Daily Journal

In Today’s Journal * Contest Results Are Coming Soon * How to Win a Short Story Contest * Progress Report * Of Interest * The Numbers Contest Results Are Coming Soon I’ve heard from a few writers who wonder why it’s taking me so long to get back to you with contest results. I did read the opening of every story the day after the contest closed. If I wasn’t hooked or pulled into the story and therefore wasn’t enticed to keep reading, I closed the story and put it into the Rejected folder. If I was hooked and pulled … Read more

In Today’s Journal * A New Short Story * Bradbury Reminder * Conveying Your Characters’ Emotions * Progress Report * Of Interest * The Numbers A New Short Story “But There Is No Corral” went live yesterday at 10 a.m. on my Stanbrough Writes Substack. Go check it out. It’s free. The story was excerpted from the novel Blackwell Ops 40: John Staple. It’s one of my favorite scenes of all time. Good description of characters and setting, and good dialogue. See what you think. If you enjoy the story, please click Like. Comments are welcome too. Both help with … Read more

In Today’s Journal * New Anthologies Added * Read Your Work Aloud * Progress Report * The Numbers New Anthologies Added Yeah, I know. I haven’t gotten back to you on your submissions for the contest yet. Soon. I promise. Probably later today. In the meantime, I’ve added a new Anthologies section to my StoneThread Publishing online store. If you enjoy anthologies, click the link to visit the store. Then click the Anthologies tab in the menu. There you’ll see the recent Echoes of Hemingway anthology. It contains twenty short stories in the style of or inspired by Ernest Hemingway. … Read more

In Today’s Journal * How Important Is an Opening? * One More Blatant Example… * The Numbers How Important Is an Opening? Well, I’m Back Already I just can’t ignore a chance to teach the obvious. I’ve been at this stuff so long that goofy errors pop right off the page at me. Read on…. As I keep saying, the opening is all-important. The opening is where you include the hook to your story and then draw the reader deeper into your story through your use of description. Yesterday, I started to read a story I received via email from … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Nope. No New Series. * I Published a Manuscript Formatting Guideline * Taking a Brief Hiatus * Of Interest * The Numbers Nope. No New Series. I changed my mind. I’m not gonna read through and revamp the whole Microsoft Word for Writers series. I already know all that stuff and reading it again bores me. If you want it, go here and read it. I recommend you read the whole thing, every post—it’s under 6800 words—because in some cases the posts overlap and build on each other. If you cherry pick among the posts, chances … Read more

In Today’s Journal * The Bradbury Challenge * Coming Soon: Word for Writers 2025 * Of Interest * The Numbers 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 jump in at any time. During the past week, in addition to whatever other fiction they’re writing, the following writers reported these new stories: Erin Donoho “The Wreck of the Settle Island Ferry” 3800 historical action/adventure Loyd Jenkins “The Man in the … Read more

In Today’s Journal * On Using Dialogue Tags and “Action Beats” * Contest Entries Are Now Closed * Of Interest * The Numbers On Using Dialogue Tags and “Action Beats” In yesterday’s TNDJ I mentioned Lori Freeland’s “The Power of Paragraphing” as a great article on paragraphing and pacing. I stand by that statement, but I was a little dismayed at the examples she used to illustrate a couple of points. I invited you to email me if you wanted to know why her examples are not good. A few folks emailed me about it, so I thought I’d address … Read more

In Today’s Journal * A New Short Story * New Mystery Posted… * I Finally Read * The Writing and Other Stuff * Taking a Moment * Of Interest * The Numbers A New Short Story “Racing to the Corner” went live yesterday at 10 a.m. on my Stanbrough Writes Substack. In this one I have a conversation with some of my characters. Go check it out. It’s fun and it’s free. If you enjoy the story, please click Like. Comments are welcome too. Both help with my Substack algorithms. Then tell Everyone else. New Mystery Posted to Your Morning … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Only Today and Tomorrow * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Write the slow parts fast and the fast parts slow.” Lee Child on pacing “Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity.” Ray Bradbury “… knowing when to hit Enter can take your writing from meh to manuscript-ready.” Lori Freeland in “The Power of Paragraphing” (see Of Interest) Given my post from yesterday, how’s that last quote for coincidence? Only Today and Tomorrow left to write and submit a story for the Echoes of Chandler contest. You … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Echoes of Chandler Contest * Pacing Again * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “The subjective opinions of a certain group of people at a certain moment in time say nothing about the value of your work.” JA Konrath, talking about critique input Echoes of Chandler Contest More entries are coming in. Today’s the end of July, so only three days left. I won’t accept entries that arrive after I start work on August 3. I’ll be reading contest entries most of today, but I wanted to get … Read more