The Journal, Friday, 6/16

Hey Folks, I’m adding this note late: I’ve decided to serialize my novella, Jobs Like That, over on the Writing in Public website at http://hstanbrough.com. If you’d like to receive an email each time a new installment is posted, drop by there and sign up for a free subscription. This thing is heavy on detail and grounding the reader in the scene. For genres, it’s heavy on action-adventure with a considerable chunk of romance tossed in. … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, 6/14

Hey Folks, I keep feeling like I need to take a day to create covers and promo docs for the last nine short stories I wrote. Then I need to distribute them and ship them off to BundleRabbit. I’m ever aware that each day I wait is a day that story isn’t able to accumulate sales. Usually I do all that stuff as I go, often the same day I write the story. But in the … Read more

The Journal, Wednesday, 6/7

Hey Folks, Not a lot to report today. Topic: Day 7 of the Challenge Well, the challenge is rolling along. I feel like I’m settling into this thing. By that I mean I’m not frantic, “worrying” about coming up with story ideas, etc. The conscious, critical mind repeatedly attacks in various ways. But once I recognize it for what it is and set it aside, I’m able to get back to writing. Today’s story went really … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, 6/4

Hey Folks, Topic: Grounding the Reader Mistakenly thinking I was asking for story ideas (a mistake I invoked by saying a few days ago I was “gathering ideas”), a friend sent me this: “Ralph pulled hard on the paddles fighting the current to pass through the water funneling between boulders. A bullet plowed into the rock directly in front of him as the blast of a high-powered rifle reached him.” When I explained I wasn’t really … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 6/2

Hey Folks, Wow. It’s really odd how, with this challenge, I go from chock full of self-confidence to being a scared little rabbit-like creature. (grin) That made me think I should use the Journal for this month to record a series of topics on this experience. If you read them, no matter how accomplished you are, chances are you’ll learn something that will help in your own writing. So here goes… Topic: Day Two of the … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, 6/1

Hey Folks, Journal entries might be sparse here during this month. I kicked off the challenge this morning at around 5 a.m. by posting the first scene of the first story. Woohoo! You can see it (and others by the time you get this) at https://www.facebook.com/HarveyStanbroughWritingInPublic/. You can also see the whole story in the right sequence by clicking http://harveystanbrough.com/the-june-challenge/. In the “Writing Of” section below, short stories for June will be numbered for now (unless … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 5/26

Hey Folks, Well, the good news is, barring any major tragedies, I’ll finish the novel this month. The sort-of bad news is that I know the ending already. I hadn’t created a reverse outline for it yet, so I started the day by doing that. But as I developed the reverse outline, the storyline became clearer than it usually is at this point. And the ending stood up and waved at me. Did I use that … Read more

The Journal, Monday, 5/22

Hey Folks, During my morning reading, I hit upon an article titled “A Publisher Tries Podcasts As A Gateway To Audiobooks.” I’d be interested in knowing what you think of this. I’ve toyed with the idea of starting a podcast, perhaps as an extension of the June challenge. Maybe in July I’d read the short stories I wrote for the challenge in June. Something like that. So whaddya think? Interesting? Something you’d listen to? Something you … Read more

The Journal, Monday, 5/15

Hey Folks, Back to writing sometime today. Maybe a short story, maybe a novel start (or both). I also have in mind two good series characters. Each has a great name and a strong personality. One is male and one female. Not because I want to keep things equal, but because that’s who they are. I also have some other pressing things to do, not the least of which is extending the roof of the carport … Read more

The Journal, Thursday, 5/11

Hey Folks, Wow. A lot in today’s Journal and no fiction writing. Go figure. As I write this, I just looked out my north-facing window and caught sight of a purple mountain peak. It’s about 20 miles distant (+/-) and currently lined here and there with pink from the sunrise. Another beginning to another beautiful day. I’ll accompany my bride at around 7:30 to a doctor appointment this morning, then to walmart for some things, then … Read more