In Today’s Journal * Raw Emotion: Some Musings * Of Interest * The Numbers Raw Emotion: Some Musings A thought occurred awhile back as I talked with a friend who said the horror of one scene I’d written that evoked such fear that she had to take a day off from reading the story. I took the reader’s unease as a great compliment, albeit a left-handed one. In this case, I thought it might mean s/he didn’t want to read another book (of mine) in which similar scenes might occur. Fair enough. (Reader taste.) But it served only to encourage … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Another Spreadsheet Revelation * Results Begin to Trickle In * The Writing * The Numbers Another Spreadsheet Revelation Sigh. But that’s all right. I promised to share lows (and errors) as well as highs in the hope that both would cut the learning curve for someone, so here goes. Yesterday, I glanced back over my entire annual spreadsheet for this year. And I started thinking (with a frown), How in the world can I be so close to going over 1,000,000 words on the year when I’ve had several paltry months? I mean, in four of … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Steven Pressfield Again * Took Most of the Day Off * On Pacing and Paragraphing * Of Interest * The Numbers Steven Pressfield Again After I posted yesterday’s issue of TNDJ I revisited Steven Pressfield’s website and noticed a little note in the upper right corner that read “Continue to Website.” I clicked it. His actual website is here. I encourage you to visit. He even offers a free 5-audio-lessons course on The War of Art. It might be worth your while even if you already have the book. Took Most of the Day Off Welp, … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The December Run with Harvey Challenge * The Novel Wrapped, But in an Ugly Way * Steven Pressfield and The War of Art * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “Truly great novels are driven by unforgettable characters.” Jake at Writem Finally, something on which I and the writer(s) at Writem can fully agree. (grin) “Staple it to the inside of your eyeballs, folks: All good fiction is character-driven.” Harvey Stanbrough, the opening sentence of Chapter 1 of Writing the Character-Driven Story, the now unpublished book largely included … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quotes of the Day * The Writing * The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting * Writem et al (Part 2) * Of Interest * The Numbers Quotes of the Day “When a woman tries, she’s got it all over us guys in pretty much every way. Lucky us.” Harry Tidwell in Blackwell Ops 32: Harry Tidwell “There are lots of people teaching/talking about plotting, discovery writing, pantsing, etc…and you don’t really hear them talking about “the Other side” ie. WITD. In fact, many of them will even say that anything that isn’t ‘their’ brand of writing isn’t … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Writem et al (Part 1) * Yesterday * Of Interest * The Numbers Writem et al, Part 1 As a subscriber, I was very surprised to receive a post from Writem in my inbox touting the benefits of outlining. Which is to say touting the benefits of bowing to unreasoning fear and letting the conscious, critical mind not only to dictate your fiction, but allowing it to lead the way into your fiction. I’ll say up front, if outlining and following the other myths of writing “works for you” in some undefined way, more power to … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * A New Short Story * Reminder * So My Character Said “Hold My Beer and Watch This!” * The Numbers Quote of the Day “I outlined one novel. Took well over a year. Never wrote it. I lost interest, because I’d already written the novel in outline form. [Why tell a story I already know?] [But] I’m not a ‘pantser’ anymore than you’re a ‘plodder.’ I simply run through the story with the characters as it unfolds around us. Youi know, like we [all] do in our own story in everyday … Read more

In Today’s Journal * More Gift Subscriptions * I Decided to Try Something New * Name Changes? * Call for Entries * The Writing * Of Interest * The Numbers More Gift Subscriptions For whatever reason, Jake at Writem has authorized me to give away three more 1-month gift subscriptions to Writem. I have no way of knowing your level of interest or whether you’re already a Writem subscriber, so if you’d like one, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. I Decided to Try Something New Even as outspoken as I’ve been about generative artificial intelligence (generative AI), I decided I was … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Writem Gift Subscription * What to Do When a Story Goes Blue? * Of Interest * The Numbers Writem Gift Subscription I still have one gift subscription left. Email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com if you want one. Great things coming at Writem! What to Do When a Story Goes Blue? When you teach transparently, sometimes it becomes necessary to talk about topics or methods that some might find a little unsettling. This is one of those times. Other than reporting my progress in The Numbers below, I very seldom talk about a work in progress. But my … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Selfish and Stupid Is a Bad Mixture * The December ‘Run With Harvey’ Challenge * Goals vs. Dreams * The Numbers Selfish and Stupid Is a Bad Mixture Fifty-six people die in southeast Guinea from violence and crowd surge following a controversial call made by a referee at a soccer match. What? 56 people died and 56 families were devastated over a ‘controversial call…at a soccer match’? Yeah, I know it’s happened before. So why was anyone at that soccer match in the first place? I can only hope those 56 … Read more