What Was I Thinking?

by

In Today’s Journal

* What Was I Thinking?
* News Re the Journal Archives
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

What Was I Thinking?

One more book sold yesterday, and I’ve received one request from a writer for a book someone else had already claimed.

That’s it. Four writers out of well over 200 subscribers. I’m a little stymied. I honestly thought these would all go in only a few days.

This is an excellent opportunity for you to purchase and read like-new genre-specific writing books by accomplished fiction writers at a low cost. I’ve read most of them, but I was very gentle with them.

I guess I overestimated the level of interest.

If you want any of them but you have to delay payment until payday or something, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com to claim your books and I’ll reserve them for you. First come, first served.

You may pay via PayPal (send money to harveystanbrough@gmail.com) or via personal check (mail to me at PO Box 604, St. David AZ 85630)

Here’s an updated list of the books remaining and your cost:

General Writing Books

  • A Writer’s Companion—15.00
  • Becoming a Writer—5.00
  • Becoming a Writer | Staying a Writer—9.00
  • Character Naming Sourcebook—9.50
  • Conflict, Action & Suspense—8.00
  • The War of Art—6.00

Genre-Specific Craft Books

  • How to Write Action Adventure Novels—7.00
  • How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy—7.50
  • Mystery Writer’s Handbook—10.00
  • Mystery Writing in a Nutshell—8.50
  • Now Write! Mysteries—22.00
  • Police Procedure and Investigation—10.00
  • Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Sourcebook, 2nd ed.—10.00
  • Space Travel: A Writer’s Guide—8.50
  • Spycraft Essentials—7.50
  • The Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells—8.00
  • The Writer’s Complete Fantasy Reference—9.00
  • Writing Horror—9.00
  • Writing the Private Eye Novel—9.00
  • Writing the Thriller—7.00

Owing to the apparent level of disinterest, I probably won’t update this list again. If you happen across it later and want any of the books, let me know.

News Re the Journal Archives

In all its iterations, TNDJ offers a lot of good fiction-writing knowledge and instruction.

I’ve offered a free, searchable, downloadable version of the Journal archives free for the past several years on my website. If you took advantage of that, good for you.

But compiling those annual archives is a lot of work. Each archive is around 1000 pages and somewhere north of 350,000 words. That’s a lot of writing, and a lot of instruction.

So I’ve taken them down from the website. Soon I’ll offer them for sale on my online discount store in the Omnibus Nonfiction Collections.

  • You can buy any annual archive from 2016–2024 for $35. That’s only a little over half the cost of an annual subscription.
  • You can also buy any five archives for $150, or all ten for $250.

If you want them before I get them put up, email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. Again, you’ll receive a fully searchable PDF that covers January through December of whatever year(s) you choose.

You can make payment via PayPal or with a personal check mailed to PO Box 604, St. David AZ 85630.

I’m also thinking about compiling a Best of the Archives book for each year. If I do, that will include only whatever writing or publishing topics I covered during that year. So it won’t include personal tidbits, my numbers, etc.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

How to Write Killer Chapter Endings That Hook Readers Not vetted.

Why I Finally Built an Author Website for My Pen Name Maybe some good tips.

Here are the best-paying jobs for all 16 personality types Incudes a link to the Myers-Briggs personality type website. Good for informing your characters.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………… 580

Writing of Blackwell Ops 47: Sam Granger | Special Duty

Day 1…… 3250 words. To date…… 3250
Day 2…… 1110 words. To date…… 4360

Fiction for August..………………….. 1110
Fiction for 2025………………………. 527757
Nonfiction for August………………… 9580
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 177980
2025 consumable words…………….. 698123

2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 13
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 31
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 117
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 301
Short story collections……………………. 29