In Today’s Journal
* My Quote of the Day
* On This Particular Morning
* The Novel Wrapped
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
My Quote of the Day
“If you fail [at WITD,] what’s the worst that will happen? Nothing.” Harvey
On This Particular Morning (April 5, 2015)
a guest post from my past self
And on this particular morning, I awoke realizing I had a short story due. In April 2014, I challenged myself to write at least one new short story each week.
To help keep myself motivated, I created a website (HEStanbrough.com) and posted those stories live each week. I left each story up, free for anyone to read, until the next week’s story went up. Some of you, maybe, have been along for the ride. If so, thanks, I appreciate the company.
Well this morning, in addition to realizing I had a deadline due, I also experienced an epiphany.
After a year of following Heinlein’s Rules (Heinlein’s Business Habits) and Writing Into the Dark, I realized the greatest gift that process has given me.
[WITD has] rewarded me dozens of times in various ways, not the least of which are 59 short stories in 52 weeks, four novels (plus two underway) and a novella. Oh, plus the compilation of sixteen collections of short fiction and a trilogy. All of that in the past year. Cool.
But the most valuable gift I’ve received as a result of following Heinlein’s Rules and Writing Into the Dark is the ability to wake up on Sunday morning, suddenly realize that I have a story due on Monday morning, and feel Not One Ounce of Trepidation.
Instead, a sense of calm settles over me. I have no idea what I will write, how long it will be or what genre it will be. But because I follow Heinlein’s Rules and Writing Into the Dark, I know that sometime during the day, a character will come up to me. He will point to his problem and say something like, “Would’ya just look at this? Now what am I gonna do?”
Then he’ll trudge off into his setting and, being the nice guy that I am, I’ll follow him. I’ll watch and listen carefully as he solves his problem.
I’ll also record the result, and at the end of the day I will have written a new short story. Incredible. I am without a doubt the luckiest man on Earth, Lou Gehrig notwithstanding.
To top it all off, this will be the 52nd consecutive week of writing and publishing at least one new short story per week. So there y’go.
In April 2014 I challenged myself to write at least one short story per week every week for a year. Today, over on HEStanbrough.com, I posted “A False Sense of Finality” and with that short story completed my challenge.
Of course, I also have a streak going. I’ve written at least one short story every week for 52 weeks straight. So I’ll keep that going for awhile longer yet, but I don’t feel quite as much pressure over it now that I reached my goal. That was a major milestone, and I feel an incredible sense of accomplishment.
Of course, a short story takes only a few hours to write and I was writing only one a week. Seems easy, right?
All I can say is I hope you’ll try it. If you enjoy writing short fiction, set a challenge for yourself to write one short story per week for a year. Lay your ears back and attack.
If you fail, what’s the worst that will happen? Nothing.
And if you succeed, at the end of a year you will have written 52 short stories and (I hope) compiled them into ten 5-story collections and five 10-story collections. So you will have written 52 stories and created 67 publications.
But what about Heinlein’s Rules? And what about Writing Into the Dark? Will those things work for you?
In a word, Yes.
I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane. (grin) Meanwhile, back in the present….
The Novel Wrapped
And the title (and the underlying focus of the whole story) changed on the last day. What a trip this has been! BO-50 Sam Granger | A Zero-Sum Game is the 17th novel on the year, the 50th in the Blackwell Ops series, and the 121st overall.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
The Numbers
The Journal………………….. 730
Mentorship Words…………….. 150
Total Nonfiction…………………. 880
Writing of Blackwell Ops 50: Sam Granger | A Zero-Sum Game
Day 1…… 1440 words. To date………… 1440
Day 2…… 2986 words. To date………… 4426
Day 3…… 3523 words. To date………… 7949
Day 4…… 3315 words. To date………… 11264
Day 5…… 4128 words. To date………… 15392
Day 6…… 2990 words. To date………… 18382
Day 7…… 3330 words. To date………… 21712
Day 8…… 3572 words. To date………… 25284
Day 9…… 3101 words. To date………… 28385
Day 10…. 3469 words. To date………… 31854
Day 11…. 4781 words. To date………… 36635 (done)
Fiction for November……………………… 14923
Fiction for 2025…………………………… 676964
Nonfiction for November.………………… 4760
Nonfiction for 2025………………..……… 244170
2025 consumable words………………… 913565
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 17
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 36
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 121
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 310
Short story collections……………………. 29