In Today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* A Lesson from My Readjustment
* On Wattpad
* TNDJ Contests Reminder
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“Practice, which some regard as a chore, should be approached as just about the most pleasant recreation ever devised.” Babe Didrikson Zaharias
A Lesson from My Readjustment
My readjustment’s working out, sort of.
The other day, I mentioned I still wanted to write seven more novels this year. But I also want to write at least an opening for any idea that occurs to me while I’m writing the novel.
That happened yesterday. I’d just opened BO-48, and as I was cycling through it to begin the day, an idea hit me.
I didn’t want to interrupt the thought by opening my short story template at the moment, so instead I opened a blank text document (Notepad for PC users) and wrote as fast as my fingers would carry me.
When it was finished, I transferred it to my short story template, took a break, and cycled back through the whole thing.
An hour and a half after I’d started writing, I’d finished cycling through a 2408 word story. Or it might be a 2408 word opening for a longer story or novella or novel.
I won’t know whether the story’s finished until I look it over again today or tomorrow. As it stands, where it stopped yesterday it could easily continue or it could be a wrap. We’ll see.
Historically, some of my bigger days of writing have come on days when I’ve written words into both a novel and a short story.
Maybe that’s a lesson I needed to learn again.
On Wattpad
Yesterday, a writer emailed me to ask whether I had any experience with Wattpad. Apparently Vin Zandri recommended the platform in his post, which I linked to in Of Interest yesterday.
I told him no, that I hadn’t, and that I regard the platform (like so many others) as just another alternative for writers.
Later it occurred to me that I had tried Wattpad at one point, hoping it would expose my work to new readers. I put something up and left it there for almost two months.
Literally nobody read what I wrote and posted to Wattpad.
Of course, your results might vary. It might also help if you already have a dedicated list of followers. I was starting from scratch, and for me it simply didn’t work.
On the other hand, my Stanbrough Writes Substack (free short story every week) continues to grow with new subscribers.
So I guess I did have an experience with the platform, but for me it didn’t work. At all.
TNDJ Contests Reminder
Today is Saturday. Just a reminder to get info about your various TNDJ Challenges in to me before the Journal goes live on Monday.
I’ll report the week’s results from the Bradbury Challenge first, then the Stephen King Challenge, then the Run With Harvey Challenge.
To my surprise, all three challenges are on-going. Feel free to jump into any of them, or into Bradbury and either of the others.
Having a place to report really does help with your writing.
Remember, if you finish a story earlier in the week, you can send the info to me early too. It never hurts to avoid pushing the deadline.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Writing in Word? Try this (+ 30-day challenge) Video. Not vetted.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 570
Writing of “How’s That? Come Again?”
Day 1…… 2408 words. To date…… 2408
Writing of Blackwell Ops 48: Razor Sharpe
Day 1…… 2213 words. To date…… 2213
Day 2…… 1210 words. To date…… 3423
Day 3…… 1318 words. To date…… 4741
Day 4…… 2481 words. To date…… 7222
Fiction for September……………… 35190
Fiction for 2025…………………….. 569339
Nonfiction for September.………… 21340
Nonfiction for 2025………………… 207590
2025 consumable words………….. 769315
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 14
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 32
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 118
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 302
Short story collections……………………. 29