In Today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* A New Short Story
* Bradbury Reminder
* Help a Brother (and Yourself) Out
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“There’s a hell of a distance between wise-cracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply calisthenics with words.” Dorothy Parker
A New Short Story
“What Mothers Do” went live yesterday at 10 a.m. on my Stanbrough Writes Substack. Go check it out. It’s free.
This story is quiet and soft and borders on magic realism. It might also be the opening for my next novel, or for another novel at another time.
If you enjoy the story, please click Like. Comments are welcome too. Both help with my Substack algorithms. Then tell Everyone else.
Bradbury Reminder
Today is Saturday. Just a reminder to get your Bradbury Challenge story info in to me before the Journal goes live on Monday.
Remember, if you finish a story earlier in the week, you can send the info to me early too. It never hurts to avoid pushing the deadline.
Help a Brother (and Yourself) Out
Yesterday I offered a minor finger-wagging about description, then offered my current posts on Your Morning Serial as a positive example and for study.
The title of the current Morning Serial novel is The Darling Members Club, and it’s a Stern Talbot PI mystery.
But I hasten to add that a good story (a story that’s told well) tends to transcend genres. So I’m betting you’ll enjoy it even if “mystery” isn’t your favorite genre.
For me, learning more about the craft and improving my storytelling ability is second only to writing stories in the first place.
So I’m inviting you to offer a critique of the story (or any part of it) if you want. Here’s all you have to do:
- Read the first installment (the first two chapters).
- If you’re enticed to keep reading, read the second installment, etc.
- Feel free to stop where the story is no longer interesting to you or where you get bored or feel the story is “bogged down” with too much description.
- Then email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com and tell me where the description became so intrusive (“too much”) that it booted you out of the story.
- Be brutally honest. I can take it.
In exchange for simply doing this (whether or not I agree with you), I’ll offer you a prize: a free critique or edit of your own story, or a free copy of any of my fiction or nonfiction books, for example. You choose.
No time limit. Of course, if you want, you can keep reading. In addition to the two installments I linked to above, here are the next two installments so far:
- Chapters 5 & 6
- Chapters 7 & 8 (will post this morning at 5 a.m.)
- If you hit the subscribe button on any post, you’ll receive a new installment each morning in your email.
This is your opportunity to teach the teacher. I hope you’ll take advantage of it.
ALSO, if you find no fault with the story and actually enjoy it, so much the better.
Feel free to email me to ask why I wrote something in a particular way in a particular place.
This is like a mini-tutorial or mentorship. Maybe your email will even result in a TNDJ post that will answer questions others are too timid to ask.
Of Interest
Writers of the Future Contest Rules I urge you to go for it. No entry fee, and you can enter up to four times per year. Thanks to Emilia P. for this reminder.
Kickstarters Worth Looking At This Friday
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 580
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
Day 4…… 1656 words. To date…… 9339
Day 5…… 1413 words. To date…… 10752
Fiction for August..………………….. 7502
Fiction for 2025………………………. 534149
Nonfiction for August………………… 15820
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 184220
2025 consumable words…………….. 710755
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.