In Today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* The Novel Wrapped
* The Value of Averages
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“I have to write to be happy whether I get paid for it or not. But it is a hell of a disease to be born with. I like to do it. Which is even worse. That makes it from a disease into a vice. Then I want to do it better than anybody has ever done it which makes it into an obsession.” Ernest Hemingway, in a letter to Charles Scribner, dateline Havana, 24 February 1940
The Novel Wrapped
As I thought it would, the novel wrapped yesterday at just over 36,000 words. I spell checked it and sent it off to my first reader at about 10:40 yesterday morning.
And Russ already had it back to me by 8:30 last night. (Russ, You’ d’man!)
So in 16 calendar days (15 writing days), my 15th novel of the year (a personal record for me) and the 119th overall (in 9 years) is in the books.
That’s in addition to 10 novellas and over 300 short stories I’ve written in the same time period. Why so many fiction writers won’t even try the non-process of WITD is beyond me.
Anyway, man that feels good, especially after I lost myself for a couple of months while writing the previous one.
Russ noted, “It boggles my mind to know that this one is your 48th novel in the Blackwell Ops series.”
Yeah, I agree. It boggles my mind too. Seems like I just started the first one yesterday.
Blackwell Ops 48: Nick Parsons | Or Something… (a late-game title change) will go live at D2D, Amazon, and stores and libraries worldwide on October 25.
Of course, I’ll make the novel available immediately through my StoneThread Publishing online discount store on the same day I publish it for preorder everywhere else: today.
Not certain yet what I’ll write next, but I’ll probably go ahead and lean into BO-49, then BO-50. I’m kind’a anxious to hit that mark.
If you still haven’t pulled the trigger on trusting your characters, believing in yourself, and writing into the dark, now’s a great time to do that. And I’m right here to help. All you have to do is email me: harveystanbrough@gmail.com.
Like a great secondary character said on an episode of Death in Paradise, “It ain’t rocket surgery.” (grin)
The Value of Averages
My average daily word count was just over 2400 words per day for BO-48. I only exceeded my daily goal of 3000 words per day on 4 of the 15 days it took me to write it.
As I wrote to a friend yesterday, writing fiction is all about averages.
In addition to enabling us to see how we’re doing over time, keeping an eye on our average also serves a secondary purpose: It keeps us from feeling like crap on days when we don’t make our numbers, and it keeps us from getting too full of ourselves on days when we exceed them.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
Baker and Taylor Going Out of Business
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………… 510
Writing of Blackwell Ops 48: Nick Parsons | Or Something…
Day 1…… 2213 words. To date…… 2213
Day 2…… 1210 words. To date…… 3423
Day 3…… 1318 words. To date…… 4741
Day 4…… 2481 words. To date…… 7222
Day 5…… 1588 words. To date…… 8810
Day 6…… 2215 words. To date…… 11025
Day 7…… 4168 words. To date…… 15193
Day 8…… 2645 words. To date…… 17838
Day 9…… 1682 words. To date…… 19520
Day 10…. 3234 words. To date…… 22754
Day 11…. 1982 words. To date…… 24736
Day 12…. 3079 words. To date…… 27815
Day 13…. 3095 words. To date…… 30910
Day 14…. 2615 words. To date…… 33525
Day 15…. 2502 words. To date…… 36027 (done)
Fiction for October………………… 23555
Fiction for 2025…………………… 602093
Nonfiction for October.…………… 5200
Nonfiction for 2025……………….. 215310
2025 consumable words………… 809834
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 15
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 32
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 119
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 306
Short story collections……………………. 29