This Should Be a Guest Post

November 23, 2024 by Harvey

In Today’s Journal

* Quote of the Day
* A New Short Story
* Reminder
* This Should Be a Guest Post
* The Writing
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

Quote of the Day

“Whenever I am asked what kind of writing is the most lucrative, I have to say, a ransom note.” H.N. Swanson (literary agent)

Note that this quote is also often attributed to character Harry Zimm in the film adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s 1990 novel, Get Shorty.

A New Short Story

“A Curious Warmth” went live yesterday at 10 a.m. on my Stanbrough Writes Substack. Go check it out.

As always, if you enjoy this oddly seductive story, please tell Everyone. If you don’t, shh! (grin)

Reminder

Today is Saturday. Just a reminder to get your Bradbury Challenge story info in to me before the Journal goes live on Monday.

Remember, if you finish a story earlier in the week, you can send the info to me early too. It never hurts to avoid pushing the deadline.

Also, if you’re in the November or Stephen King Challenge of 1000 words per day, tomorrow is the last day of the reporting week. Please report your weekly numbers to me late on Sunday or early on Monday morning.

And if you meet or exceed 7000 words on the week, be sure to request a book!

This Should Be a Guest Post

The link at the end of this segment should be a guest post. For that matter, so should the promised next post in this series. They’re just that important.

But I’ve asked before whether I could use a column from Jake at Writem as a guest post, and I received no response. I never ask a second time.

In the current post, Jake lays out some hard facts about self-publishing, various (and popular) types of advertising, and reviews.

In the next post, he will offer “actionable strategies and tips to help authors navigate these obstacles and start seeing tangible results.” Looking forward to that.

But this reality check and the promised next post is important enough that I decided to add the link here, in the body of TNDJ, rather than down in Of Interest.

If you’re a writer looking into publishing options, especially in light of Vin Zandri’s recent video on Hybrid Publishing. I hope you’ll check it out:

Let’s Be Really Honest – Publishing Books is Tough!

The Writing

Yesterday was an exceptional day of writing: over 7000 words.

I wrote only a little over 2000 words on the novel, but I managed another almost 5000 words on a fantasy that sprang from the novel. That 5000 words flowed out at the end of the day in a little over 3 hours.

My primary thrust will continue to be the novel, but the fantasy is listed below the novel in The Numbers below. I’ll add to it occasionally until it’s completed also.

My average words per day needed that massive shot in the arm. It rose to above 3000 for the first time since November 10.

Yesterday also greatly improved my chances to exceed a million words of published fiction this year as I surpassed 905,000. Woohoo!

So I’m in a bit of a fiction-writing frenzy at the moment, but fairly soon I’ll be back with that ‘Down in the Weeds’ post on “Pacing Is Everything, Part 2: Narrative.”

To see the DITW post on pacing in dialogue, click here.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

I Have Been Luckyhttps://deanwesleysmith.com/i-have-been-lucky/ Dean’s been posting later in the morning recently, so this is one day behind.

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………… 580

Writing of Blackwell Ops 31: Jack Temple

Day 1…… 1620 words. To date……. 1620
Day 2…… 5016 words. To date……. 6636
Day 3…… 3466 words. To date……. 10102
Day 4…… 1235 words. To date……. 11337
Day 5…… 3188 words. To date……. 14525
Day 6…… 3933 words. To date……. 18458
Day 7…… 3187 words. To date……. 21645
Day 8…… 4081 words. To date……. 25726
Day 9…… 2198 words. To date……. 27924

Writing of “The Imp” (Erotic Fantasy)

Day 1…… 4946 words. To date…… 4946

Fiction for November………………… 68459
Fiction for 2024………………………. 905591
Nonfiction for November…………….. 20970
Nonfiction for 2024…………………… 355390
2024 consumable words…………….. 1,085,020

Average Fiction WPD (November)…. 3112

2024 Novels to Date…………………….. 16
2024 Novellas to Date…………………… 1
2024 Short Stories to Date……………… 18
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………..… 98
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 255
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!