Month: January 2026

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Here Y’go, Fiction Writers (Story Ideas) * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day Back when I was speaking at conferences a lot, I was often asked where in the world I get story ideas. My answer was predictable: Where do you NOT get story ideas? All of the following quotes are story ideas from one issue of 1440 Daily Digest: “Scientists discover potentially habitable planet roughly 146 light-years from Earth, four times closer than the next best planet in a habitable zone.” (see Of Interest) “What’s Civilization Without … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * I Keep Trying * One Taker * No Judgement Here * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Publishing on Amazon isn’t hard. But it is easy to do wrong.” The Kindlepreneur I Keep Trying to post less often, but that might not be in the cards. Sometimes not writing and posting something is really difficult. So read these when you can, but try not to skip over any of them completely or you might miss something you would have found of value. One Taker so far on my … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Writing in Other Worlds? * Valentine Sale (You Want to Read This) * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “[Amazon’s] Ask This Book [feature] goes beyond discovery and reference by generating interpretive and explanatory content. In their view, this constitutes a derivative use of the work, comparable to annotated or enhanced editions, which have traditionally required separate licensing and compensation.” According to Writem, the Authors Guild’s take on Amazon’s Ask This Book feature in the first item in Of Interest “One of the best parts of WITD for … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Musings on Characters * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “[The character-discovery] means of character writing provides you with a naturalistic development of personality that’s difficult to beat. It can also be very efficient, because anything that doesn’t impact the story is never established….” Joseph R. Lallo, author of “dozens of novels and novellas, including [an] international bestseller” (see first item in Of Interest). Musings on Characters I love the above quote, and of course I cherry-picked it from the first article referenced in Of Interest. I did … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * A Little More on Spreadsheets * A Little More on D2D * My Own Valentine Sale * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “The most singular difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is a solid and joy a liquid.” JD Salinger A Little More on Spreadsheets I failed to mention yesterday that I have an actual a sample spreadsheet with the formulas in place that you can request if you want it. I created it a little over a year ago, and also wrote an explanatory … Read more

In Today’s Journal * The TNDJ Challenges Report * Re Subscribing or Donating * A Little About Excel Spreadsheets * Of Interest * The Numbers The TNDJ Challenges Report Participating in any challenge is a great way to have fun and grow as a writer. There is no cost. Feel free to jump in at any time. To do so, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com with your results anytime before TNDJ goes live on any Monday. Bradbury Challenge The requirement is to write at least one short story or short-short story per week. During the past week, the following writers wrote … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * A New Short Story * Update on Ingram Spark * Some Thoughts on Fantasy * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Fantasy is silver and scarlet, indigo and azure, obsidian veined with gold and lapis lazuli. Reality is plywood and plastic, done up in mud brown and olive drab.” George RR Martin A New Short Story “Keep Calm & Carry On” went live on Saturday at 10 a.m. on my Stanbrough Writes Substack. Go check it out. It’s free. This is an intense short story, one of my … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Humorous Quote of the Day * Read. The. Comments. * Writing During a Vacation… * About Draft2Digital * Guest Posts Welcome * The Numbers Humorous Quote of the Day “God please give me patience. Because if you give me strength, I’m going to need bail money.” Senator John Kennedy, Louisiana Read. The. Comments. If you care either way about writing and the future of publishing at Amazon and elsewhere, I recommend you read the comments on yesterday’s post. They constitute a whole other post. Thanks to everyone for commenting. To read them, click here, then scroll … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Regarding Amazon’s Latest Creep-Show Move * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Instead of helping you look something up, the system is giving you its version of what that thing means. It decides what matters, what doesn’t, what’s central, and what can be glossed over. … Authors didn’t opt into this.” Kevin J. Duncan, Head of Content at Kindlepreneur (see the first item in Of Interest) Regarding Amazon’s Latest Creep-Show Move Ah, Amazon has provided me with one more chance to look within myself and ascertain my core … Read more

In Today’s Journal * NB2.8—The AI Flu * Of Interest * The Numbers Note: The following was presented to me as a short story-ish article on how one writer views the influence of generative artificial intelligence (AI). Enjoy. NB2.8 The AI Flu a guest post by K.C. Riggs I’ve never been paranoid about getting sick. Granted, I’m essentially healthy and I take normal precautions—normal like hand washing and using hand sanitizer when I’m out in public touching door handles and shopping carts—and I make sure I’m eating well and taking immune supporting supplements in the winter. But other than that, … Read more