Welcome, and a New Short Story

In today’s Journal

* Quotes of the Day
* Welcome
* A New Short Story
* A Success Story
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Quotes of the Day

“Speed [in writing fiction] does not kill. But I always keep this in mind: the writing has got to be top notch.” Vincent Zandri

“If you have a number of serial readers who read everything you put out, you can’t write fast enough for them.” Vincent Zandri

Welcome

to NYT and USA Today bestselling author Vincent Zandri and any others who have recently subscribed to the Journal. I hope you will find it entertaining and useful.

For a great deal more, please see the free downloads (Journal Archives and Gifts) at https://hestanbrough.com/the-daily-journal-archives-gifts-dvds/.

A New Short Story

Per usual, I forgot to mention yesterday I published a new, previously unpublished short story on Friday. It’s a Dark Scenarios short story, and it’s titled “Turnaround.” You can read it online, free, at https://harveystanbroughwrites.com/turnaround/.

If you’d like to subscribe, again free, click https://stanbroughwrites.substack.com/p/turnaround and then click Subscribe at the bottom of the story.

A Success Story

Matt Perryman, a writer friend living in New Zealand, shared some exciting news with me in an email. Graciously, he granted me permission to pass it along to you. Here’s Matt:

“After our last conversation, which was on May 4th my time, I had a minor ‘road to Damascus’ moment in the early hours of the following morning. There’s an interesting and possibly mystical story to tell about that, maybe one day, but that’s not what I’m writing about.

“That following day, Friday May 5th, I committed to the intensive, write a story a day for 30 days, challenge.

“Well.

“I’m pleased to report that yesterday, June 3rd, I wrote my 30th consecutive story.

“The grand total for the month added up to a rounding-error on the far side of 60,000 words.

“Most of the stories will never see the light of day for a variety of reasons (none of them to do with critical voice). Some days I was on fire and on two days I struggled to get 500 words. Most days I cleared 2000 words without much trouble, writing mainly between 9 am and 11 am. I’ve met more than a few casts of characters who have novel-length and series-length stories to tell.

“But what I took away from the effort is much more important than a bunch of short stories. My craft has visibly improved. The words flow. There’s little or no anxiety as I sit down to write (and when it is there, I can put it aside and get on with the creating). I’m finding that I can almost ‘see’ the story opening up before me as I interact with the characters. I’m trusting intuition when it speaks and saying ‘yes’ instead of ‘that’ll never…’

“Anyhow. I wanted to say a gigantic ‘Thank You’ for your support, via email and through the Journal. Without you out there spreading the message of WITD and Heinlein’s Rules, month after month, there’s no telling how many people like me would still be lost inside the terminal record-skip of our own mental music. It reads like you get frustrated at times—and I do understand why with what passes for ‘writing advice’ out there—but those of us you do reach would never have made the jump otherwise. Sometimes the repetition of an idea is the idea…

“I’m not sure what’s next for me. Maybe I’ll dial back to the ‘leisurely’ pace of the Bradbury challenge. (The fact that I can write that without irony or a hint of self-doubt is worth the price of admission.) Whatever happens, I’m enjoying writing fiction for the first time in my life.”

Of course I’m happy to pass along what I’ve learned from my own experience as a writer, but Matt’s success isn’t down to me. His success is a direct result of his own efforts and his own willingness to trust himself and let go.

I wish the same for all of you.

Anyone else out there interested in doing your own WITD intensive, just follow Matt’s lead:

Write one short story per day for 30 days. Just write whatever comes, no pressure. Later you can publish or not, completely up to you. (But remember that even a story you think is terrible, someone else will find brilliant.) The point is to have fun and to practice trusting your creative subconscious.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “The Pulp Fictioneer: June Notes 2023” at https://franktheodat.substack.com/p/june-notes-2023. Good stuff, and thanks for the nod to the Journal, Frank.

See “Carbon Emission Labels on Books” at https://www.thepassivevoice.com/carbon-emission-labels-on-books/. I am not making this up.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………………… 770

Total fiction words for June……… XXXX
Total fiction words for 2023………… 97868
Total nonfiction words for June… 2230
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 111650
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 209518

Calendar Year 2023 Novels to Date…………………… 2
Calendar Year 2023 Novellas to Date……………… 0
Calendar Year 2023 Short Stories to Date………… 4
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 73
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 9
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………… 221
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31

Disclaimer: I am a prolific professional fiction writer. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark, adherence to Heinlein’s Rules, and that following the myths of fiction writing will slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.