In Today’s Journal
* Would You Like to Write TNDJ?
* The Novel
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Would You Like to Write TNDJ?
Not write ‘for it,’ but write TNDJ itself?
Would you like to share your process and what you learn as you write with subscribers?
If so, here’s your chance. It remains true that the best way to learn a topic is to teach it to others.
I’ve been fortunate to see lots of little glimmers over the years. Glimmers of that ‘little light’ blinking on in the minds of other fiction writers. And all of that is down to TNDJ.
What I personally learned from Dean Wesley Smith’s blog back in 2014 was instrumental in helping me become a profession fiction writer. Without what I learned from him, I wouldn’t be doing what I do today in fiction.
Likewise, TNDJ has been instrumental in introducing writers to Heinlein’s Rules and the freeing, Zen-like non-process of writing into the dark (WITD).
As I first reported in Trusting the Reader on November 26, 2025, there will come a time when I’ll be wanting to step aside and let someone else take over TNDJ.
In your own way, of course.
There will be no monetary exchange. I’m not selling TNDJ. When the time comes for me to step aside, I’ll give it away.
Why? Because legacy matters. Not mine, TNDJ’s.
As the current steward of TNDJ, I’ll ask only that
- you, as a fiction writer, believe in yourself and embrace Heinlein’s Rules and the freeing process of writing into the dark, and that
- you, as a fiction writer, are committed to telling the stories that your characters, not you, are living.
- You can be in any stage of your writing journey. That doesn’t matter. My own level of craft has vastly improved over the past almost eleven years, in large part due to writing TNDJ.
- My only caveat is that TNDJ should never teach or promote conscious-critical-mind writing.
Why? Because the other side—
the side that promotes constructing character sketches, world building, constructing outlines, conscious-mind revision, rewrites, critique groups, and whatever other fear-based critical mind writing pursuits—
already have a ton of places where they can (and do) spout off about all that.
Disguised as fiction-writing advice, all of that fear-based stuff results in writers freezing up and being unable to write or to write the characters’ authentic stories.
Beating down the second-guessing conscious, critical mind is a journey, not a solid destination. But you can do it, and you can help others do it.
Heinlein’s Rules (in their pure, original form) and WITD currently have only TNDJ and the occasional post from Dean Wesley Smith.
If anyone’s interested, please email me to let me know so we can talk about it.
I’ll also post some version of this soon on my author website, the Journal website, and my publisher website.
The Novel
Welp, I expected Blackwell Ops 52: Sam Granger | Done and Dusted to wrap yesterday, but it didn’t. I believe it will wrap this morning, barring any last-minute curve balls from the characters, probably within a few hours of me posting this.
If it does wrap, later today I’ll spell check the novel, then read it aloud (probably to my long-suffering wife), and then sent it to Russ, my first reader, and another promising young first reader.
This one will be the sixth novel I’ve written and published in 12 weeks. So the sixth novel in my second publishing streak. The first streak ran through 21 novels in 42 weeks.
So I’m basically tryin’a beat my own record. (grin) Great fun. The best comparison you can make is what you did today vs. what you did yesterday.
And yes, of course I do all my own covers, sales copy, etc.
Any questions about anything above or anything to do with fiction writing or publishing, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com.
Talk with you again soon.
The Numbers
The Journal………………….. 650
Mentorship Words…………….. 0
Total Nonfiction…………………. 650
Writing of Blackwell Ops 52: Sam Granger | Done and Dusted
Day 1…… 4693 words. To date………… 4693
Day 2…… 3623 words. To date………… 8316
Day 3…… 3530 words. To date………… 11846
Day 4…… 6309 words. To date………… 18155
Day 5…… 5129 words. To date………… 23284
Day 6…… 5217 words. To date………… 28501
Day 7…… 5617 words. To date………… 34118
Day 8…… 0539 words. To date………… 34657
Day 9…… 3452 words. To date………… 38109
Fiction for November……………………… 90419
Fiction for 2025…………………………… 752460
Nonfiction for November.………………… 23680
Nonfiction for 2025………………..……… 263150
2025 consumable words………………… 1008041
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