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Free Advertising For Writers
There Is A Lot of It… I know that so much attention is paid to the young writers who spend all the money advertising to drive a lot of buyers and all that. And they are constantly telling other young writers that is the ONLY WAY TO DO IT!! And some of them, for a time, make a lot of money if they hit the right moment with the right combination of things. And they spend a lot as well. But honestly, I hear far, far more stories of writers who try it, spend a lot, and make no sales in those gimmick ways. While a lot of us just…
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Fun New Book I’m Going To Do
It All Started with a New iPad… A really big one, like my old one that had pretty much given up working a year ago. A new iPad and a desire to get out of the condo more often. Those two things are a deadly combination. And then add in an article in the daily paper about the buffets back open around Las Vegas. Oh, oh…. The thought hit my mind fairly quickly…. “I could take my new iPad with its fancy new keyboard and go write a short story while sitting in a buffet.” Yes, I could do that. Oh, fun. It would take some discipline to maintain my…
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Heinlein’s Rules
Just Finished Recording the Last Week… Heinlein’s Rules workshop was an eye-opener again for me. By teaching the rules this way, talking about aspects of each rule for six weeks, I could start to see the beauty in the simplicity of the rules and why they boil this incredibly complex business down to such a simple foundation. And why Heinlein called them “Business Rules.” They really are business rules. And motivational rules. And thinning-the-herd rules. I was so lucky to stumble on them in the fall of 1981 and decide to just do them without missing starting January 1st 1982. Over 40 years ago… (yikes) I would have been thinned…
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A Streak Without Desire
How to Get Through a Streak Lull. As I said back a week ago, I have been doing this blog for ten straight years, without missing a night. But truth of the matter, I sometimes had no desire to write anything and nothing I felt was worth writing about. And if you are doing a writing streak, that will happen as well. Just the brain says, “Nope.” Not a block or anything silly like that, just a lack of motivation at that moment in time. So how do you get through that? Write a line, then another line, then another until you hit your streak goal. They do not have…
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What to Study On Kickstarters…
Thinking of Doing a Kickstarter Campaign Some Day? Here are some things to study. And since we do not have a campaign going at the moment, I thought I would give some suggestions. First off, you need to study ongoing Kickstarters. Say you are thinking of launching your next book with a Kickstarter, here are some basic steps. Plus what to look for when you are following other Kickstarter campaigns. BASIC FIRST STEPS 1… Have the book done and going to be published out about six months. Up for pre-order when you can on each site. You want to do your campaign to give the book early to your fans,…
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Past Crimes
A Fantastic Storybundle… One week ago today a Storybundle at Storybundle.com/crime launched called Past Crimes. Now, I love crime stories, have published many over the decades, and I have a top-selling series of twisted mystery series with my Cold Poker Gang stories and novels, one of which is in this bundle. And I have had the luck of being able to curate a number of Storybundles. And I personally think this is the best one I have ever done, and also the best one I have been lucky enough to have a book in. And I sure don’t say that lightly. Being in the company of mystery writers like Lawrence…
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NOTICE!!! My Old E-Mail is Toast
Can’t Get It Working… So if you have been sending me things to dean@deanwesleysmith e-mail address, I have not seen them and have no idea where they are going. Not one clue. It seemed to be killed when we took this site to a new host. So please send them again to my workshop address, which is under the contact me tag above if you don’t know it. Sorry about that. I have spent far, far to much time trying to get that old address working. So I am tossing in the towel.
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Still A Mentor Spot Open…
Been Three Years Since I Opened This Up… Since a number of the writers I was helping in this program are not writing me as often, I decided last week to open this back up again for three spots. I really enjoy working closely with writers over the years, but I don’t push myself on them. I am just there to help, answer questions, and point in a certain direction. I want each writer to be the writer they want to be. And I am a pretty good cheerleader along the way. And this is to help fiction writers. I suck at helping nonfiction writers. So back last week I…
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An Amazing Attitude
Athlete on American Ninja Warrior… Kris and I both watch the show, not only for the amazing athletic feats, but the incredible stories. One story this year was a 16 year-old girl named Katie Bone. Now Katie Bone is a nationally ranked rock climber, and she has had type one diabetes since she was eleven. She wears insulin pumps on the back of her arms. The night she ran the Ninja first stage course, up until her, no one, not even major pros, had made it through the 5th obstacle and I was telling Kris I thought it was too tough, no one would make it. And then along came…
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Blog 3,650 In A Row…
Without a Miss!!! That’s right, I have had a blog up here of one type or another every day for ten straight years, as of today, August 1st. No computer crash (three or four), no power outage (dozens and dozens), no sickness (one night in a hospital), and no moves (3 major moves) caused me to miss a day in ten straight years. That is flat pure luck. And a lot of help from Kris who nightly asks me if I have my blog done. Thank you! During the ten years blogging, I wrote eight or nine non-fiction writing books here as a chapter per blog post, plus started three…