Hi Folks, When I was speaking at a lot of writers’ conferences, attendees often complained of how difficult it is to come up with story ideas. I knew what they meant. They meant it’s hard to come up with stories that are born whole, beginning, middle and end. Characters, setting, conflict, and resolution. Yes, it is. But why would you want to do that anyway? More on that later. So what is a story idea? Actually, … Read more
by Roslyn Petelin, The University of Queensland This week, the financial press reported the downfall of a high-profile grammar pedant, Professor Paul Romer, the World Bank’s chief economist, who was hoist(ed) with his own pedantic petard. He is being replaced as head of the bank’s research arm after he demanded that his colleagues write succinct, clear, direct emails, presentations and reports in the active voice with a low proportion of “and’s”. Romer will remain the bank’s … Read more
Hi Folks, This is kind of like schedule or routine, but more focused. When I say process here, I’m talking about the process of writing a particular work. Before I get into that, I just want to mention that I now have books available in nine different bundles, ranging from SF to action-adventure to romance to westerns. To check out these incredible values (newest at the top) see http://harveystanbrough.com/bundles. Thanks for looking! This topic of Process … Read more
Hi Folks, I’ve been at this almost-daily writing since mid-October of 2014. Or another way to look at it, I’ve ONLY been at this since mid-October of 2014. Either way, I’ve only recently realized the importance of Schedule. I’ve read other blogs on this topic and they made perfect sense. Like The Importance of Routines by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I didn’t skip over them. I read them, absorbed what was useful to me, and moved on. … Read more
Hey Folks, If you’re a writer, and if you’re intelligent enough to have embraced indie publishing, you want as many streams of income as possible off everything you write. If you aren’t a writer, you can stop reading now. If you are a writer, but you’re still pursuing an agent and/or a traditional publisher so THEY can make all the money off various streams of income, please stop reading now. Anyone else, keep reading. For the … Read more