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Big Award Ceremony
That Was Tonight… Writers of the Future Awards Event… Great fun, best banquet food I have ever seen, and I signed about a billion books and had wonderful conversations. I am a judge on Writers of the Future, but this year I was asked to write a story for the fantastic cover painting Bob Eggleton did. It as a honor. And a lot of fun to talk with the winners this year. An amazing group of writers. And even more fun to talk with a lot of old friends. So it is now late, I will be back in Vegas tomorrow afternoon, so going to get some sleep so I…
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Another Fun Day
At Writers of the Future… Writers here are great, people are nice, fun discussions. A number of us closed the bar tonight. Martin Shoemaker and a few others. And I got to meet one of my favorite artists, Larry Elmore. He and I ended up hanging around together and talking about the 1960s and art and other things for a couple hours. A wonderful man and great artist. So a really fun day. Tomorrow is the ceremony and dinner and then I will be headed home. A fun few days in the craziness of Hollywood. And if you emailed me anything today, I will get to it in the morning.…
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Some Questions About the Great Challenge
Got Some Good Questions Today… So let me try to answer them quickly tonight. — First of all, if you are taking another workshop such as the short story workshop, those stories would count. If you are coming to the Anthology workshop, or one of Kris’s Vegas craft workshops, those stories you write for the workshop would count. Just write one story per week and turn them in to me (or Kris, if in one of her workshops.) — Yes, this challenge will go longer than 52 weeks if writers are still writing. The first week to start is April 14th, when the first prompt will appear. And first deadline…
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The Great Challenge
A New Writing Challenge… For the last few years I have done quarterly challenges that many people have enjoyed. And a lot of novels or stories have come out of those challenges that I enjoyed reading. So a new challenge, with a brand new form. One a little saner and a little crazier in the same breath. And again, the fee goes toward two workshop fees. Kris and I have been talking about this one for a while. Here are the basics… Every week, on Teachable, a new story prompt will appear. That prompt will be a video prompt that will be short, maybe with a writing tip with it,…
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New Line! New Line!
Whose Line Is It Anyway?… Because it has been a week to not remember, and Kris and I needed some laughter to cut the stress and worry, we went to see Whose Live Anyway (Basically Whose Line is It Anyway?) Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Jeff B. Davis, and Joel Murray. Stunningly funny. Worth it if they come to a place near you. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. And the show being in Vegas made it even funnier because of the crowd. The four of them had a blast with the crowd. Greg was doing a bit before introducing the other three and he asked the crowd…
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Just Finished… The Lonely Silver Rain
By John D. MacDonald… It was the last Travis McGee novel, published a year before MacDonald’s death in 1986. I think I have read it six or seven times now over the years, always taken in by how MacDonald did Travis. I have typed in so many parts of those books, studying the style, the simpleness of it, yet how complex and clear he wrote. At some point I will try a character like Travis. Someday. In the meantime, I practice a lot of what MacDonald did on my Cold Poker Gang series. And speaking of that, the new Cold Poker Gang series book is nearing an end, I hope.…
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We Learn From All Story
Even Television Shows… Kris and I started watching the revival of Magnum P.I. which was very similar to the old one. But this new version has a lot of heart and more themes. We were actually surprised by the quality, as it is clear many others have been since it just got renewed for a second season. On thing they did right was add in a couple of elements on the team. (If you don’t understand team in fiction, this would be a good show to study and then take the Teams workshop.) There is a detective who does a great job of slowly becoming part of the team over…
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Mentor Program Update
Almost the First of April… Which means the first quarter of the year has gone by and I had a number of people (who are not in the mentorship program I offered this year) ask how that mentorship program is going. The answer is simply, from my side, wonderfully. In fact, I am enjoying it a great deal. Here is how I look at it. In essence, I am here for the writer. Any time for anything to help the writer move forward. I let each writer set the pace and I do my best to be supportive, but not pressure. As it first started, I was back and forth…
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Space Opera Bundle Now Available
This One Is Way Cool!! And wow, does it have some great books and science fiction authors in it. And I had the wonderful pleasure of putting it all together for StoryBundle.com Here is what I wrote for the bundle… Lots and Lots of Space Ships “Space, the final frontier.” A famous quote from the opening of maybe the most popular space opera series ever, Star Trek. And wow did I write a lot of Star Trek books. Over thirty, plus a few comics and also some scripts. I even edited for Star Trek for a time. But before I fell in love with Star Trek back in the 1960s,…
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One Week To April Workshops Starting
I just Realized It Was Only A Week Away… Someone want to go find out where March ran off to? Wow. Just wow. And we are starting the Emotions in Writing workshop in one week as well. Got to have the Depth in Writing workshop to take that one. Overall, a great list of workshops in April, that’s for sure. I think all of them can really help a person’s fiction writing. Sign up directly at Teachable.com Class #31… Apr 2nd … Endings Class #32… Apr 2nd … Point of View Class #33… Apr 2nd … Writing Mysteries Class #34… Apr 2nd … Speed Class #35… Apr 2nd … Teams in Fiction Class #36……