Daily Journal

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * About Writing Fiction Into the Dark * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Writing is like driving at night. You can see only as far as the headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” E.L. Doctorow, in James McInerney, “Author, Author: An Interview with Doctorow,” in Vogue magazine (Nov. 1984) “You don’t have to see where you’re going, you don’t have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Of Interest * The Numbers I wasn’t going to put TNDJ out today, but this stuff is too important to let slide. Quotes of the Day “Getting a reader to spend money for a book comes in four steps: Cover and author name. Branded name and cover branded to a genre. Sales copy. Opening that makes a reader want to buy. Ending, validation that make readers want to look up more work by the same author. (The endings also includes back matter.)” from Dean Wesley Smith (see Of Interest) Note: Both … Read more

In Today’s Journal * First Day of October * Characters * Of Interest * The Numbers First Day of October Today’s the first day of October and, maybe more significantly for goal-oriented writers, the first day of the final quarter of the calendar year. I hope you’ve already revisited and reset your goals if necessary. And if you haven’t, it’s never too late. I also hope this will be a great month for all of us. My own September was dismal with only 44,000 words of fiction. I’d like to at least double that for October, but we’ll see. Characters … Read more

In Today’s Journal * About Your Morning Serial (Grrr!) * A Short Take * From Dave Chesson * Of Interest * The Numbers About Your Morning Serial (Grrr!) Welp, I tried to send installments of Nightfall only twice a week, on Monday and Wednesday. But that left a 4-day gap before the next installment the following Monday. That gap was too long. Even I had trouble finding my place and keeping up with the story, and I wrote the stupid thing. So yesterday morning, after the installment containing Chapters 14 and 15 posted, I opened Your Morning Serial to reschedule … Read more

In Today’s Journal * The TNDJ Challenges Report * To the Important Stuff * Of Interest * The Numbers The TNDJ Challenges Report The whole point of these challenges is to have fun and grow as a writer. There is no cost. Feel free to jump in at any time. Participating in any challenge is a way to drive yourself to the computer or legal pad and write fiction. It’s also a great way to build and maintain a streak. As if writing more and better fiction isn’t enough, I even offer prizes. To see those, please visit The NEW … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Waxin’ All Philosophical and Stuff * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Understanding a person does not mean condoning; it only means that one does not accuse him as if one were God or a judge placed above him.” Erich Fromm (as reported in Dr. Mardy’s Quotes of the Week: Rich and Poor) “The difference between assumption and knowledge is the difference between lightning and lightening.” Harvey Stanbrough Waxin’ All Philosophical and Stuff In today’s Of Interest, the title of Dr. Mardy’s post is “Rich and Poor.” But … Read more

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 … Read more

In Today’s Journal * That Silly Post * Building Up * Storm Warning * A New Short Story * Of Interest * The Numbers That Silly Post Wow. That recent silly post on tag line verbs got more comments and emails than I’ve had in a while. Who knew updating and running an old evergreen post would cause such a reaction? Thanks to everyone who commented or emailed. Thanks also to those who noticed and pointed out that I included “quipped” in both the good list and the bad list. I’ve removed that word from the good list and left it … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Resetting Goals * Reaching a New Writing Plateau * Another Writer Sent Me This * Of Interest * The Numbers Resetting Goals Now that I’m writing a new novel, it’s time to look at my annual goals again. Back in October 2024 when I started putting out a novel every two weeks (that streak lasted through 21 novels in 42 weeks before I fell off it with Blackwell Ops 47) I set my sights on writing 22 novels during 2025. Although at that novel-every-two-weeks pace 26 novels should be possible in a 52-week year, I figured … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Blackwell Ops 47 * Blog Posts Are Letters * These Are Not Tag Line Verbs * Of Interest * The Numbers Blackwell Ops 47 Blackwell Ops 47: Sam Granger | Special Duty is live and available for preorder ($5.99) at Amazon and all the vendors supplied by Draft2Digital. If you’d rather not wait, you may also buy it now from my online discount store for only $5. Blog Posts Are Letters Some would probably be happier if I cut back the number of TNDJ issues I post each week. But this stuff isn’t fiction. It’s about … Read more