In Today’s Journal
* A New Short Story
* About the TNDJ Challenges
* Scams Abound
* The Numbers
A New Short Story
“One Late Afternoon in Lower Alabama” went live yesterday at 10 a.m. on my Stanbrough Writes Substack. Go check it out. It’s free.
If you enjoy the story, please click Like. Comments are welcome too. Both help with my Substack algorithms. Then tell Everyone else. Gracias.
About the TNDJ Challenges
Hey, the more the merrier. I’m offering three different challenges now through TNDJ: The long-running Bradbury Challenge plus the Stephen King Challenge and the Run With Harvey Challenge.
Of course, there is no cost and you can jump into any challenge at any time. The only requirement is that you intend to keep going. You can find the “rules,” including prizes, here.
The Bradbury Challenge requires you to write a new short story every week. When the week begins and ends is up to you, but you’ll report to me each week on Sunday (or before TNDJ goes live on Monday morning).
The Stephen King Challenge requires you to maintain an average of at least 1000 words per day as you proceed through writing a novel or novella.
The Run With Harvey Challenge requires you to strive to average at least 1000 words per day. The words can go into any short or long fiction or both.
Having a place to report really does help with your writing.
And remember, if you finish a story earlier in the week, you can send the info to me early too. It never hurts to avoid pushing the deadline.
Scams Abound
Just when I think I have nothing to pass along to you guys….
I received an email recently from a guy who runs a ‘reader group’ on Amazon. Apparently anyone can create such a group. The email read
Harvey, I read your bio born in New Mexico, seasoned in Texas, baked in Arizona and I have to say, you sound like a man forged by words and weather. Over 100 novels, hundreds of short stories, and still sharing wisdom through your nonfiction and The New Daily Journal… seriously, how do you even find time to breathe? 😅
I’m Ultimate Community Readers, running a private group of 2,000+ passionate readers who love uncovering master storytellers writers like you whose craft deserves more conversation, more visibility, and more voices echoing back.
Your discipline and legacy deserve a wider audience, and that’s exactly what we do: connect authentic readers with authors worth talking about.
So… what do you say, Harvey? Ready to let my readers explore your world and start spreading the word everywhere they read?
C’mon, man! But I was impressed that the guy had at least read my bio, so I emailed him back:
Hi there.
I’m actually at 121 novels now, as well as 10 novellas and well over 300 short stories. And yes, I do try to pass along what I’ve learned about fiction writing in my nonfiction books and almost every day in The New Daily Journal. I also currently have five mentoring students. Shrug. It’s a living.
My novels, novellas, and stories are spread over several genres:
-
- a period western saga (22 novels),
- an action-adventure saga (4 novels),
- an SF saga (10 novels),
- a mystery pulp/PI series (11 novels), and
- an action-adventure-thriller series (Blackwell Ops, 50 novels. I’m currently writing the 51st novel in the series).
The remaining 24 novels and novellas are all one-offs or pairs in various genres.
I’d be happy to send you one novel from each of two genres in .mobi, .epub, or .pdf for your group as samples.
If you’d like to take advantage of this offer, email me with your requested genre(s) and preferred eformat. I’ll select a book (or one from each of two genres) and send it to you free of charge.
However, I don’t pay for reviews or for connecting me or my work to readers.
I thought I wouldn’t hear back from the guy. But guess what? Yep. One more email.
Just to clarify how our reader feature works: there’s no payment for reviews at all.
His emphasis, not mine. I think this is what some of my friends call “chutzpah.” In the next paragraph, he wrote
The small $15 thank-you per reader is simply a coffee appreciation gesture from you
Sigh. Of course it is.
The Numbers
The Journal………………….. 710
Mentorship Words…………….. 0
Total Nonfiction…………………. 710
Writing of Blackwell Ops 51: Sam Granger | To Be Determined
Day 1…… 2807 words. To date………… 2807
Day 2…… 2489 words. To date………… 5296
Fiction for November……………………… 23357
Fiction for 2025…………………………… 685398
Nonfiction for November.………………… 7790
Nonfiction for 2025………………..……… 247260
2025 consumable words………………… 925089
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