In today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* Mentorship Update
* Of Interest
Quote of the Day
“There’s no shame in failing. The only shame is not giving things your best shot.” Robin Williams
Mentorship Update
Thought I’d drop in with a mentorship update. It’s working out very well.
Thus far, I have three students. I could handle a few more students like these. Two of them are focusing on crafting Openings. The third is focusing strictly on practicing and installing Heinlein’s Rules 1-3.
All three of these students are taking a great approach. To get the most for their money, they’re focusing down on one major aspect of their writing that they want to improve. Two are focusing on craft, and one on process.
I suggest you take a look at your writing while I’m offering these. If you need help in one or more areas, consider doing an inexpensive mentorship with me.
I can help with anything from punctuation to paragraphing to pacing, narrative and dialogue, character voice, creating an interesting setting, hooking and grounding the reader and more. If you want, you may contact me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com to query about your topic(s) of interest.
Just something to think about.
Talk with you later.
Of Interest
See “‘The Sacrifice Zone’: Myanmar bears cost of green energy” at https://apnews.com/article/technology-forests-myanmar-75df22e8d7431a6757ea4a426fbde94c. Story ideas. Well, and considerable irony.
See “First-Page Critique: A Mind Trap” at https://killzoneblog.com/2022/08/first-page-critique-a-mind-trap.html. Actually, I think this first page is a really good opener.
See “How Are Books Adapted for the Screen? Two Agents Demystify the Process” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/how-are-books-adapted-for-the-screen-two-agents-demystify-the-process/.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 250 words
Writing of Blackwell Ops 8 (tentative title, novel)
Day 19… 2117 words. Total words to date…… 41729
Day 20… 2025 words. Total words to date…… 43754
Day 21… 1770 words. Total words to date…… 45524
Day 22… 3296 words. Total words to date…… 48820
Day 23… 3259 words. Total words to date…… 52079
Day 24… 2712 words. Total words to date…… 54791
Day 25… 1068 words. Total words to date…… 55859
Day 26… 1003 words. Total words to date…… 56862
Total fiction words for August……… 8042
Total fiction words for the year………… 60538
Total nonfiction words for August… 8280
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 114520
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 175058
Calendar Year 2022 Novels to Date…………………… 0
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 0
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 66
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
Disclaimer: I advocate a technique called Writing Into the Dark. I’ve never said WITD is “the only way” to write, nor will I ever. However, as I am the only writer who advocates WITD both publicly and regularly, I will continue to do so, among other topics.