The Journal: A Trip, Feedburner, Refreshers and Hemingway

In today’s Journal

* Quote of the Day
* Coming up on a trip
* Note from and about Feedburner
* Refreshers?
* Ernest Hemingway
* The novel’s still unfolding
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Quote of the Day

“It’s none of their business that you have to learn how to write. Let them think you were born that way.” Ernest Hemingway

Coming up on a necessary trip to New Mexico. I probably will write while I’m gone, unless the current novel wraps before we leave, although probably I will be heavily prompted to consider the time a brief vacation. But either way, I might or might not update the Journal during that few days. Just so you know.

Note: This will not affect most of you, but Feedburner (owned by Google) is changing their platform. I don’t know how to jump through all the hoops they require me to jump through to fix this, and I have zero inclination to learn, so I’m not going to.

Most of you are subscribed to receive this Journal every morning at 10 a.m. Pacific (Arizona time) via MailChimp. You’ll be fine and you’ll continue to receive the Journal as usual.

If any of you are subscribed via Feedburner, you might want to unsubscribe from that and re-subscribe through the hosted signup form on the site at https://hestanbrough.com.

All you have to do is click Subscribe in the menu, then fill out your information. Thanks, and on behalf of megalomith Google, sorry for any inconvenience. After that we should be okay until Google buys MailChimp.

I’ve heard a few times over the past few days that my recent topics are “refreshers.” Hmm. I thought they were completely original pieces that might shed light on some things some of you haven’t considered. If they’re only refreshers and you already knew the information, I’m kind’a wasting my time writing them.

If any of you have any topics you’d like me to talk about or explain here, or maybe something you heard from some faux writing instructor who “can’t explain it but I know it when I see it,” email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. Gracias.

There’s an article in today’s “Of Interest” titled “Why do we still care about Ernest Hemingway?”

Whatever you think about the article, do yourself the favor of reading PG’s take. I personally agree wholeheartedly. The comments are pretty good too. And to answer the question posed by the title: Um, because he was (and remains, in my opinion, along with Stephen King) the master.

If you’re a writer, regardless of your political or personal opinions or beliefs, you can learn a ton about writing by reading Hemingway’s works. When we slip off the writing to talk about the personality and personal foibles of ANY writer, especially compared with social values of a different time, we miss the point as writers. Back in the old days we would say such a writer was cutting off his nose to spite his face. There’s a lot of that going on these days.

I had a less-than-good day of writing yesterday. I wrote in fits and starts (I think I let thoughts of wrapping the story creep in) and ended up with a less-productive day than usual. However, the novel is running again now.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “Why do we still care about Ernest Hemingway?” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/why-do-we-still-care-about-ernest-hemingway/.

See “Scamming Nigerian Funds to Build Your Time Machine” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/04/scamming-nigerian-funds-to-build-your-time-machine.html. With my personal apologies to Nigerians who do not attempt to scam people.

See “60 Commonly Misspelled Sound-Alike Words” at https://jodierennerediting.blogspot.com/2021/04/those-dang-homonyms-commonly-misspelled.html.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 590 words

Writing of Terra 2 (novel)

Day 10… 3272 words. Total words to date…… 33824
Day 11… 3439 words. Total words to date…… 37263
Day 12… 4266 words. Total words to date…… 41529
Day 13… 4449 words. Total words to date…… 45978
Day 14… 2757 words. Total words to date…… 48735

Total fiction words for April……… 48735
Total fiction words for the year………… 335812
Total nonfiction words for April… 9440
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 76840
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 412652

Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 6
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 60
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.