Hey Folks, Thriller author James Scott Bell, in the Kill Zone blog back in June, wrote “Authors I Have Learned From: John D. MacDonald.” The article is chock full of gems if you dig just a little. You can read the post for yourself. I’ll reference it at the end. But for this post, I’ll offer a few hints at those gems, then elaborate a little on each of them. To begin, there is much to … Read more
Hey Folks, Very short post today. I’ve been a copyeditor for almost 40 years. The per-word fee for that service depends on your manuscript and how well it’s put together. If you’re interested in my copyediting service, you can find everything you need to know at http://harveystanbrough.com/copyediting/. But not everybody wants a copyedit. Many writers want only a critique of their work. I never used to offer critiques separate of a copyedit, but now I do. … Read more
Hey Folks, Today we have a guest post from USA Today best selling writer Dean Wesley Smith. I’ve added a comment at the end. Enjoy. Dangers of Not Trusting The Creative Voice Things Stop When You Lose Faith In The Creative Voice… I watch this loss all the time and hear about it from hundreds of writers over every year. Not trusting your creative voice is deadly. This came up a couple days ago when I … Read more
Hey Folks, This is a bonus “extra” post, not in the regular rotation. It’s a short bit I thought you might find amusing and, with any luck, useful. I first saw “The Basic Rules of Flight” in an article by US Navy Pilot Nicole Scherer in the August 2018 issue of Air & Space Smithsonian magazine. The Basic Rules of Flight 1. Try to stay in the middle of the air. 2. Do not go near … Read more
Hey Folks, Today’s post is a short but excellent guest post I purloined from my friend, Dan Baldwin. It first appeared as a Tip of the Week over at Four Knights Press (http://www.fourknightspress.com/). Enjoy. Tip of the Week: Let Barking Dogs Lie “That damned reviewer hated my novel!” “The boss hated my e-mail!” “I got an F on my essay!” “They rejected my short story!” “They panned my poem!” Regardless of what you write, you will … Read more
Hey Folks, There were a lot of good comments on James Scott Bell’s “Editing is Dying, Grunting Soon to Follow” in the Kill Zone blog. If you haven’t read it (I recommend it) you can find the post and the comments at https://killzoneblog.com/2018/04/editing-is-dying-grunting-soon-to-follow.html. Reading the comments was an eye-opening experience. Someone, a writer no less, actually advocated for the spelling of “all right” as “alright,” which, honestly, is just laziness. It’s the same reason some folks … Read more
Hey Folks, I talked here awhile back about the power of streaks. A “streak” means repeatedly hitting a certain regularly scheduled goal without missing. When you miss, the streak ends. For example, say you are determined to write 1000 words per day every day. The more days you do that in a row, the more powerful the streak becomes because you won’t want to miss. As a nice aside, and if you did do that for … Read more
Hey Folks, In recent years, say about the last 40 or 50, many would-be writers have gotten away from writing. They set out to write, but then allow themselves to be trapped in a vicious circle. Some don’t even actually write. Instead, they meet with writers and other would-be writers in groups and rehash all the same old advice that hasn’t worked for them thus far. They attend conferences and conventions. They strive to meet writers … Read more
Hi Folks, Way back in October of last year (and originally, probably three or four years before that), I published a post titled “Trust Your Professional.” If you missed it, you can see the original post at http://harveystanbrough.com/pro-writers/trust-your-professional/. The whole point is that getting What You Want is much more important to You than it is to the person or persons from whom you’re trying to get it. This is true in every case. That’s why … Read more
Hi Folks, An interesting article titled “Micro-Progress Your Novel” caught my attention back in late February. I had to share it because it’s so… well, not new. Despite the high-falutin’ title, the article is all about eating an elephant one bite at a time. That’s all. Instead of trying to “write a novel,” which the author of the post calls a “daunting prospect,” the idea is to set a series of smaller goals, like writing for … Read more