Daily Journal

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Value of a First Reader * The Publishing (and Writing) * For Any Who Wonder * The Numbers Quote of the Day “People are what they do, not what they say.” James Lee Burke in an interview. The Value of a First Reader In the back of every novel I write, I credit my first reader, Russ Jones. In part, I write that he “keeps me from looking like a total dweeb.” That is an understatement. In Blackwell Ops 38: Paul Stone, Russ pointed out that I had inadvertently changed … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * A Writing-Publishing Streak * A Friendly Nudge Toward WITD * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Our world hangs like a magnificent jewel in the vastness of space. Every one of us is a part of that jewel. A facet of that jewel. And in the perspective of infinity, our differences are infinitesimal.” Fred “Mister” Rogers A Writing-Publishing Streak I first published a segment titled “A Writing-Publishing Streak” on January 24. I’d just finished and published BO-35. So this is basically an update and (I … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * POV, Part 2 * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “I don’t understand the process of imagination—though I know that I am very much at its mercy. … The ideas come to me; I don’t produce them at will. They come to me in the course of a sort of controlled daydream, a directed reverie.” Joseph Heller in “The Art of Fiction No. 51” in The Paris Review (via writer Dr. Harold Goodman) “You take people as far as they will go, not as far as you would … Read more

In Today’s Journal * My Quote of the Day * POV, Part 1 * Of Interest * The Numbers My Quote of the Day “‘Narrator’ (like ‘POV’) is just another after-the-fact observation of a critic or reader. Once you’re aware of the concept as a writer, forget it and Just Write the Story.” Harvey POV, Part 1 In this post and the next, I’m elaborating on a conversation I had with another writer. I’ll refer to him as Ed. Personal to Ed—I’m elaborating a LOT. Please read this and the next post. Ed emailed to say this: “I’m curious how … Read more

In Today’s Journal * My Quote of the Day * The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting * Personal to Anonymous JE * When Do You Stop Writing? * Of Interest * The Numbers My Quote of the Day “Breathe, relax, and let go of responsibility for the characters’ story. They, not you, are living it. You are only the Recorder. That’s why I call writing into the dark a Zen-like non-process. The more you let go, the more you receive.” Harvey The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting During the past week, in addition to whatever other fiction they’re writing, the following writers … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Whew! * The TNDJ 2025 Challenges Are Revised * The Stephen King Challenge * The Bradbury Challenge * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “You can’t knock a home run out of the ball park from the locker room. You have to stand up at bat and take a swing.” Actor James Woods in “The Road Back” (his newsletter), Issue 27, Feb 27, 2025 Whew! I almost reported the Bradbury Challenge results for the past week this morning. If I hadn’t wondered why a couple of the writers … Read more

In Today’s Journal * My Quote of the Day * Subscription Drive: An Offer * Stephen King Challenge * A New Short Story * Bradbury Reminder * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers My Quote of the Day “This isn’t a museum. Feel free to browse, but all this crap’s for sale.” Harvey Subscription Drive: An Offer Actually, the tongue-in-cheek quote above is only partly true. TNDJ is part museum with a little ‘hold my beer and watch this’ thrown in for kicks. But mostly it’s a valuable resource for fiction writers. Read on. Admittedly, coming up with … Read more

In Today’s Journal * My Quote of the Day * Fiction Mimics Real Life: Part 2 * Took a Day Off * Of Interest * The Numbers My Quote of the Day “Fiction makes the indecipherable, the unbelievable, clear and real.” Harvey Fiction Mimics Real Life: Part 2 Before you read this, please read Fiction Mimics Real Life: Introduction and Fiction Mimics Real Life: Part 1 As to the Original Notion that “Life can be unbelievable, but fiction has to make sense,” I don’t buy it. Even unbelievable events in life make sense. The lack is in the context and … Read more

In Today’s Journal * My Quotes of the Day * Fiction Mimics Real Life: Part 1 * Of Interest * The Numbers My Quotes of the Day “In fiction, character voice is what matters, and that doesn’t always mean dialogue. It means description. It means pulling the reader into the story.” Harvey “Writing fiction should be fun. It should be an escape for you—though often an unnerving escape—just as your story will be an escape for your eventual readers.” Harvey Fiction Mimics Real Life: Part 1 First, please read Fiction Mimics Real Life: Introduction. Description, or What Pulls Readers into … Read more

In Today’s Journal * My Quote of the Day * Fiction Mimics Real Life * Of Interest * The Numbers My Quote of the Day “Lisa Hall-Wilson, in the second article linked in Of Interest, wrote ‘The power of Deep Point of View is creating a sense for readers that they’re IN the story AS IT’S HAPPENING with your characters.’ “You create that ‘deep POV’ and that effect by describing whatever the POV character sees, hears, smells, tastes, and feels, physically and emotionally.” Harvey Fiction Mimics Real Life Introduction Well, to be accurate, fiction mimics real life within your fictional … Read more