In Today’s Journal
* DWS Adult Back to School Sale
* The Writing
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
I wasn’t going to post anything today, but I had to pass this along.
DWS Adult Back to School Sale
Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch are offering everything on Teachable for 60% off for the next few days and 50% off after that until Labor Day.
Especially if you’re just starting out as a fiction writer (Stage 1 through Stage 2) I strongly recommend taking advantage of this sale. They don’t have them very often.
I most strongly personally recommend his Lecture #1, “Heinlein’s Rules.” It’s packed with SO much info. I also recommend several of his online craft classes.
Read Dean’s full post about this at “Adult Back to School Sale.”
The Writing
This is mostly for newer subscribers to TNDJ.
Normally in a ‘bad’ month I write 60,000 to 70,000 words of fiction. In a normal month I typically write 70,000 to 90,000 words. And in a really good month, I typically write over 100,000 words of fiction.
Yet in all of July, I wrote fiction only on July 5 and 6 (a short story), and 16 (a novel opening). My fiction for the whole month consisted of 5840 words comprising a short story and a novel opening.
Yesterday the dam finally broke with more than a trickle. For the first time since July 16, I finally had a decent day of writing.
Note: This was not so-called writer’s block. I showed up almost every day, cycled back over the novel opening I wrote on July 16, and waited for the characters to share more of their story.
Yesterday, finally, I was cycling back over the fledgling novel for umpteenth time, and the characters showed me something I’d missed earlier. I added it (about 30 words), and when I got back to the white space the story took off again. Woohoo!
Quoting from the (fictional) Fiction Writers’ Bible, Chapter 18: Reality, Verses 1-4, the testimony goes like this:
- Blessed are the believers, for they shall shed the flowing robes of the haughty “Ooh Look! I’m An Author!” brie and crackers crowd.
- Verily, they will descend from their ivory tower, kick their false ego to the curb, and claim the freedom of simply reporting the story that the characters, not they, are living.
- They shall don jeans, a t-shirt and sneakers, and roll off the parapet into the story to race through it with their characters.
- And having thus been blessed by their characters and by their belief in themselves, they shall experience the most fun they can have with their clothes on. Amen.
Of Interest
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 430
Writing of Blackwell Ops 47: Sam Granger | Special Duty
Day 1…… 3250 words. To date…… 3250
Day 2…… 1110 words. To date…… 4360
Day 3…… 3323 words. To date…… 7683
Fiction for August..………………….. 4433
Fiction for 2025………………………. 531080
Nonfiction for August………………… 13770
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 182170
2025 consumable words…………….. 705636
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 13
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 31
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 117
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 301
Short story collections……………………. 29
Whatever you believe, unreasoning fear and the myths that outlining, revising, and rewriting will make your work better are lies. They will always slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.
Writing fiction should never be something that stresses you out. It should be fun. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Because of WITD and because I endeavor to follow those Rules I am a prolific professional fiction writer. You can be too.
If you are able, please support TNDJ with a paid subscription. Thank you!
If you’re new to TNDJ, you might want to check out these links:
- On Writing Fiction
- Gifts
- Writing Resources
- Oh, and here’s My Bio. It’s always a good idea to vet the expertise of people who are giving you advice.
Questions on writing and publishing are always welcome at harveystanbrough@gmail.com.