Month: May 2025

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Writing Into the Dark * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “How can you possibly arrive at a destination if you don’t know how to get there? The trick, I soon learned, is to put your faith in your characters and trust them to take the lead. … I found the experience both liberating and thrilling.” Chris Saunders (see Of Interest) “I also found that the more I wrote into the dark, the easier it became to get back to the story the next day. Sometimes critical voice … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Bradbury Challenge * Learning How to Write Fiction * This Just In * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “When people ask me if I went to film school, I tell them, ‘No, I went to films.’” Quentin Tarantino I think this quote is a repeat, but it fits today’s topic too well to be ignored. The Bradbury Challenge The whole point of the Challenge is to have fun and grow as a writer. There is no cost. The only requirement is to write at least one … Read more

In Today’s Journal * A New Short Story * Bradbury Reminder * The Writing * A Valuable Lesson * Yesterday, I Remembered Hemingway * Of Interest * The Numbers Note: If anyone else didn’t receive Your Morning Serial for BO-42 Chapters 15-16 and 17-19 you can see them respectively at : BO-42 Chapters 15-16 BO-42 Chapters 17-19 Thanks to Nan for the heads-up. I don’t know why Substack is occasionally dropping emails. Sorry. A New Short Story “The Demise of Ramón Vargas and Raul Obregón” went live Friday at 10 a.m. on my Stanbrough Writes Substack. Go check it out. … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Darkness Within Darkness * The Writing * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Your utter and complete faith in writing into the dark and your daily blogging about it have helped me find my own way into it and have made fiction writing fun for me again.” Anitha Krishnan Darkness Within Darkness a guest post by Anitha Krishnan (thedreampedlar.com) I first came across the Tao Te Ching, an ancient Chinese classic text, half a decade ago, when the world was in the chokehold of a pandemic. At the time, my rational … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Value of Cycling * Writing Seminars? * Of Interest * The Numbers The Value of Cycling Here’s an excerpt from Blackwell Ops 43: Sam Granger | The Quiz Master Setting: Sam’s VaporStream device has just gone off. He’s checked it in the bedroom and is passing through the living room on his way to his laptop on the kitchen table: Aspen looked around from the couch. “That was awfully soon. So local again?” “No. I guess I’m going to Bolivia this time. Next available, so I’d better check for flights.” … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Heavily Conflicted Quote of the Day * Writers Comment: A Three-Piece… * Oh. The Novel Wrapped * Of Interest * The Numbers Heavily Conflicted Quote of the Day “Keep practicing and rewriting. Keep learning.” Dr. Diana Stout Um, which? Practicing, or rewriting? Practicing is putting new words on the page. Just sayin’. Writers Comment: A Three-Piece Guest Post Every now and then, I get lucky. That was the case when, within only a couple of days, Dave Chesson, Carrie Goebel, and Bob Calverley handed me this nicely fitting three-piece suit. Dave Chesson (the Kindlepreneur) writes about … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Becoming a Rapid Release Author * Rapid Release is for Novelists AND… * On Artisan Authorship * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “The idea that writing frequently is inherently ‘lesser’ or that creativity can only thrive when it’s slow and tortured is such a strange myth, and it does a disservice to both writers and readers.” Elizabeth Cooper, in a comment on yesterday’s post. “If you write a lot you’ll get better and produce steady quality. If you continue writing a lot of steady quality, you’ll end … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * On Rapid Release * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Sometimes when you’re teaching others to do things, you end up learning more about the topic than you ever dreamed.” Tari Lynn Jewett “”The only person with whom you have to compare yourself is you in the past.” Sigmund Freud On Rapid Release Note: I was going to address this topic in a single post, but the length became unwieldy. So this is Part 1. Emilia’s recent comment, which I posted here in TNDJ, started me thinking. In … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Bradbury Challenge * I’m Stepping Aside * Today Is a Great Day to Jump In * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “You’ve never seen death? Look in the mirror every day and you will see it like bees working in a glass hive.” Jean Cocteau The Bradbury Challenge The whole point of the Challenge is to have fun and grow as a writer. There is no cost. The only requirement is to write at least one short story per week. Feel free to … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * An Excellent Comment * Thanks to a Google Alert * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “I’m a celebrity, but people are very polite and pretend they don’t know who I am.” Kurt Vonnegut An Excellent Comment I hadn’t planned to post anything today. Then I received an excellent comment from Emilia on “I write a lot because I’m a writer”. (Thanks, Emilia.) I decided to include that comment today so more of you would see it: “I read the same post by Johnny B. Truant and also … Read more