The Journal: A Recommendation and the New Mentorships

In today’s Journal

* Quotes of the Day
* Worked a full day
* A Recommendation
* The New Mentorships Are Live!
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Quotes of the Day

“You don’t win elections by solving problems.” Jeff, commenter on TPG blog posthttps://www.thepassivevoice.com/prh-opens-the-conversation-to-sustain-antiracist-engagement/#comment-453479

My commentary and response: “You win elections by creating problems and then promising to solve them.”

Wow. For the first time since I don’t remember  (probably a couple of months), I actually worked a full day yesterday. It felt good.

I spent most of the morning polishing the mentorship information, putting the web pages together, and writing a couple of posts to announce them. Then lunch I went to lunch, then back to school to study covers with DWS.

For various reasons, I was a couple of weeks behind on that workshop. So I watched those two weeks and took notes (and learned some), and that was the day.

A Recommendation

Before I get too far into today’s Journal, I want to make a recommendation. I’ve been meaning to mention it for some time now.

One of the most tightly written and well-acted TV series I’ve ever seen is the British drama DCI Banks. We watch it on Amazon Prime. According to the internet, it is also available on Netflix. I don’t know about other providers.

I strongly recommend it, both for sheer entertainment and as a learning tool for writers. (I’ll be watching it a second time through with a notepad in my hand.)

There are currently five seasons (if I remember correctly) with four or five two-part stories in each season. Each two-part story is based on a different novel by Crime Writers of Canada Grand Master Peter Robinson. There are currently 22 DCI Banks novels available through Amazon. According to Robinson’s website, he just released the 26th book in the series.

I haven’t read any of the novels yet, but I plan to. I mention this because the screenplays, at least, are extremely tightly written. Each tale is rich with twists and surprises.

You can read about Peter Robinson at https://inspectorbanks.com/. To see what he’s accomplished, be sure to read his About page. I was impressed.

The New Mentorships Are Live!

After a few months of putting together six new mentorship programs and thanks to recent input from a former mentoring student and from my wife, I’m finally ready to pull the trigger on them. There are six in all.

Three are writing-intensive: The Writing Craft I, The Writing Craft II, and The Writing Craft III. (Two and Three derive from One). You can see those at https://harveystanbrough.com/the-writing-craft-mentorships/. If you’ve ever seriously considered upping your game as a fiction writer, this might be the time.

The other three are non-writing but writing related: Clearing Out the Myths, Inventory and Sales, and Licensing. You can see those at https://harveystanbrough.com/non-writing-mentorships/.

In “The Gist” on each of those pages, you’ll see my rationale and experience. Farther down on each page, I wrote about the fees (and payments, if necessary); refunds; and issued a privacy and security statement.

I see these mentorships as an opportunity for me to help other writers and would-be writers benefit from what I’ve learned over a lifetime of writing and publishing.

Maybe best of all, unlike various other online lectures, workshops, seminars and classes from different sources, my mentorships are not one size fits all.

I hope you’ll take a look and let me know what you think. As always, comments and questions are welcome via email or on the Journal.

Talk with you again when I can.

Of Interest

See “Reigniting The Passion” at https://killzoneblog.com/2020/09/reigniting-the-passion.html.

See “The Simple Algorithm That Ants Use to Build Bridges” at https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-simple-algorithm-that-ants-use-to-build-bridges-20180226/. A GREAT take on Earth-bound SF aliens and their technology.

See “It’s STILL A Dark And Stormy Night…Thank Goodness” at https://killzoneblog.com/2020/09/its-still-a-dark-and-stormynight-thank-goodness.html. A little fun.

See “The Vampire Ship” (not about vampires) at https://newrepublic.com/article/159252/vampire-ship.

See “Abandoned Ellis Island” at https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ellis-island-before-restoration. Want a great Setting exercise? Have your POV character describe those settings.

See “14 Literary Magazines That Read No-Fee Submissions All Year” at https://www.authorspublish.com/14-literary-magazines-that-read-no-fee-submissions-all-year/.

See “Everyone Wants Barnes & Noble to Survive. Can It?” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/everyone-wants-barnes-noble-to-survive-can-it/.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 680 words

Writing of Body on the Beach (novel, working title)

Day 1…… 1135 words. Total words to date…… 1135
Day 1…… 1409 words. Total words to date…… 2544

Total fiction words for the month……… 7817
Total fiction words for the year………… 323100
Total nonfiction words for the month… 10080
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 147650
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 470750

Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 5
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 12
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 50
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 208
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31