In Today’s Journal
* The TNDJ Challenges Report
* On ‘Rules’ of Writing Fiction
* Subscription News
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
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. To do so, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com with your results anytime before TNDJ goes live on any Monday.
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:
- Loyd Jenkins “The Second to Show, the First to Slay” 2000 Heroic Fantasy
- Vanessa V. Kilmer “Ditch Witch” 3147 Paranormal
- Christopher Ridge “Last Flight. Last Bite” 4052 Creature Horror
- KC Riggs “Cold Coffee” 1986 words General Fiction
- Dave Taylor “The Letter ” 4,373 Science Fiction
The Stephen King Challenge
The requirement is to average at least 1000 words per day. The words can go into any short or long fiction or both.
- Christopher Ridge 4052 words this week.
- Violet Vincent 2485 words this week.
Congratulations to all of these writers.
On ‘Rules’ of Writing Fiction
A while back I mentioned I usually do things Right Now, partly as a way to keep those things from falling through the cracks. That doesn’t always work.
Yesterday, while going through my inbox and deleting old and unnecessary emails, I came across an email from January 3rd I’d failed to answer. Sigh. That’s annoying.
My friend BC sent me a link to an article he thought might be a good fit for Of Interest.
I answered his email to thank him and apologize for the tardiness of my reply, then came here to write this.
Here’s what he sent me:
Here’s a piece on writing fiction from a writing teacher. I found some useful advice here, particularly a statement that she never found a rule that she believed in. I found more that was good than was bad.
Okay. I’m set in my ways, so I opted not to read the article. My fault. If I miss something, I’ll live without it.
As for my ‘ways,’ I do my best to adhere to Heinlein’s Rules and I advocate that other serious writers do the same.
I’ve also found of use a few other bits of advice from some other long-time professional fiction writers, and I follow those.
Plus, as a guy who’s been teaching writing in one form or another for about as long as the author of the article has, I’ve made up a few rules of my own.
Of course by virtue of having written the article, the author has made up some of her own ‘rules,’ including “Rip Up All the Rules!” so….
Anyway, she or whomever wrote the intro to the article calls her own rules ‘tips’ instead of ‘rules.’ Point taken. I usually refer to mine as ‘guidelines.’ Potayto, potahto, spud.
Anyway, I’ve linked to the article as the first item in Of Interest. I’m sure you can make up your own mind.
Subscription News
Just being fair here….
I figured I might not be able to stick with my determination to send some posts only to paid subscribers. And especially with TNDJ going out less frequently in the foreseeable future, I can’t.
I’ve said before that I wish TNDJ had been around when I was starting out. In my opinion, it’s that valuable. Your opinion might differ.
If you’re a paid subscriber because you find value in TNDJ and can afford your paid subscription, Thank You. I appreciate it.
But if you bought a paid subscription and would like to rescind it (I don’t wanna take food off your table), please feel free. If you need help in switching from paid back to free, email me to let me know. (For recent subscribers, I can issue refunds too.)
From here on out, I expect to send every issue of TNDJ to everybody, paid and free subscribers alike.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Dreaming of writing your novel this year? Rip up all the rules!
Everything You Need to Know About Chaos Magic
Amazon Book Description Generator
You can also download Dave’s free PDF ‘formula’ for writing fiction and nonfiction book descriptions.
Again, the best source I’ve personally seen for writing great book descriptions is Dean Wesley Smith’s How to Write Fiction Sales Copy. I also recommend buying the paper edition. Mine is dogeared.
The Numbers
The Journal………………….. 730
Mentorship Words…………….. 0
Total Nonfiction…………………. 730
Writing of
Day 1…… XXXX words. To date………… XXXXX
Fiction for January………………………… XXXX
Fiction for 2026…………………………… XXXX
Nonfiction for January.…………………… 7860
Nonfiction for 2026………………..……… 7860
2026 consumable words………………… 7860
2026 Novels to Date……………………… 0
2026 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2026 Short Stories to Date……………… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 123
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 310
Short story collections……………………. 29