The Journal: A Day Off and Writing Sales Copy

In today’s Journal

* Quote of the Day
* A Day Off
* Search the Journal
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Quote of the Day

“The less promise and potency in the self, the more imperative is the need for pride. The core of pride is self-rejection.” Bruce Lee

Self-esteem is at the core of the ability to trust yourself and write into the dark.

Yesterday I mostly blew off the day. I had to get labs (fasting) at 7 a.m. so I had no coffee etc. until after that. It’s only pure luck that yesterday’s Journal was coherent. Well, if it was.

After labs I enjoyed breakfast, a cigar and a large mug of coffee. Then I decided to take the day off. My wife and I went to an estate sale in Sierra Vista. Before I left I knew it was only about a 40-minute trip each way, but by the time we got back I felt as if we’d been gone for three days.

Anyway, I say I only “mostly” blew off the day. I did get first-reader input back from one first reader. I applied the fixes, then uploaded the new Book 3 to D2D, Amazon and Smashwords.

Then I prepped the template for the next novel, the FIRST in what will be the Wes Crowley: The Gap Series. And today I get to start on that story! Am I a lucky guy, or what?

Eventually I’ll return to the FOH series (probably) and I’ve felt a lot of pressure from Nick Spalding to write more in his series now that I know more about (purely fictional) time warps. So as I told him, we’ll see. And then there’s always more to write in the Blackwell Ops series.

Oh, what terrible drudgery it all is! (grin)

Search the Journal

A writer and I talked about sales copy yesterday too. But I remembered I’d recently (I thought) written a post about writing sales copy. So almost as an afterthought, I typed “writing sales copy” into the search box in the sidebar at https://hestanbrough.com (the Journal).

And voila, the post popped up. I was amazed to see that I’d posted it almost a year and a half ago. I thought it was much more recent than that.

But the point is, there’s a search box on the sidebar. If you wonder what I’ve written about a particular topic, type-in a few keywords and see what comes up. In fact, you can do the same thing at Dean’s website.

Anyway, most writers believe they can easily write book descriptions (sales copy). It’s just an extended elevator pitch, right?

Wrong. If you’re pitching to an agent or someone, chances are you’ll hit the plot points, etc.

But when you write sales copy, you want to AVOID including plot points. To learn why, read “Writing Sales Copy (Book Descriptions)” at https://hestanbrough.com/the-journal-writing-sales-copy-book-descriptions/.

Then go buy Dean’s book on the subject. (grin) It will be an invaluable go-to book for you.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “How to Break into a Library” at
https://killzoneblog.com/2021/06/how-to-break-into-a-library.html. A very informative post. Recommended. I’ll be adding this to the writers’ resources on my author site.

See “Investigating Crimes in Indian Country” at https://leelofland.com/investigating-crimes-in-indian-country/.

See “Bruce Lee on Self-Actualization and the Crucial Difference Between Pride and Self-Esteem” at https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/12/18/bruce-lee-artist-of-life-self-esteem/. Self-esteem is at the core of the ability to trust yourself and write into the dark.

See “170 Hypothetical Questions That’ll Give Your Brain a Workout” at https://parade.com/1211362/marynliles/hypothetical-questions/. Maybe some writing prompts.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 580 words

Writing of (novel)

Day 1…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX

Total fiction words for June……… 9583
Total fiction words for the year………… 464072
Total nonfiction words for June… 2760
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 108990
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 573062

Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 9
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 62
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31

Disclaimer: In this blog, I provide advice on writing fiction. I advocate a technique called Writing Into the Dark. To be crystal clear, WITD is not “the only way” to write, nor will I ever say it is. However, as I am the only writer who advocates WITD both publicly and regularly, I will continue to do so, among myriad other topics.