In Today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* Interesting Fact of the Day
* Poetry?
* Storytelling at Depth?
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quotes of the Day
From ten years ago… “I have to finish the next book. The actual writing [is getting] harder. I’m rewriting. I’m struggling.” George R.R. Martin, fretting over finishing his Game of Thrones series/saga
Dr. Stanbrough would say George needs to take a deep breath and stop worrying over whether the next book will be ‘as good’ as the earlier ones. Apparently he eventually did.
“You look ridiculous if you dance. You look ridiculous if you don’t dance. So you might as well dance.” Gertrude Stein, from “Three Lives”
Interesting Fact of the Day
Under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848, Mexico surrendered about 55% of its (then) territory, including the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming.
Story ideas? Anyone?
Poetry?
I have a bunch of paper copies of Beyond the Masks, an original poetry collection I compiled in the early 2000s. The collection was nominated for a hefty literary award (I don’t remember which one, but I think it was the Pulitzer) back in 2006 or so.
If you’d like a personal copy, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. The cost is $1.00 (one dollar) over the price of shipping at the ‘media’ rate.
If you’d like more than one copy (for donations or gifts or whatever), let me know that too and we’ll box ’em up. Same deal. $1 (per copy) over shipping.
Storytelling at Depth?
TNDJ has enjoyed an upsurge in new subscribers recently, so I thought I’d mention this again. I think I last ran it when I was offering a short story contest.
I’ve published a series of three posts on Storytelling at Depth.
These three posts will teach you more about their topics than you can get in most paid seminars or online classes.
And even if you’ve read these post before, they make for a great review. If you’ve been writing fiction since you saw them the last time (or read about them elsewhere) your creative subconscious has changed. You might learn more this time through.
Take another shot at these three essential elements of storytelling:
- In the first post, I talked about the Cliffhanger/Hook combo.
- In the second, I talked about Grounding the Reader.
- In the third, I discussed The Elements of Pacing
After you’ve read them, email me with any questions you might have. I’d be happy to elaborate.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Heavy Is the Crown: George R.R. Martin on His Triumphs and Torments
Four Essential Indie Publishing Books Kickstarter
The Numbers
The Journal………………….. 450
Mentorship Words…………….. 100
Total Nonfiction…………………. 550
Writing of
Day 1…… XXXX words. To date………… XXXXX
Fiction for January………………………… XXXX
Fiction for 2026…………………………… XXXX
Nonfiction for January.…………………… 2080
Nonfiction for 2026………………..……… 21670
2026 consumable words………………… 21670
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