Sorry Folks, At 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, a post (The Daily Journal) went out that wasn’t supposed to go to my “big” list. It won’t happen again. And then I found out I couldn’t send this out until the next day. Sigh. Sorry. If you would like for some reason to subscribe to The Daily Journal, you may do so by visiting the website at HarveyStanbrough.com and click The Daily Journal link in the right … Read more
Don’t do it. There. End of lecture. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that’s all it took? If you’re a writer and if you’re serious about your work and if you want others to take you seriously, invest in your product (your writing, your cover, your book). The rest of this post is assuming that you already are investing time and money into learning your craft (writing). But the actual writing is only the beginning of the … Read more
Hi Folks, Okay, for the first time ever, I’m doing a promotion with my novel series. For the next three weeks, from right now through December 5, the first title of the Wes Crowley saga—The Rise of a Warrior—is priced at FREE at Smashwords. Also for the next three weeks, the second title in that series—Comanche Fire—is priced at 99 cents, also at Smashwords. Notice, you don’t need a coupon to purchase these books at these prices. … Read more
Hi Folks, Okay, here is Part Two of what might be the most valuable post you’ll ever read about writing fiction. Again, I’m not kidding. (Even got the same pic in case you want to share.) The necessary preliminary stuff was in the previous post, so if you missed that one, I suggest you go back and read it first. In summary — To write a story (any length) you need only to write an opening. … Read more
Hey Folks, Well, here’s another interim blog post. Part Two of the writing setting posts will be here on November 11. In the meantime, two quick notes: Dean Wesley Smith, in the Topic of the Night in his Blog Post From Yesterday, which I finally found early this morning, wrote an excellent, brief article about making choices. In addition to talking about making choices, he provides a technique that really works to help you find “extra” … Read more
Hey folks, This is one of those interim posts. This one is on continued learning. Plus it contains a news flash regarding Amazon. I even moved it up one day to get it to you a little sooner. One hallmark of a professional writer is that he or she continues to learn. Always. Often at the least likely moment, a blast of insight smacks you right between the eyes. This morning, as I write this, was … Read more
Hi Folks, This might well be the most valuable post you’ve read about writing fiction. I am not joking. I even put a picture on here so you could share it to Pinterest if you want. (grin) Okay, first, the necessary preliminary stuff. To start a story of any length, you have to write an opening. The opening most often will consist of 300 to 500 words. In the opening, you introduce a character, give him … Read more
Hi Folks, Just a brief mid-cycle post for an announcement. If you find this post of value, please consider pinning it or otherwise sharing it with your friends. As I’m endeavoring recently to build a new publisher website for myself and my personas, I decided to slash the prices on all of my Audio Courses on Writing. Every course now costs $5 per session. So if there are only two sessions in the course, that course … Read more
Howdy Folks, How many times has some pundit told you to “write what you know”? Uh, no. That is bad advice. Maybe the baddest advice ever, and I mean that in the old sense of “baddest,” before we started dumbing down the language. I mean “worst.” It’s bad advice because the connotation is that you should write ONLY what you know. So what? You’re supposed to write what you DON’T know? Yes. Of course. You should … Read more
Hi Folks, Man things change quickly in this new world of publishing. On the first of this month, so just over two weeks ago, I devoted an entire blog post to telling you why I was no longer going to publish and distribute my books through Smashwords. And then this morning, I uploaded and published ten new titles to Smashwords. It seems Smashwords recently signed a contract with Gardner’s, a massive book distribution agent in Great … Read more