In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Welcome * Correction * One More Note on Goals * Something I Wish for You * Back to Research for a Moment * The Writing Yesterday * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “[T]rust your own writing and voice. Act like an artist instead of a doormat for heaven’s sake.” Dean Wesley Smith “I ghosted a novel set in Argentina a couple of years ago. When writing a scene, I logged on to ‘airport Buenos Aires images,’ picked out a few details, and wrote my characters walk-through. I … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Research for Fiction Writers * The Novel Wrapped * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “With the old economics destroyed, organizational forms perfected for industrial production have to be replaced with structures optimized for digital data. It makes increasingly less sense even to talk about a publishing industry, because the core problem publishing solves — the incredible difficulty, complexity, and expense of making something available to the public — has stopped being a problem.” Clay Shirky “A revolution is brewing in the music business as a new generation … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * A Little Fluidity Is Good * Two Kinds of Writing Instructors/Bloggers * To My Surprise * On Goals, Adjustments, Available Time, and Priorities * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “You have no sense of the tragic.” “Oh for God’s sake. When things are wrong you change them. You don’t set them to strings.” Two characters in the John M. Williams short story “The Weariness of the South,” in the collection of the same name (A recent post by another writer brought this to the forefront of my … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting * Flash Sale * On Modifying Routines and Adjusting Goals * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “These types of challenges open other doors and opportunities. Stories that would’ve never been written if it wasn’t for the challenge.” Christopher Ridge on The Bradbury Challenge “His inner child had no critical voice. Its a kid, it just wants to play. I noticed if I stay in THAT mindset I have no problem writing into the dark and getting a story done. Its a fun … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Reminder * Yesterday * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “These types of challenges open other doors and opportunities. Stories that would’ve never been written if it wasn’t for the challenge.” Christopher Ridge on The Bradbury Challenge Reminder Everybody who is still in the Bradbury Challenge send me your story info tonight by midnight AZ time. Or before the Journal goes live tomorrow morning. If you want to jump in, there’s never a better time than the present. Just send your story title, word count, and genre (if … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * A New Story * Scale Your Writing Business * This Morning * Yesterday * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “The creative process is not controlled by a switch you can simply turn on or off—it’s with you all the time.” Alvin Ailey A New Story “Maldito & the Tourists,” the third story in an interconnected series of ten magic realism stories, went live yesterday on my Stanbrough Writes Substack. If you enjoy magic realism or Mexico, you probably don’t want to miss this series of stories. To … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Welcome * Monique from Atticus, and Goals * You Tube, Take Two * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” TS Eliot “I think the secret is to not over think the process, and daily word counts are king. It ensures you always have consistent word production.” Christopher Ridge Welcome Welcome to Charles C, Jeff A, and any other new readers or subscribers of the Journal. I hope you … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Welcome * Something Silly * On Being Busy * A Few Words on False Pride * A Very Short Story * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “As I wrote in ‘A Note on Pacing’ (see Of Interest), what causes readers to turn pages has nothing to do with speed. The formula is Depth + Tension = Anticipation. Anticipation is what causes readers to turn pages, and you can create tension with a slower pace just as you can with a faster pace.” Harvey Stanbrough … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * How to Achieve Your Goals * Updates * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “The only vice that cannot be forgiven is hypocrisy. The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy.” William Hazlitt How to Achieve Goals The other day, I set what might appear to some of you to be pretty lofty goals. But I did not set them lightly. I didn’t set any goals I can’t reach. But if I focus on the annual goals themselves, (19 novels, at least two new nonfiction … Read more

In today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Audio Lectures Giveaway Extended * No Mentorships for Now * The Writing * Updates * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life.” Robin Sharma Audio Lectures Giveaway Extended For two weeks, I’ve been giving away any or all of my audio lectures to any subscriber or reader of the Journal who emails me to ask for them. There’s a reason for that. Some of them are going away. I’m extending the offer for today only. I will … Read more