In Today’s Journal
* My Quote of the Day
* The TNDJ Challenges Report
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
My Quote of the Day
“Fish are expert swimmers, but they can’t teach you how to tread water. The medium is the same, but the focus is different. An English teacher telling you how to write fiction is a like a fish telling you how to tread water.” Harvey
The TNDJ Challenges Report
The whole point of these challenges is to have fun and grow as a writer.
There is no cost. Feel free to jump in at any time.
Participating in any challenge is a way to drive yourself to the computer or legal pad and write fiction. It’s also a great way to build and maintain a streak.
As if writing more and better fiction isn’t enough, I even offer prizes. To see those, please visit The NEW TNDJ Challengeshttps://hestanbrough.com/the-new-tndj-challenges/.
Bradbury Challenge
The only requirement is to write at least one short story, short-short story, or essay per week.
During the past week, the following writers wrote these new stories:
- Erin Donoho “Running for Her” 3600 historical thriller
- Loyd Jenkins “The Candle in the Field” 2950 Dark Fantasy
- Loyd Jenkins “The Bells of Ardent Abby” 1810 Gothic Dark Fantasy
- Vanessa V. Kilmer “Peeking and Other Sins” 2997 Fantasy
- Christopher Ridge “Searching. Humanity not found” Sci-fi 1953
- KC Riggs “The Viewing” General Fiction 1417
- Dave Taylor “The Watcher” 3,060 Post-Apocalyptic
- Mattie Fern Worrix “Dodgeball Marriage” 3016 Romance
The Stephen King Challenge
The requirement is to maintain an average of at least 1000 words per day as you proceed through writing a novel or novella.
- Jacob Hawes “Crystal God 2” 8231 Fantasy To date 58942
The Run With Harvey Challenge
I write both shorter and longer works, so I changed this one a little.
The requirement now is to strive to average at least 1000 words per day. The words can go into any short or long fiction or both.
- Balázs Jámbor 11500 words this week
- Christopher Ridge 6033 words this week.
Congratulations to all of these writers.
Talk with you again soon.
Of Interest
How to find balance as a writer in the real world Check the “Productivity Challenge”
Horror: Why we’re talking about the spine-tingling genre
Just for Grins: 35 Funniest The Far Side Comics That Will Never Get Old
Coming Soon on Your Morning Serial!
The Numbers
The Journal………………….. 380
Mentorship Words…………….. 0
Total Nonfiction…………………. 380
Writing of Blackwell Ops 50: Sam Granger | Rocky Ground
Day 1…… 1440 words. To date…… 1440
Day 2…… 2986 words. To date…… 4426
Fiction for October………………… 63414
Fiction for 2025…………………… 641952
Nonfiction for October.…………… 21630
Nonfiction for 2025……………….. 231740
2025 consumable words………… 866123
2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 16
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 36
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 120
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 310
Short story collections……………………. 29