts in my Journal in the “Of Interest” section. But I won’t reference all of them. If you subscribe, you will definitely find some things that work for you but that I might have skipped over. UPDATE: Terry Odell (http://terryodell.com), whose posts I … Read more