In today’s Journal
▪ Thanks for all the well-wishes
▪ Topic: I’m All Done with Patreon
▪ Note: An advertisment
▪ If you enjoy great thrillers
▪ Daily diary
▪ Of Interest
▪ The numbers
As I begin the day, thank you for all the well-wishes. I appreciate it.
I’m feeling a little better each day, though I’m still sleeping more than I care to. (grin)
As I morph from ill to well, I’m also determined to catch up on some admin stuff. That includes “needing” to read through my last WIP, the final chapter or two I wrote as I was descending into a sneezing, watery-eyes, coughing pit of darkness. (Wow, Harvey, dude, dramatic much?)
I’ve known for a long time that every story writes differently, yet I’m always amazed at how differently some of them write.
For example, I’ve never “had” to do a full cycling session through an entire novel because I wasn’t certain the characters had ended the story.
I fear that maybe my descent into not feeling well caused me to call the story finished when it wasn’t. On the other hand, that “little voice” that is my subconscious keeps saying, “Yeah, it’s finished. Move on, already.” So if I find it isn’t finished, I’ll feel very much surprised.
So this will be an experiment for me, and I’m just enough of a scientist (read “curious”) that I’m always up for an experiment.
So as the last dregs of muddy-mind leave me and I engage in my first post-illness creative push, I’ll do that cycling read-through. (Part of the experiment will be to ensure that I remain a Reader, in the creative subconscious, as I do the read-through.)
Topic: I’m All Done with Patreon
I opened a Patreon account two or three years ago for two reasons:
1. Partly because I wanted to support Dean Wesley Smith in a small, recurring way for the vast array of knowledge I’ve gleaned from him over the years; and
2. Partly because I was toying with the idea of starting my own Creator account at Patreon.
Part One
I’ve learned more from DWS over the years than I’ve learned from all other professional writers in nonfiction books, workshops and blog posts combined. So the way I see it, he has earned my support.
Of course, I support him every time I purchase one of his lectures or workshops or books too, but that’s a direct exchange: value given for value received on a concentrated topic.
I also wanted to repay him for all the gems I’ve mined from his blog posts over the years. Frankly, without demeaning his books, lectures and workshops in the slightest, I’ve learned as much or more from his blog posts.
Hence the donation via Patreaon.
But this morning I shut down my Patreon account. They’re on the verge of changing their fees (again) and they just changed their terms of service again.
Then they banged the final nail into the coffin. In a “do not reply” email, they said my alternative to accepting those changes was to close my account.
The quickest way to make me do what you don’t want me to do is offer me an ultimatum.
Companies that send me Do Not Reply emails leave a bad taste in my mouth. Companies that offer “take it or leave it” terms tend to make me want to leave it.
I’ll still support Dean, but without the clearing-house middle man. I’ll send the same recurring payment directly to him via PayPal.
Part Two
As some of you know, I also decided to open my own Patronage page on my main website instead of going with Patreon. (If you haven’t visited, see https://harveystanbrough.com/be-a-patron/.)
I offer real value there in the form of rewards to those who find my stories entertaining or my nonfiction works or blog posts helpful or educational.
And I offer those rewards in my own specially talored tiers instead of bending to Patreon’s rules.
Finally, instead of going through a middle-man, those who glean value from my work can donate directly to me via PayPal or by personal check on a one-time or recurring basis.
If you enjoy my fiction or if you learn from my nonfiction books or blog posts, I encourage you to check out the rewards by clicking the link above (or the Patronage link in the menu at either HarveyStanbrough.com or HEStanbrough.com).
For a small monthly donation, you can get a lot more entertainment for your dollar and/or more quickly flatten the learning curve of your writing career.
Best of all, the money-grubbers at the Patreon clearing-house won’t get a cut for doing basically nothing.
***
Note: As long as I seem to have decended into an advertising pitch (grin), I also still offer audio lectures on several aspects of writing at https://harveystanbrough.com/lecture-series/.
And for those who want to focus on a particular aspect of their writing, I’m still open to taking on another mentorship or two. Anything from the mechanics of the language to the techniques of storytelling. To discuss a mentorship arrangement, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com.
***
If you enjoy truly great thrillers and if you like FREE, visit https://geni.us/ngnTumlinson. They aren’t all Kevin J. Tumlinson’s books, but some are and they’re all from names you’ll recognize.
***
Rolled out at 2:15 this morning and looked longingly at the coffee pot. Then I decided Nope and went back to bed for another two hours. (grin)
Came out to the Hovel by 4:30, coffee in hand, and wrote everything above. To the house at a little after 7 for a break.
Today, whatever else I accomplish, I’ll get the covers for my more recent two WIPs up on my website. Hard to believe I let things slide that far.
Back to the Hovel at 8 to begin updating the Action-Adventure page on the main website and creating new pages for Blackwell Ops 5 & 6.
I’ve also decided to make some sweeping new changes to my author website, combining my publisher website with it. I’ll do some of that today. More than likely, this (Daily Journal) website will be up for a facelift next.
I started my publisher website several years ago primarily to catch the eye of booksellers. In all that time, I’ve sold books at a discount to readers several times, but never once to a bookseller. So it’s time for a change.
I’ll also make that site more “reader” friendly and shift “writers” more over to this one. I’m looking forward to the journey.
Talk with you again tomorrow.
Of Interest
See “Fantastic Writing Advice” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/fantastic-writing-advice/.
See the comments on “Great Advice from Joe Lansdale” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/great-advice-from-joe-lansdale/#comments.
See “First Page Critique – Broken Thrones” at https://killzoneblog.com/2019/04/first-page-critique-broken-thrones.html.
See “T. S. Eliot, Crime Fiction Critic” at https://crimereads.com/t-s-eliot-crime-fiction-critic/. Fascinating.
See “We’ve Always Been Into Psychological Thrillers” at https://crimereads.com/weve-always-been-into-psychological-thrillers/. (see Erin Kelly’s website at https://erinkelly.co.uk/. She has a blog.)
Fiction Words: XXXX
Nonfiction Words: 1120 (Journal)
Total words for the day: 1120
Writing of (novel)
Day 1…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for the month……… 43669
Total fiction words for the year………… 261470
Total nonfiction words for the month… 34790
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 111860
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 373330
Calendar Year 2019 Novels to Date…………………… 6
Calendar Year 2019 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2019 Short Stories to Date… X
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 43
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 7
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 193
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31