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Rock ‘n Roll 5 K
We Went Into the Crowds.. Beautiful sunny day (unlike last year). Kris ran the entire thing and I walked it. Kris started in the crowd of 5,000 runners, but because of my shoulder and fear of getting bumped, I was the last one to start. Passed a lot of people once things thinned out but walked the entire way. 10K and Half Marathon are tomorrow and I am not going. Shoulder is just not ready yet for that kind of punishment, so like I did for 5 years in Lincoln City, resetting for next year. I did run the half marathon five times over the last five years once we…
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Bryant Street Surveys Are Out…
Thank You to All Backers… Surveys are out and I hope you backers get them back in quickly. That way everyone can get books and workshops and such. And the chance to write for Pulphouse directions will be sent at the beginning of each month as an update for backers only. Speaking of reading for Pulphouse, I only have a few of the Holiday ones left to read, a few more of the Fall and the Light themed ones. The last two themes I have not started reading for yet, but making good progress overall. By the end of March I should be all caught up, barring crazy things happening.…
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Fiction Branding… Part 3
Too Much of a Good Thing… Lots of varied kinds of branding that I’m going to talk about in this series. But for the moment I want to stay on the type of branding most indie writers do very well, and that is making their books look like they are in the same series. This kind of branding is a basic part of marketing and selling. So for the four books of Bryant Street ( the Kickstarter is over and thank you all), I thought it would be a cool idea for me to take the street sign that we had used to brand the Bryant Street books and recover…
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WMG WRITER STORE is Born!!
Just Getting Started… With The Art of the Novella… For years, Kris and I have wanted to figure out a way to teach in-person workshops on the art of writing a novella. But nothing we came up with worked. Too expensive, far too long, and so on. We do the novella add-ons not to teach, but to just give the writers who took the in-person workshop a chance to write a novella and have Kris read it. So as we were putting together the brand new WMG Writer Store (www.WMGWriterStore.com), Kris started wondering why we could not do what she called “pretend-in-person” classes teaching novellas in four different genres. And…
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Last Full Day of Bryant Street Kickstarter…
Ends Thursday Evening at 7 PM. Bryant Street… where The Twilight Zone lives. A really twisted, but normal-looking subdivision street. 40 stories in four books. The seasons of Bryant Street, basically. Or four seasons of a Bryant Street television series, 10 episodes per season. Go to Bryant Street Kickstarter to see the entire project. Only 1 day left! Plus two really great special 3-week workshops you can only get through this campaign. HOW TO PUT TWISTS IN YOUR STORIES and HOW TO WRITE DARK REAL-WORLD FANTASY. They will not be offered anywhere else. Only 1 Day left, so don’t miss it!
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Two Days Left on Bryant Street Kickstarter!
Ends Thursday Evening at 7 PM. Bryant Street… where The Twilight Zone lives. A really twisted, but normal-looking subdivision street. 40 stories in four books. The seasons of Bryant Street, basically. Or four seasons of a Bryant Street television series, 10 episodes per season. Go to Bryant Street Kickstarter to see the entire project. Only 2 days left! Plus two really great special 3-week workshops you can only get through this campaign. HOW TO PUT TWISTS IN YOUR STORIES and HOW TO WRITE DARK REAL-WORLD FANTASY. They will not be offered anywhere else. Only 2 Days, so don’t miss it! Below I talk about the project. (might have to click…
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Fiction Branding… Part 2
When To Think About Branding… Being a fiction writer is a fine balance in your head of being completely creative and telling the best story you can while at the same time holding in check all the critical voice stuff that says everything you are writing is crap. Long-term professional fiction writers have this controlled completely in one way or another. Early stage and middle stage fiction writers fight the battle with every story or novel. The key early on is to clear out or hold back the critical voice while trying to stay out of the way of the creative voice. Most writers fail and thus have short careers.…
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Update On Special Stretch Goal!!
Started at 119 Backers… This is a fun extra stretch goal… time limited. So please help us pass the word so all backers get another story collection and a Pop-Up class. We needed 21 more backers in three days and got 7 of them the first day. We are at 126 backers now with 14 needed in the next two full days. Fantastic! With help we can make it and every backer get the collection and the class. Check it out on the Bryant Street Kickstarter… Here are the details! SPECIAL STRETCH GOAL…Hit 140 Backers by Monday Night… If this campaign reaches 140 backers by Monday night, every backer of…
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Special Stretch Goal Added…
Added to Bryant Street Kickstarter… This is a fun extra stretch goal… time limited. So please help us pass the word so all backers get another story collection and a Pop-Up class. Check it out on the Bryant Street Kickstarter… Here are the details! SPECIAL STRETCH GOAL…Hit 140 Backers by Monday Night… If this campaign reaches 140 backers by Monday night, every backer of any reward at $25.00 and above will get a free ebook copy of the six-story collection GHOSTS ARE WEIRD by Dean Wesley Smith. And for writers, you get access to POP UP #84… WRITING WEIRD FANTASY. This is a $150 value and yes, if you already…
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Almost Sold Out!!
Three In-Person Classes Almost Sold Out!! And Bundle Sale Still Going… I promised I would announce it here when the in-person classes were almost sold out. Well, today is that day. Details About Each Workshop… The anthology workshop is a really fun workshop (held this year for the first time since the pandemic). It will be in one of the two center weeks of July. We will know exact dates next week. This is how it functions… In April and May you write four short stories for four different live anthologies. Then four or five editors will be reading stories and actually talking about them and buying them for live…