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 thing to do.” George Kordonis, on Ray Bradbury
The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting
Reporting your numbers to other writers can help encourage them and yourself to keep writing. It’s why I post my new numbers each day in the last section of the Journal.
Anyone can jump in (or jump back in) and join or rejoin the challenge at any time. There’s no cost.
This is a great way to jumpstart your writing and get more practice pushing down the critical voice.
Notice, there’s no pressure re submitting or publishing. That’s up to you.
The point of this challenge — the point of all writing challenges — is to have fun and grow as a writer. Learning to keep track of your writing is a bonus.
During the past week, in addition to whatever other fiction they’re writing, the following writers reported their progress:
Short Fiction
- Balázs Jámbor “Illusion: a World of Heroes story” 2700 Urban fantasy
- George Kordonis “The Ringing”2011 Urban Fantasy
- Adam Kozak “Life Carving” 2846 Magical Realism
- Christopher Ridge “Home Project” 700 thriller
- K.C. Riggs “Not Too Late” 5969 A Rainey Wingate Short Story
Longer Fiction
- Balázs Jámbor *Kylen’s Story* (tentative title) 2000 Fantasy (23800 to date)
Flash Sale
I’m gonna try this and see what happens. (grin) If any of you would like to read (for pleasure first) and then study any of my works to see in action the techniques I teach, this is a great time to start.
For today only you can get any of my novels for only $1 each. The limit is 5 novels per person. So you can get up to 5 novels for less than the price of one. The sale ends when I get to work in the morning.
You may select from among the one-offs, or from any series, or from different series.
1. To begin, visit StoneThreadPublishing.com and select any genre from the menu tabs. (The discounts we mention there will not apply to this sale.)
2. Make your selections and email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. Be sure to say which books you want and in which eformat you want them. Otherwise I will send them in .epub.
3. I will send your selected novels to you along with instructions on how to pay via PayPal or check. Or you can click this Donation link and send your payment that way.
On Modifying Routines and Adjusting Goals
I am constantly modifying my routine a little at a time, always looking for more efficiency. Before I leave a room (whether the Hovel, the house, or the living room when I’m watching TV with my wife), I look around to see whether I can take anything with me, either to save myself an extra trip later or to save someone else that trip. I do the same in my job.
Beginning on Day 3 in Numbers (below) , I had missed my daily goal for three days in a row. And on the two days immediately after that, I had to stay an hour longer in the Hovel to reach it. So I considered lowering it from 4000 words per day to 3500. That extra half-hour can make all the difference.
I don’t want to go back to 3000 WPD and I doubt I ever will. I know I can make that with relative ease because I have done so for so long. And if you can meet a goal with ease, it isn’t making you stretch. So it isn’t helping.
The last two days I only narrowly missed, then far exceeded the goal. That was the result of making only minor adjustments. So I’ll leave my daily goal where it is for now and hope to adjust it upward in the future.
I didn’t adjust my goal to a lower number, but I did adjust my routine a little. Now I go straight from posting the Journal to my writing ‘puter, open it, read over what I wrote the day before (cycling), then begin the day’s writing when I reach the white space. I recommend it.
Many of you have less time in the day to write than I do, and most of you don’t post to a blog every day, and so on. On the other hand, if you have less time in the day to write, it’s probably because you are also much younger than I am and therefore have different committments.
Still, be glad you got into writing fiction at a much younger age than I did. Every word you put on the page, every scene or story or novel you write, is practice. And whatever anyone else says, Practice is invaluable in writing fiction.
So yes, our lives are different, but it all evens out.
Your daily goal might be lower than mine, or it might be higher. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that it drives you to the keyboard one more time and that it makes you stretch a little but without stressing you out.
And if you fail to reach it one day (or multiple days) you DO still “fail to success,” as DWS says. Because of your goal, you will have written more than you would have if you hadn’t set a goal in the first place.
Much more on all of this tomorrow. Don’t miss it.
I’ll talk with you again then.
Of Interest
Six Things Writers Need To Stop Worrying About From now on, anytime I don’t have anything else for Of Interest, I’ll run this link. It’s something every fiction writer should read at least twice.
Just for fun, An Essay on Pope (Satire, a PDF download for any poets or English or English-Lit majors or people who enjoy my writing)
The Numbers
The Journal……………………………… 1030
Writing of Blackwell Ops 17:
Day 1…… 4204 words. To date…… 4204
Day 2…… 4284 words. To date…… 8488
Day 3…… 3355 words. To date…… 11843
Day 4…… 1623 words. To date…… 13466
Day 5…… 1284 words. To date…… 14750
Day 6…… 4065 words. To date…… 18815
Day 7…… 4083 words. To date…… 22898
Day 8…… 3903 words. To date…… 26801
Day 9…… 5226 words. To date…… 32027
Day 10…. 3304 words. To date…… 35331
Fiction for January……………………. 23488
Fiction for 2024…………………………. 23488
Fiction since October 1…………… 326545
Nonfiction for January……………… 7780
Nonfiction for 2024…………………… 7780
2024 consumable words…………… 31268
2024 Novels to Date……………………… 0
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………… 82
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)…… 238
Short story collections…………………… 31
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Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Unreasoning fear and the myths of writing will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.