I’m Taking a Step Back

In Today’s Journal

* Quote of the Day
* I’m Taking a Step Back
* A Few Housekeeping Notes
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Quote of the Day

“Life Needs No Red Lights” a sign hanging in my office in the Hovel

I’m Taking a Step Back

I love sharing knowledge and maybe cutting others’ learning curves a little. But over the past several months the desire to continue TNDJ has waned.

The Roman philosopher Seneca wrote “by teaching, we learn.” I agree. But I’ve found the best way to learn is to practice and teach at the same time.

I’ve gleaned an abundance of knowledge of fiction writing craft topics over the past almost 12 years while writing millions of words of fiction (practice) plus an average of around a thousand words of nonfiction in TNDJ almost every day.

But that abundance is both a delight and a burden.

It’s a delight when I’m writing fiction because I no longer have to consciously think about those craft topics.

It’s true for me—as it is true for any other fiction writer—that continually practicing those craft topics causes them to become second nature, improve on themselves, and build on themselves.

I’m grateful to have seen that effect in myself and in countless other writers over the years.

But conveying those craft topics to other fiction writers while knowing many of them will ignore my advice or feel overwhelmed by it (or maybe by the frequency of it) is a burden.

Especially when I consider that all they really have to do is

• let go of the fear of failure,
• believe in themselves,
• trust their characters, and
• practice as much as they are able.

That will always be my core advice to budding fiction writers.

When I started TNDJ

as The Daily Journal back in 2014, I felt as if I was chatting and sharing with like-minded neighbors over a back fence.

Since then, increasingly, that feeling has eroded. Finally, over the past year or so I’ve felt as if I’m on-stage at a writers’ conference, talking to a crowd of blank or even skeptical faces.

Later this year, TNDJ will have been an ongoing labor of love for 12 years. And I know there are writers out there who are appreciative of what I’m able to pass along.

But those writers will continue to email me and ask questions or just talk about writing with or without a daily barrage of TNDJ landing in their inbox each day. And they’re welcome to do so. I love talking about the actual writing of fiction, and I’ll always respond to emails as soon as I can.

The others—those who are skeptical or suspicious of my motives or disbelieving in their own abilities—won’t email me for help. But then, most of them seldom or never have anyway.

Writing fiction seriously, like any other artistic endeavor, must be based on a passion for putting new words on the page. As Dean Koontz said during his interview,

“I love the process. There are writers who like ‘having written,’ and the whole process is painful for them. But I like the writing part.”

I know exactly what he means. I love the process too.

• I love racing through the story with the characters, trying to keep up.
• I love that the characters are patient, that they stop and wait for me once an hour or so as I cycle back to be sure I wrote everything they gave me.
• I love that the characters are glad I’m there, that sometimes they’ll even pat my shoulder and grin and say ‘You okay, old dude?’ and
• I love that when I assure them I’m fine, they race off into the story again and trust that I’ll put down their authentic story without allowing my conscious mind to intrude on it.
• I also love that the characters know their story unfolding as it will is more important to me than my own ego.

Of course, passion demands focus and time.

At least one subscriber has noticed via email that I haven’t reported writing any fiction since December. That’s because I’ve written very little fiction since my last novel ended. I’ve been stuck focusing on other matters and on whether to continue writing TNDJ.

But I really miss writing fiction. I miss my characters, and I miss recording and conveying their stories. For me, this is a truly big deal. I miss writing fiction like I would miss air if I woke up in a vacuum.

So I’m winding this thing down so I can spend more quality time with my characters. Most of my time now will be devoted to writing fiction.

My personal challenge will be to see whether I can convey more of my characters’ authentic stories even more quickly than before.

Thanks for being along for the ride.

A Few Housekeeping Notes

As I wrote awhile back, I’ll continue posting TNDJ at least every Monday with the weekly results of the Bradbury Challenge. Probably I’ll also write a process or  craft topic to accompany that report.

And should I stumble across a ‘big’ craft topic I haven’t covered before or at a level of depth I haven’t covered before, I might write and post that too separately of the weekly report.

Of course, my current advice on best practices is already available to you in

• Quiet the Critical Voice and Write Fiction, and in
• Writing Better Fiction, and in
• the TNDJ 2021–2024 archives, which are available free in searchable PDF documents if you email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com and let me know you want them.

There are also several resources available free at the Journal website and over at my author website. You can find those resources specifically at

• Writer Downloads and at
• Other Writer Resources.

Finally, guest posts are still welcome per the guidelines in this post (scroll down).

Again, thanks for being along for the ride. Our visits have been invaluable to me. Talk with you again on Monday with the Bradbury Challenge report.

Of Interest

Read Sebastian’s Comment on Yesterday’s Post. It basically constitutes a guest post, and it’s a very good one.

Writing Science Fiction

Unveiling of my Publishing Packet from Alibi Syndicate Press (The actual ‘meat’ begins at around 5 minutes into the video.)

The Numbers

The Journal………………….. 1040

Writing of

Day 1…… XXXX words. To date………… XXXXX

Fiction for March……………………….…. XXXX
Fiction for 2026…………………………… XXXX
Nonfiction for March.………………….…. 7190
Nonfiction for 2026………………..…….. 50490
2026 consumable words………………… 50490

2026 Novels to Date……………………… 0
2026 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2026 Short Stories to Date……………… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 123
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 310
Short story collections……………………. 29