Hey Folks, The challenge is going great so far. With only two days in, I’ve already touched the two extremes. First there was a story of around 3,000 words that flowed out as if anxious to get on the page. It was also a possible novel start. Then a story of over 5,000 words that happened only after a false start on another story (almost 1000 words that I didn’t count). So two days in, one … Read more
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
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
Hey Folks, Yay, the last day of May! Okay, but more than likely today will be a nonwriting day. I’m going to treat it like that from the beginning. In fact, today for me is Idea Day. I’m gathering ideas for the stories I’ll start writing tomorrow for my June Challenge. For details, see https://www.facebook.com/HarveyStanbroughWritingInPublic/. Mona and I have to be in Tucson at 8 a.m. for her first appointment, and then she has another one … Read more
Hey Folks, Unsure what the day will hold. But my son is safely ensconced in his new life in Flagstaff, my wife goes to her job today, and my grandson is still mired in “hurry up and wait” mode. So probably I’ll start a new novel. (grin) I’m excited about the new series for which the the novel I just finished will provide the basis. BUT… I’m kind’a jonesing to write in a different genre. Or … Read more
Hey Folks, This first appeared as a topic over at my Daily Journal at http://hestanbrough.com. It also sprang from a comment (a question from another writer) on Dean Wesley Smith’s website. Awhile back I talked about writing a “reverse outline.” The idea is, as you write your novel off into the dark (no pre-plotting, outlining, etc.) sometimes keeping track of characters, what they’re wearing, major situations, etc. becomes cumbersome. Now when I write a novel, I … Read more
Hey Folks, I allowed Microsoft to install the “Creator Upgrade” (something like that) on my computer yesterday. This morning when I started to write on my novel, I wrote about three words and my cursor was jumping all over the place because of the incidental contact of my palm with the touchpad. Okay, it’s a new update, so I assumed I needed to go back into my Device Settings and disable the touchpad again. Nope. Can’t … Read more
Hey Folks, Well, today or tomorrow I should finish my WIP. This will be my 25th novel (plus 3 novellas). My son’s still visiting at least part of today, so that and other things will decide whether I finish today. Reflecting Reflecting back on May, I kind of wish I’d been able to have the writing days (10) all in a row. I could easily have gotten ahead on my goal of writing 15 novels on … Read more
Hey Folks, When I started the day, I thought I might finish the novel today. Then again, it’s Saturday, and my son is still here. So I’ll play it by ear. Since I realized I’ll finish the novel this month with no problem, I’ve kind of relaxed. Plus with the June challenge coming up, relaxing’s probably a good idea. (grin) That’s gonna be hectic, but it’ll be a good kind of hectic. I do plan to … Read more
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