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Spent My Night Trying to Get Writers to Follow Instructions
A Stupid Task I Must Admit… But critical for the anthology workshop to even begin to work. I am not sure what makes writers so incapable of following basic guidelines. Ah, well, this first week is over, so from here on out I can just bounce or ignore a story if the writer doesn’t get the instructions right. Much easier on me. I just wish I had the hours I lost tonight back. And on other news, the Pop-Up on Short Romance is now live. It has a short story assignment with it, as do the other Pop-Ups. However, the first Pop-Up is now gone and can only be accessed…
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Another Fun Run
The Great Las Vegas Santa Run… This time not only was the run for a great charity, but they were trying to set the world record for the most runners in Santa suits. Kris talked me into doing it and honestly it was amazing fun. They furnished the Santa suits, which I wore the jacket and hat. Kris did the same. Over 10,000 Santa runners. At one point after the start they stretched for far over a half mile down the middle of Las Vegas Blvd. I am pretty sure they sat the record. So even though I got in late last night from the flight from Oregon and didn’t…
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Fantastic Offer!
Master Class Offer to Lifetime Workshop Subscribers… Late last spring we offered anyone who was a lifetime subscriber to our online workshops, free tuition into our Las Vegas Master Business Class. This year, since a number of people have singed up for lifetime subscriptions since then, or who couldn’t make it last year, WMG Publishing decided to offer the same thing again for a limited time only. That’s right. If you sign up for a lifetime online workshop subscription or already are a lifetime online workshop subscriber, you get the $750 fee for the Master Business Class in October free. The lifetime online workshop subscription is $3,000 and it gets…
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Another Late Night Post
Two days in a row time got away from me… So not much to say tonight, other than I find it stunning that December is coming so quickly, the anthology workshop is already underway, and I am almost healed from the big fall. Not completely, but moving better every day. So coming up I will do some new year-end blogs about gearing up for writing and health as I also gear up for this third try at the big challenge and working on losing weight and getting in better shape. And I promise that as normal with me, I won’t pull any punches. (Grin) Stay tuned and have fun with…
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Got Really Late
Of course, in the old days in Lincoln City, this would be early… But now it is late and the blog I wanted to write doesn’t have enough time or brain power to happen. So another night. Right now I guess I just need to post this because I have to keep up my challenge of doing a blog per day. But I did get a couple thousand words done on a short story today, so the writing is coming back and considering the day, that is a total win. And don’t forget the Pop-Up about doing your own bookstore is now live and will be for less than two…
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Too Much and Too Little
There is a Line To Walk Between the Two… I got a great question the other day about what I have been trying to do with my exercise and losing weight. And I realized the question also applied to my getting back solidly to writing. The question was: “Why are you pushing so hard to get back to exercise and running?” As those who follow here regularly know, since I got to Vegas in August, I have been working to add distance to my walking and running while at the same time losing weight. Two weeks ago, in a 5K run, I was down 20 pounds and had gained lung…
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I Wrote Romance
I Always Use Romance Team Structure… At least for the last 30 or 40 plus novels or so. I love the structure. But I seldom commit actual romance. The character focus is on other things, like solving mysteries in my mystery novels, or time-travel in my sf series or fighting aliens in my Seeders Universe. The one key element of a romance is that the focus must be on the relationship the entire way. The other plot stuff is just why they can’t be together instantly. So today it dawned on me that the new Thunder Mountain novella (Warm Springs Meadow) that I just finished is a complete romance. The focus…
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A Trip to the Past
All We Did Was Walk Into a Store… As we climbed out of the car this evening, Kris asked me, “Are you ready for a trip to the 1990s?” And wow was she right. The Barnes&Noble bookstore was in a late 1990’s strip mall. Modern, but still dated in architecture. And when we walked through the door, we really did step back in time. Decorations, layout, everything. 1990s. And even more frightening, the authors on the front fiction display table were the same authors that would have been there in the late 1990s. So we roamed around for a time and honestly it was fun to explore in shelves of…
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Writing Challenge
My Personal Writing Challenge is Still Going On… Just not very well. The restart was the first of November and that so far hasn’t worked well for basically the same reasons it didn’t work back in September. When I do get it back up and running, I will do the second chapter of the book here, including all the problems and the answers, when I find them. And when that happens, the real challenge will start. So in the meantime, here are some reminders of a few things going on right now with workshops and such. Fun stuff. — Pop-Up #1 is now live and available. Basically a talk about…
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I Have To Put A Post Here Tonight
Because of Not Wanting to Break a Six-Plus Year Streak… Stupid reason to post. I had a normal day today, even stayed away from email for the most part. Ran a 5K very early this morning. Then cooked a turkey dinner for me and Kris. From there it was ate too much, a lot of walking, more television, ate too much, more television, and done. A normal person’s day. So now the blog-posting streak continues. Two Great Deals!!! WMG Publishing this year, for the very first time in the almost ten year history of the company, is doing two special holiday reading mystery boxes. Both have over $250 in value…