In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Darkness Within Darkness * The Writing * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Your utter and complete faith in writing into the dark and your daily blogging about it have helped me find my own way into it and have made fiction writing fun for me again.” Anitha Krishnan Darkness Within Darkness a guest post by Anitha Krishnan (thedreampedlar.com) I first came across the Tao Te Ching, an ancient Chinese classic text, half a decade ago, when the world was in the chokehold of a pandemic. At the time, my rational … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Value of Cycling * Writing Seminars? * Of Interest * The Numbers The Value of Cycling Here’s an excerpt from Blackwell Ops 43: Sam Granger | The Quiz Master Setting: Sam’s VaporStream device has just gone off. He’s checked it in the bedroom and is passing through the living room on his way to his laptop on the kitchen table: Aspen looked around from the couch. “That was awfully soon. So local again?” “No. I guess I’m going to Bolivia this time. Next available, so I’d better check for flights.” … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Heavily Conflicted Quote of the Day * Writers Comment: A Three-Piece… * Oh. The Novel Wrapped * Of Interest * The Numbers Heavily Conflicted Quote of the Day “Keep practicing and rewriting. Keep learning.” Dr. Diana Stout Um, which? Practicing, or rewriting? Practicing is putting new words on the page. Just sayin’. Writers Comment: A Three-Piece Guest Post Every now and then, I get lucky. That was the case when, within only a couple of days, Dave Chesson, Carrie Goebel, and Bob Calverley handed me this nicely fitting three-piece suit. Dave Chesson (the Kindlepreneur) writes about … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * Becoming a Rapid Release Author * Rapid Release is for Novelists AND… * On Artisan Authorship * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “The idea that writing frequently is inherently ‘lesser’ or that creativity can only thrive when it’s slow and tortured is such a strange myth, and it does a disservice to both writers and readers.” Elizabeth Cooper, in a comment on yesterday’s post. “If you write a lot you’ll get better and produce steady quality. If you continue writing a lot of steady quality, you’ll end … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * On Rapid Release * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Sometimes when you’re teaching others to do things, you end up learning more about the topic than you ever dreamed.” Tari Lynn Jewett “”The only person with whom you have to compare yourself is you in the past.” Sigmund Freud On Rapid Release Note: I was going to address this topic in a single post, but the length became unwieldy. So this is Part 1. Emilia’s recent comment, which I posted here in TNDJ, started me thinking. In … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * The Bradbury Challenge * I’m Stepping Aside * Today Is a Great Day to Jump In * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “You’ve never seen death? Look in the mirror every day and you will see it like bees working in a glass hive.” Jean Cocteau The Bradbury Challenge The whole point of the Challenge is to have fun and grow as a writer. There is no cost. The only requirement is to write at least one short story per week. Feel free to … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * An Excellent Comment * Thanks to a Google Alert * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “I’m a celebrity, but people are very polite and pretend they don’t know who I am.” Kurt Vonnegut An Excellent Comment I hadn’t planned to post anything today. Then I received an excellent comment from Emilia on “I write a lot because I’m a writer”. (Thanks, Emilia.) I decided to include that comment today so more of you would see it: “I read the same post by Johnny B. Truant and also … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * A New Short Story * Your Weekly Bradbury Reminder * If Anyone Else Missed It * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “We are only 1/3 of the way through the year, so more than enough time to get back on track and have a great year.” Dean Wesley Smith A New Short Story “The Journey of Jackson Trimble to Fifth and Main” went live yesterday at 10 a.m. on my Stanbrough Writes Substack. It’s a little SF story. Go check it out. It’s free. If you enjoy … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * I write a lot because I’m a writer * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Information flow is the advanced skill of getting a reader the information they need a fraction of a second before they need it in a story. … Only creative voice can pull this off.” Dean Wesley Smith Yes. In cycling, take your time. Put everything in the right order, in the sequence it happens. “People might try to dissuade you from your passion, but no one can live your life but you.” Olympia … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Need a Website? * Dean Wesley Smith * BO-42: Sam Granger * A Possible Recast in My Future * Of Interest * The Numbers Quote of the Day “Why next year? I try to teach writers to look ahead, so I am going to show you how it is done.” Dean Wesley Smith Need a Website? Okay, I won’t be taking advantage of the BookBub author website builder I mentioned in yesterday’s TNDJ, but I did check it out, and I do highly recommend it. The setup was hyper easy and … Read more