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 quotes below are from Letters of Note
“No one really takes very much interest, why should they, in my scribblings. Do you think I shall ever write a really good book?” Virginia Woolf in a letter to Violet Dickinson, October 1 1905
“What you ought to do is write you big lazy bastard. My god it is hard for anybody to write. I never start a damn thing without knowing 200 times I can’t write—never will be able to write a line—can’t go on—can’t get started—stuff is rotten—can’t say what I mean—know there is a whole fine complete thing and all I get of it is the bacon rinds. You would write better than anybody but the minute it becomes impossible you stop. That is the time you have to go on through and then it gets easier. It always gets utterly and completely impossible.
“Thank God it does—otherwise everybody would write and I would starve to death.” Ernest Hemingway in a letter to Waldo Pierce
1st Oct 1928
That’s it for today. Be sure to check out Of Interest.
If you have questions on writing or publishing fiction, or if there’s a topic you’d like to see me cover in TNDJ, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Texas Monthly True Crime If you’re a mystery or crime writer, you might want to check out this semi-monthly newsletter.
13 Best Marketing Books for Authors (in 2025 & Beyond) This is not a recommendation. Make up your own mind.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 350
Writing of Blackwell Ops 48: Razor Sharpe
Day 1…… 2213 words. To date…… 2213
Day 2…… 1210 words. To date…… 3423
Day 3…… 1318 words. To date…… 4741
Day 4…… 2481 words. To date…… 7222
Day 5…… 1588 words. To date…… 8810
Day 6…… 2215 words. To date…… 11025
Day 7…… 4168 words. To date…… 15193
Day 8…… 2645 words. To date…… 17838
Fiction for October………………… 2645
Fiction for 2025…………………….. 581183
Nonfiction for October.…………… 720
Nonfiction for 2025………………… 210830
2025 consumable words………….. 784444
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 14
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 32
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 118
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 302
Short story collections……………………. 29