Daily Journal

In today’s Journal * The Novella Wrapped * Think Like a Fiction Writer * Still Dealing with Internet Issues * Of Interest * The Numbers The Novella Wrapped Yeah, you heard me. The story wrapped about 1700 words shy of short-novel length at 23273 words. So it’s a novella. My first novella this year and the 10th overall. Anyway, that’s one of my own primary rules for writing fiction: Let the story be what it’s gonna be. And I can’t begin to tell you how much fun it was to write this thing. (grin) The tough-guy voices, the snappy but … Read more

In today’s Journal * Beginning In Media Res * The Numbers Beginning In Media Res This is a topic I posted only for my Patreon followers way back in the day. I haven’t had a Patreon account for a very long time, so a lot of folks haven’t seen this. Lucky you, eh? (grin) Show of hands— How many of you have heard you should always start your fiction in the middle of the action (in media res) and then go back and explain what’s going on later? I have. And it’s a myth. A few days before I posted … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Please Don’t Make Me Do Math * Speaking of Efficiency * I Get Questions * Of Interest * The Numbers Please Don’t Make Me Do Math Hey folks, you in the Great September Challenges (1000 wpd or 2250 wpd), please don’t make me do math with your weekly report. (grin) All I need to know is how many words you wrote that week. If you want to convey other information, that’s fine and I’ll cheer you on. But for the report itself, I only need your weekly total so I can … Read more

In today’s Journal * Insinuations and Truth * Of Interest * The Numbers Insinuations and Truth Editor’s Note: I had a hyper-busy day yesterday, and not all of it was writing. And then I got up late this morning. So I brought back a topic I might have posted before, but if I did, I have no idea when. If you’ve read it before, forgive me. It will probably serve as a good reminder anyway. Occasionally, I read or hear an insinuation from other writers that writing into the dark (WITD) is equivalent to writing sloppily (for example, “letting characters … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting * A Writer on Writing * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Soul is when you take a song and make it a part of you—a part that’s so true, so real, people think it must have happened to you.” Ray Charles The same is true of Story…. The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting To take part, the only requirement is to write at least one short story per week. If you want to share your success, submit the story title, word count, and genre to me … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Write What You Know… * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day ” To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge”. Nicolaus Copernicus, after “To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge.” Confucius Write What You Know Even if You Don’t Know It, Although You Do, Y’Know? a guest post by Dan Baldwin Writers are hammered with marching orders to always write what you know. … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * A New Short Story * Reminders * A Writer on Writing * Another Note on Writer’s Block * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Sometimes, you have to step outside of the person you’ve been and remember the person you were meant to be. The person you want to be. The person you are.” HG Wells A New Short Story “Beats All You Ever Saw” (the old version) went live yesterday at 10 a.m. on my Stanbrough Writes Substack. Go check it out. If you … Read more

In today’s Journal * The MFA: Valuable or Harmful? Part 3 * The Numbers The MFA: Valuable or Harmful? Part 3 If you missed Part 1, you can read it here. If you missed Part 2, you can read it here. Here’s the last bit of this series from Michaele: In my writers’ group we do not read and dissect each other’s writing. Instead they give me topics or problems they’re interested in. Those who had a problem passage could bring it and I would use it for teaching purposes. (Joseph Epstein mentioned learning from other’s mistakes and how to … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The MFA: Valuable or Harmful? Part 2 * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “If the only thing people learned was not to be afraid of their experience, that alone would change the world.” Sydney Banks (Thanks to Harold Goodman for the quote) A Note on the Writing I had my template for the next Blackwell Ops novel open and— Bam! An idea popped into my head. So I wrote a short story. After a brief break, I started another short story. So I guess I’ll be on … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The MFA: Valuable or Harmful? Part 1 * Of Interest * The Numbers The MFA: Valuable or Harmful? Part 1 A guest post by Michaele Lockhart Editor’s Note: I have known Michaele Lockhart for almost 30 years. We first met in the mid-to-late 1990s at the annual writer’s conference in Tucson held under the auspices of the now-defunct Society of Southwestern Authors. Michaele is an excellent storyteller, an excellent writer, and an excellent copyeditor. I was thrilled when she agreed to let me use her email to me for this short … Read more