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Catching Up… To Do or Not To Do?
A Great Question… I got that question from a writer just today and I had a pretty simple answer for him. But there is more to my answer than what I was able to give him at the spur of the moment. I said this: Try to catch up if doing so is possible and will be challenging. If impossible to catch up, then simply reset the challenge and start fresh. Sounds simple until you start figuring out if something is impossible or not. Sometimes you just know you have screwed the pooch. No catching up is possible. Reset and restart!!! But other times the added challenge makes it even…
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Time of Great Forgetting…
It Is Back, Stronger Than Before… In all my years of watching writers go through this period from April to the middle-end of July, break all streaks, get too busy to write, actually forget about writing and publishing completely, I have not seen a year this bad. I got a hunch there is one major reason. This is the first spring in two years that we feel (as a population) safe enough to get out and do things in most parts of the world. So wow, all that postponed stuff from the last two years is going to be done this year no matter what. I get that, I really…
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Mentor Focus Media Kits…
This Is Part of the General Mentor Focus Program… A couple days ago I outlined that we will be glad to help people (for a $500 fee) on a focused area that we feel we can help them with. It will come through me, but will be me and Kris and Allyson and Gwyneth pooling knowledge at times. We are calling it the Mentor Focus Program. You decide what you would like help with and if we can help you, we will do so. So today, Kris and I and Allyson on a video chat ran with an Allyson idea on something we could really help writers with in general…
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Finally Getting Some Things Caught Up…
Not Everything, Yet, But Gaining… Today I finished all the layout of Smith’s Monthly #60. Yes, realize or try to imagine 60 monthly issues. Five full years, although there was a 2 year gap in there when Kris was sick and we had to get down here to Vegas. But now still going strong. And I also did the introduction and got everything together for Smith’s Monthly #61. Will turn that in after a day or so. And also got a bunch done today on the next issue of Pulphouse Fiction Magazine. Got to get that turned in. So all kinds of fun projects. And a very strange Sky Tate…
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Spent a Bunch of Hours Doing Layout…
So My Eyes Are Worn Out… Worked for maybe four hours down in intense details laying out an issue of Smith’s Monthly, so realized as I came back up here that my eye(s) were exhausted and I had better not press much more. So this will be short and I won’t even finish up my email until tomorrow. Also did some recording today which also takes energy and took two naps which I think tire me out more than not. So calling computer work done for the day after this. In other words, a filler blog to keep the streak alive at (3,650 minus 98) 3,552 days without missing a…
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Mentor Focus Projects
I Got Some Questions from Writers… So figured I would just lay out the idea behind the Mentor Focused Projects tonight instead of waiting any longer. The idea is that you have an area of publishing or writing that you would like some intense focus on, intense help to learn about for a period of time to learn it, then you would write me and ask if that area would be possible. Kris and I (and if needed Allyson and Gwyneth at WMG) will all consult, but everything will go through me. They would just help me make sure I got stuff correct that I was telling you. The cost…
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Another General Day
Some New Covers, Workshops Caught Up, Other Stuff… Didn’t get a story done tonight, didn’t even start one. Just did other stuff. Tomorrow back on a regular story per day again. Should be interesting to fire back up. I really miss not being regular at it. I think this is day #111 or so, and I think I have about 90 or so stories done. I’ll know more tomorrow as I finally start using my new tracking and filing system. But 90 sure isn’t bad and 21 is easy to make up. Should have that made up around August 1st. Maybe sooner if I get on a run. So not…
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All Kinds of Stuff Today
A Day of Finally Getting to Things… We all have those kinds of days. And I got a hunch I will be doing more and more of that this week and through next week as the craziness ebbs some after a stupidly long month of no time to breath it seemed. And yes, on the challenge, I missed some nights. But I will talk about that later and am writing fine now, so more than likely will start doing some extra stories next week to put in the missed slots. And I finally have my system in place. Part of what caused me to miss was my system collapsed, as…
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THE 2022 WRITE STUFF BUNDLE
WOW, THIS IS A GREAT BUNDLE!!! And it has a $150 Pop-Up class in it as well, all part of the ten projects to help with your writing and publishing. Kris curated this and did a fantastic job. This one is worth grabbing, folks, and telling people about. You can get it at www.storybundle.com/writing. And while you are at Storybundle, Kris and I both have books and one of our major collections in Celestial Sagas bundle put together by Robert Jeschonick. It is a great one. So you can grab a bundle to help you with the writing and publishing and a bundle of great reading. So here is Kris’s…
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How Do I Keep Going…
When a Big Project Is Finished? I get this question a bunch, usually from someone who has just finished one of the big challenges, like a story per week or a novel every two months. Very real and very tough question. The essence is that when the motivation to do something in writing stops, how to replace it with an as-effective or better motivation? The answer is, of course, “It depends…” “And it is different for every person…” But here is how I would look at it. First, look at the motivation that has been keeping you going through everything. Sit down and list why it kept you going, the…