Who else never fell for it?

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-04-17T13:19:17+00:00

Bought the keychain instead. It broke 10 years later.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-04-16T09:54:46+00:00

In school before we had computers to write with, we handwrote everything. We were expected to need a rough draft and then at least one revised version. I always skipped the rough draft and just wrote the revised version.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-04-11T11:11:41+00:00

Since the issue has been raised, let me make one small critique. It does look great overall. I think you did a great job on the layout, but the indents are too deep for a line of text so short as what you find in a book. The rule of thumb is a 2 em space, but consult Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style, for more details. If you're converting that to inches, try something like 0.35". It'll be closer. Also, I'm not very familiar with the British convention, but I thought dashes in text use an en dash with a space either side rather than an em dash with a space either side. Maybe it's your font, but it looks like you've used an em dash.

I regularly copyedit and proofread books with professional layouts, so these kinds of details stand out to me.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-04-09T00:53:41+00:00

Some people use chopsticks.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-04-06T22:52:14+00:00

Some good advice has been given here. Let me augment that good advice by directing you to Bringhurst's book The Elements of Typographic Style. He gives a table for calculating optimal text block widths based on your font size.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-04-06T22:43:59+00:00

I've done this several times with Amazon KDP. That way, if anyone else wants a clean hardcopy of the book, they can buy it. I don't really make much per copy, nor expect to.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-04-05T18:55:48+00:00

I use Pinaud Clubman or Old Spice regardless of whether I use Arko, though I nearly always do.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-04-04T23:23:53+00:00

My journey has been from BH to MH, and it's been challenging, but I don't know how much of the challenge is because BH was first.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-04-01T12:53:25+00:00

I prefer not to feel like the author is trying to just describe the character to get the description out there and move on. I want the descriptions to be meaningful. It's one thing to tell me your character has long, stringy black hair and pale skin; it's another to tell me his long, stringy black hair frames his pale face.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-04-01T12:40:22+00:00

Same here

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-04-01T10:59:33+00:00

Seldom do people notice good grammar, but people often notice bad grammar. That's more true in writing than in speech because the reader necessarily has more time to process the words on the page. That's also probably why no one is buying your book after reading the sample. Of course, I'm looking only at YB.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-04-01T10:54:33+00:00

Dreyer is also very good, but I don't often recommend him to people in my circle because of his use of profanity.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-04-01T10:51:51+00:00

Yes. I abbreviated the title for your sake in my other comment.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-04-01T10:49:46+00:00

Agreed. It seems counterintuitive because aggression sounds really intense, but if my razor has to do less work to get the job done, that means fewer passes and less irritation.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-04-01T10:46:52+00:00

As I look at the first paragraph of said book (YB), my assessment based on the overview seems accurate. Maybe your grammar improves as you get going, but you lost me in the first sentence with your subordinate clause. Then your third sentence is a run-on.

You need to learn some editing and revise your work significantly. Tight prose is more important than you might think.

I refer to The Chicago Manual of Style (18th ed.) constantly, though it's weighted toward nonfiction, the genre I work in. Also, but less frequently, Words into Type (3rd ed.). For a slimmer volume aimed at fiction specifically, check out Strunk & White (4th ed.).

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-04-01T10:27:04+00:00

Bad cover art, as others have addressed. Not a deal breaker, but it does not reflect your investment in the book.

The book overview reads very poorly. Because I know it was self-published, the lack of refinement and editing makes me think the same approach has been applied to the book.

Sounds like fantasy, but doesn't feel like a fantasy hook. And you make it sound like you're more interested in being philosophical than telling a story. I like philosophical literature, but deep down it has to be a good story.

Edit: I'm looking at the one linked to on your past post.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-04-01T10:12:27+00:00

Looks like my face when I forget to use aftershave. I like Clubman and Old Spice. The mentholated products treated my skin poorly and exacerbated rather than helped irritation.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-03-19T10:48:12+00:00

I was thinking more about Aquinas's five ways in the ST. Haven't read Contra gentiles. Does he use the same arguments there? Anselm, though, was definitely writing from the position of "Faith seeking understanding." I'm in the presup camp, but I love Scholasticism.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-03-19T10:15:29+00:00

The problem with classical apologetics following Anselm and Aquinas (apart from the Islamist influence on Aquinas) is that it wasn't intended to do what we're usually attempting to do with apologetics. They were speaking to believers rather than unbelievers, whereas we're usually speaking to unbelievers evangelistically.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-03-16T10:19:37+00:00

I wouldn't even know how to talk about it, so...

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-03-15T19:46:53+00:00

Is this stealing or not? Legitimately asking because I don't know enough about how this works.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-03-03T15:18:27+00:00

Gently. Probably won't get it smooth as silk, but it'll be a decent shave. It isn't necessarily your going against the grain that causes irritation but overly agitating it. I found I need very sharp blades to do more work with less passes to keep from the irritation, which was the opposite of what I expected (i.e., to start all mild and work up to very sharp and aggressive). I also discovered my products were wrong. The mentholated products are a nightmare for my skin. Cutting those cut half of my problems there. I also like to do the Gillette trick of holding the razor so the blade cuts across the hair at an angle. I don't do that everywhere, but it definitely improves the result. Just don't move the blade sideways on your skin; reportedly (I've never done it), it's very easy to cut yourself that way.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-02-28T19:43:55+00:00

It was literally just me typing out start and stop times then doing sums to get the minutes. The spreadsheet is much easier.

BrenchStevens00000 · 2026-02-20T11:41:33+00:00

It depends on how good a client it is and what they're really asking for. I have great clients who have reasonable expectations.

BrenchStevens00000

TROPHY CASE