Bradbury, and The New TNDJ

In Today's Journal

* The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting
* Quote of the Decade
* The New TNDJ
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

The Bradbury Challenge Writers Reporting

The whole point of the Challenge is to have fun and grow as a writer. There is no cost. The only requirement is to write at least one short story per week.

During the past week, in addition to whatever other fiction they’re writing, the following writers reported these new stories:

• Balázs Jámbor "Hungarian criminals part 2. - Girls" 3500 crime story

• Vanessa V. Kilmer "Thick Threads of Summer" 3811 Fantasy

• Harvey Stanbrough “Freddie Salomar” 1820 Crime Assassin

• Dave Taylor "Sett'n the Record Straight” 2,143 paranormal/horror

Bradbury on Steroids

This one requires at least two short stories per week.

• Christopher Ridge "Attack of the Flying Spiders" horror 2551

• Christopher Ridge "Chuckles with a Side of Chopping" horror 2452

Congratulations to all of these writers! And to you writers, thanks for letting me be part of your exciting journey.

Quote of the Decade

In a comment on "An Intimate Look at the Myths" Peter wrote

" 'The first book took 15 years, the second only 7; the final mainstream trilogy volume is at least 5 more years in the future.'

"I subscribe via RSS to a mixed bag of writing blogs. I came across that [quote] this morning in the comments section of one of them. My review: Only 7 [years]? Good grief.

"But, I hasten to add, to each their own [emphasis added]. If they're happy with the rate of production, who am I, or who is anyone else, to rain on their parade? It makes for one less competitor in the book market."

Thank you, Peter. Sincerely. Your comment is absolutely correct. Your logic is flawless.

As an instructor, I've often said that different students need to hear or read lessons presented in different ways in order to finally understand. As you will see, I am no different as a student.

The New TNDJ

I called the quote above the "Quote of the Decade" because after almost eleven years, it finally sank in:

Peter's right: If other writers, novices or otherwise, want to write per the myths, that is their business.

The longer they spend puttering—outlining, revising, rewriting, etc.—especially if they're also mindlessly submitting to the overlords in New York, the longer their inauthentic stories will remain off the market.

That's good for them and for the rest of us.

They can admire how hard they work at plodding through the steps of writing 'right,' and the rest of us can keep writing and publishing and enjoying the less-muddied waters of discoverability.

It's always been difficult for me to walk past a flooding river, see any creature flailing in it, and not at least try to help.

But I've done that, and I think I'm safe in saying I've done it more than most. Maybe even more than my unintentional mentor, Dean Wesley Smith.

For almost eleven years, I've been standing on my little dry rock and heaving lifelines to others almost every morning. But frankly it's a little overwhelming.

All the while, far upstream, thousands more young writers and would-be writers are bending to the fear of What Might Happen if they choose to believe in themselves and remain on dry land.

So they face the torrent of water, see thousand of other writers moving past, then clasp their hands and dive like lemmings into what they apparently perceive is the safety of numbers.

Of course, drowning with many is no different than drowning alone. Not only can I not save them all, but nobody can. You can't pull a guy out of the water if he refuses to grab the rope.

Again, I'm no different. I pulled myself out of that same flood almost eleven years ago, having grabbed the lifeline of Heinleins' Rules and Writing Into the Dark. Then I shoved the baseless fears aside and bent to the task of trying WITD for myself.

It worked. So I started writing what eventually became several hundred thousand words about the myths, Heinlein's Rules, and the wonderfully freeing non-process of writing into the dark.

It's enough. I've done my part.

As a final offer to those awash in the critical mind and the myths, if you email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com I'll send you a free copy of Quiet the Critical Voice and Write Fiction.

Now it's time to turn my back, head for dry land, and focus again on moving forward.

TNDJ will continue,

but less often than daily. If that is a relief to you, you're welcome. If it is a disappointment, my apologies.

Either way, this new direction is a nod to those who are or want to be serious about advancing in the craft of writing fiction.

What you will get from TNDJ from this point forward—

In addition to the challenges and the regular reports on the challenges, you’ll get some of the 'next level' fiction-writing techniques I've learned, realized, or discovered while putting millions of new words of fiction on the page.

Often, as they have in the past, those posts will contain examples from my own work in progress. That's how current and fresh they'll be. I can't share or teach more personally or intimately than that.

I'll also continue posting my own numbers as a way to show you what is possible. The Of Interest section will also remain.

I hope you'll join me, and I hope if you have questions about any of those future posts you'll leave a comment or email me. I always respond promptly.

As I wrote yesterday, if you have questions about the deadly myths of fiction writing, I suggest you click the recent Journal archives and download those fully searchable PDF documents and search them for whatever topic interests you. They’re free.

As an alternative, you can also visit the Journal website and enter your search terms right in the Search box in the sidebar. I wager you’ll find considerably more than you bargained for.

In the next few days, I'll be back with "One More Use for Cycling." Stay tuned.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

A Very Special Treat Turn on your sound. I do not speak the language, but this brought tears to my eyes. And I love the triumphant look at the end.

Been Working On Copyright Valuation

How the DOSE Effect Can Improve Your Writing Habits

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………… 1090

Writing of Blackwell Ops 36: Temple's Dream

Day 1…… 2476 words. To date…… 2476
Day 2…… 1484 words. To date…… 3960
Day 3…… 2837 words. To date…… 6797
Day 4…… 4223 words. To date…… 11020
Day 5…… 3366 words. To date…… 14386

Fiction for January…………………… 101579
Fiction for 2025………………………. 101579
Nonfiction for January……………….. 27550
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 27550
2025 consumable words…………….. 129129

Average Fiction WPD (January)…….. 3907

2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 2
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………..... 106
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 274
Short story collections……………………. 29

Disclaimer: Whatever you believe, unreasoning fear and the myths that outlining, revising, and rewriting will make your work better are lies. They will always slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.

Writing fiction should never be something that stresses you out. It should be fun. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Because of WITD and because I endeavor to follow those Rules I am a prolific professional fiction writer. You can be too.

If you are able, please support TNDJ with a paid subscription. Thank you!