In Today’s Journal
* My Quote of the Day
* The TNDJ Challenges Report
* Last-Minute Christmas Gifts for Readers and Writers
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
My Quote of the Day
“There will be days when you write less fiction than you planned, or when you write nothing at all. Don’t get down on yourself. Learn to smile and say ‘So what?’ Because today is a new day.” Harvey
The TNDJ Challenges Report
Participating in any challenge is a great way to have fun and grow as a writer.
There is no cost. Feel free to jump in at any time. Email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com.
Bradbury Challenge
The requirement is to write at least one short story or short-short story per week.
During the past week, the following writers wrote these new stories:
- Vanessa V. Kilmer “Bread Dough and Cookies” 3627 Romance
- Christopher Ridge “The Caretaker” 2211 psychological horror
- KC Riggs “Green Grass in December” 1413 WTHK
- Dave Taylor “The Sleeper” 2611 Magical Realism
The Stephen King Challenge
The requirement is to strive to average at least 1000 words per day. The words can go into any short or long fiction or both.
Erin Donoho No report this week
Balázs Jámbor No report this week
Christopher Ridge 2211 words this week.
Violet Vincent 5432 words this week. Great start!
Congratulations to all of these writers.
Last-Minute Christmas Gifts
for Readers
contains 20 stories that cross the genres from noir to action-adventure to literary to science fiction to fantasy and more.
The anthology features 13 authors from bestsellers to prizewinning prolific professional storytellers to amateurs. And every story had its seed in a story or novel by Ernest Hemingway.
Echoes of Ellison contains 14 tales reminiscent of Harlan Ellison’s stories, ranging from the not-quite normal to the fantastic, from the tragic to the comedic, from the dark tale to the fairytale.
And for Writers
25% off Quiet the Critical Voice At checkout, add coupon code MHGUD585KD.
25% off Writing Better Fiction At checkout, add coupon code Q9KFJT62D0.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Findings: A Bogey Tale Robert Louis Stevenson wrote into the dark: 30,000 words in three days. When he didn’t like what he’d written, he recast the whole story, again writing into the dark, again in three days.
The Numbers
The Journal………………….. 370
Mentorship Words…………….. 0
Total Nonfiction…………………. 370
Writing of Blackwell Ops 53: Jack Striker | The Next Level
Day 1…… 2035 words. To date………… 2035
Day 2…… 2217 words. To date………… 4252
Day 3…… 3751 words. To date………… 8003
Day 4…… 2218 words. To date………… 10221
Day 5…… 2181 words. To date………… 12402
Day 6…… 1673 words. To date………… 14075
Day 7…… 1972 words. To date………… 16047
Day 8…… 2081 words. To date………… 18128
Day 9…… 2694 words. To date………… 20822
Day 10…. 2712 words. To date………… 23534
Day 11…. 1581 words. To date………… 25115
Day 12…. 1155 words. To date………… 26270
Fiction for December……………………… 26270
Fiction for 2025…………………………… 780197
Nonfiction for December.………………… 22890
Nonfiction for 2025………………..……… 288020
2025 consumable words………………… 1061368
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 18
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 36
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 122
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 310
Short story collections……………………. 29