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
Hey Folks, A friend sent me some information re the upcoming NaNoWriMo annual “challenge.” In case you’re interested, the link is Tips for Surviving the Agony and Ecstasy of NaNoWriMo. There, I’ve done my civic duty. Now I can play a bit. Okay, first, how about that title, eh? I mean, seriously, “The Agony and Ecstasy”? Does that evoke a picture of a poor, beleagured, suffering-for-his-art writer with one forearm flung dramatically across his forehead or … Read more
This content was previously posted on June 26, 2016 in the Daily Journal. I posted it here because of the valuable topic included below. Soon I might begin posting the Daily Journal here every day. Hey Folks, Probably today will be another non-writing day for me. Despite the fact that when I take a day away from writing fiction I feel itchy and annoyed. I gave my word to a couple of folks who quickly took … Read more
Hi Folks, In the interest of full disclosure, I first posted this as a blog entry on April 2 in my Daily Journal at HEStanbrough.com. To continue the discloure, this is a technique I learned from Dean Wesley Smith. I find his openness and instruction (inadvertent and otherwise) pretty much invaluable. But to the topic at hand. Anyone who knows me or has talked writing with me for more than five minutes knows I don’t outline. … Read more
Folks, Before I give you Chapter 1, a shout out to an excellent writer, Sara Therese and her most recent blog post, which I hereby declare Required Reading for anyone who enjoys good, strong, emotional writing or Love. You can find it here. Okay, here’s Chapter 1 — What Do You Mean, Character-Driven? Staple it to the inside of your eyeballs, folks: All good fiction is character-driven. No matter the genre, fiction isn’t about the science … Read more
Hi Folks, Okay, first, wishing you a Happy New Year. May it be everything you want it to be. As I write this, I recently visited Dean Wesley Smith’s website (link below) and read some of the comments there. The comments are almost always as informative as the posts themselves. In fact, I regularly pass along tidbits from his site over on my Daily Journal. (Subscription info below.) To sign up for my diary of a … Read more
Hi Folks, Back on track for writing during my quiet time. In fact, during the wake-up, I wrote an article, basically, to rebuff a HuffPo article in which the author got pretty much everything wrong. As my response was not really long, I’m including it in this post. For reference, the full Huffington Post article is here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janet-tavakoli/apple-taxes-authors-patie_b_8711882.html I hate it when such obviously slanted stuff is offered (and bought, unfortunately, by many writers) as fact. … Read more
Hi Folks, Well, on the second day of my new system of writing during my quiet time, I messed it up. (grin) On the up side, I limited my waking up time to about ten minutes. On the down side, I spent the next two and a half hours on admin stuff, prepping The Scent of Acacias for layout for print. Sigh. I forgot I hadn’t done that yet. I already have folks wanting boxed sets … Read more
Hi Folks, Today is the first day of me going back to writing earlier instead of allowing my quiet time to be taken up with other nonsense. I’m allowing myself a half-hour to an hour and a half administrative time. During that time I’ll check and respond to emails, update my Fiction spreadsheet and tend to other administrative matters. I’ll also take care of the kitten and come here to begin the Journal entry for the … Read more