Hey Folks, Yesterday was so hectic, I actually forgot to view and listen to the Week 5 videos of the DWS workshop I’m taking right now. So I spent the first couple of hours this morning doing that. Well, summer in southeast Arizona is officially over. Shortly after the sun came up this morning (pilot light was on, blower wasn’t working yet) it was 21° outside. Ugh. No moisture in the air to hold in the … Read more
Hey Folks, Whew! Rolled out a little after 4 this morning, and had an email requesting a list of my books. When I tried to reply, the email bounced. Uh oh. So I set to work trying to figure out why I couldn’t reply from “orders@stonethreadpublishing.com.” Finally, almost three hours later, I figured out how to correct the problem. Narrowly avoided a disaster there. But I did avoid it and I learned something in the process. … Read more
Hi Folks, Awhile back, a lady sent me a request. “Harvey, would you go to my Facebook page, These Three Words, and ‘friend’ the page?” (This is not the actual name of the page, of course.) In her friendly but business-like email, she then explained a bit of what the page is about, how often she posts to it, and so on. It was generally a good email. But she didn’t include a clickable link. I … Read more
Hey Folks, Rolled out a little late at 3:30. Checked email and Facebook stuff. Then I went to work on a huge Christmas Sale for StoneThread Publishing. We’re practically giving them away (grin). This sale went “live” on Facebook this morning (Monday, 11/28). But we wanted to give you guys a little better pricing. Note that all prices are valid only through StoneThread Publishing. Even if we decide to run a sale through various vendors, those … Read more
Hey Folks, I’m so spoiled. First, I have the best job in the world. Think about it. Day in, day out, I sit alone in a room making stuff up. It doesn’t get any better than that. And second, I live in southeast Arizona. So on my rising this morning it was almost 50° outside. I enjoyed a good cigar as I began the day with emails and Facebook and a few games of Spider solitaire … Read more
Hey Folks, Well, the transition from HEStanbrough.com to HarveyStanbrough.com with the Journal seems to have been flawless. No problems reported as yet. I rolled out around 3:30 this morning but did very little for the first 4+ hours other than email, Facebook and games. * * * The floor of our house, with the exception of the bedroom and the two offices, is Saltillo tiles. The house itself is rammed earth. Think adobe, but without bricks. … Read more
Hey Folks, Beginning today, I’m posting this Journal to my main site at HarveyStanbrough.com. If you came here looking for the Free Story of the Week, either scroll to the blog post below this or click the Free Story of the Week tab in the menu. It will still post every Friday at 8 a.m. If you’re looking for the Pro Writers blog post, click the Pro Writers tab in the menu. It will still post … Read more
“The hearts of small children are delicate organs. A cruel beginning in this world can twist them into curious shapes.” Carson McCullers Harold Griswold picked up his lopping shears from the front yard. With the shears came a mutilated GI Joe action figure. The blade on one side was stuck a third of the way through the torso. He pried the figure off the blade and held it up. “How much did this damn thing cost? … Read more
Hi Folks, Note: This post was originally scheduled for 4/6/2014. It didn’t post to MailChimp, so I’m posting it again now. I’ve revised the original post so it’s up to date. After my original posting of “sigh… present-tense narrative is great. please write in present-tense narrative,” a couple of years ago, several writers emailed to ask why I titled that post the way I did, namely in lower case and repeating the main primary phrase. I … Read more
Fifteen year old Johnny Marsden walked along the dirt road, his fishing pole carried loosely in his left hand, the rod back up over his shoulder. The road was dark brown and damp, except where white chunks of limestone rock protruded. It was only muddy where the water was still standing in small puddles, some with tire-tread tracks still leading from them. To the left, a thick piney wood marched off up the side of the … Read more