Last Day of the Contest!

In Today’s Journal

* Last Day of the Contest!
* A New Short Story
* Bradbury Reminder
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Today is the last day to enter the Echoes of Hemingway short story contest. Here’s the whole thing:

Everyone is eligible.
No entry fee.
Cash prizes.
No rights grab (see The Fine Print below).
Deadline May 31, 2025.
2000 to 7999 words.
Stories must be new and unpublished.

If I receive enough quality entries, an anthology will result, so please provide a bio of up to 200 words or so.

All stories MUST meet at least ONE of the following criteria:

be based on an idea prompted by reading a Hemingway short story or novel OR
be titled with a phrase taken from a Hemingway short story or novel OR
begin with an epigram from a Hemingway short story or novel.

Tips (Not Requirements)

Enable me to see, hear, taste, smell, and feel the setting, physically and emotionally.
When a story starter pops into your head as you’re reading, I recommend setting the Hemingway work aside and writing the story right then.
Just go with your gut and let the story lead you through to the end.

The Fine Print

I am solely responsible for judging all entries.
Writers retain the copyright to their story or stories.
If your story is accepted, you grant me and StoneThread Publishing the NON-EXCLUSIVE license to publish your story in the potential anthology.
You may also publish the story separately or in a collection or however else you choose whenever you want (even before the anthology comes out). No waiting period.
Prizes awarded constitute full payment (so no royalty split) for the right to include prize winning works in the anthology.
I will pay each non-prize winning writer $10 per story on acceptance for each story I accept for publication in the anthology. That also constitutes full payment. All payments will be made via PayPal (you do not have to have a PayPal account to access your payment).
If I publish an anthology, every writer whose work is included will also receive a free ebook of the anthology.

Prizes

Regardless of whether an anthology results, prizes for the contest will be awarded as follows for stories of adequate quality:

$100
$65
$35

I reserve the right to withhold prizes if in my judgement the stories are not of prize-winning quality.

Any questions, please email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com.

By the way, this contest is brought to you by TNDJ’s paid subscribers. If you’d like to ensure future opportunities like this, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription.

A New Short Story

“A New Threshold” went live Friday at 10 a.m. on my Stanbrough Writes Substack. This is a short story in the Blackwell Ops world. Go check it out. It’s free.

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.

Of Interest

7 Easy Ideas for Authors to Grow an Instagram Audience Yesterday I posted the wrong link. This one is correct.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………… 550

Writing of Blackwell Ops 45: Sam Granger | Ghost Trail 2

Day 1…… 2637 words. To date…… 2637
Day 2…… 3648 words. To date…… 6285
Day 3…… 3483 words. To date…… 9768
CUTS…… -4437 words. To date…… 5331
Day 4…… 3212 words. To date…… 8543
Day 5…… 2715 words. To date…… 11258

Fiction for May………………………… 82995
Fiction for 2025………………………. 461408
Nonfiction for May…………………….. 25060
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 126150
2025 consumable words…………….. 581048

Average Fiction WPD (May)………… 2767

2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 11
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 27
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 115
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 297
Short story collections……………………. 29

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Questions are always welcome at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. But please limit yourself to the topics of writing and publishing.

In Today’s Journal