BOOK #6 OF 67

Up to Sharing Book Six…

For each book of the 67 books with my name on them that I hope to publish in my 67th year of life, I will do a video. These videos will lag behind the actual publication because I want to wait for the paper copy to arrive.

This video is about Burn Card: A Cold Poker Gang Novel.

————–

Weekender Pop-Up Online Workshops Are Now Up on Teachable.

A couple of these are about half full.

https://wmg-publishing-workshops-and-lectures.teachable.com

February 15-18, 2018

— Controlling Fear of Failure
— How to Study and Practice in Fiction (A Study Plan)

March 15-18th

— Adding Tension to Your Writing
— Making a Living in 2018/19 With Your Fiction
— Controlling Fear of Failure

April 12-15th

— The Indie Game. (Roll-play your way through ten years of decisions as an Indie Writer.)
— How to Study and Practice in Fiction (A Study Plan)
— Adding Tension to Your Writing
— (tba)
————–

February and March Online Workshops Are Now Up on Teachable.

https://wmg-publishing-workshops-and-lectures.teachable.com

If you have credits from the Kickstarter, you need to write me to sign up. You can also sign up through me and use Paypal just like normal. Or you can go directly to Teachable and sign up there for any workshop using either Paypal or a credit card.

To see all the courses, just hit the link at the top of the Teachable page that says “All Courses” and it will show you all the lectures and workshops available.

Class #13… Feb 6th … Think Like a Publisher
Class #14… Feb 6th … Endings
Class #15… Feb 6th … Point of View
Class #16… Feb 6th … Writing Mysteries
Class #17… Feb 6th … Speed
Class #18… Feb 6th … Teams in Fiction
Class #19… Feb 7th … Depth in Writing
Class #20… Feb 7th … How to Edit Your Own Work
Class #21… Feb 7th … Character Development
Class #22… Feb 7th … Writing Secondary Plot Lines
Class #23… Feb 7th … Advanced Depth
Class #24… Feb 7th … Novel Structure

Full information about any workshop and schedule is under Online Workshops on the sidebar.

7 Comments

D S Butler

January 28, 2018 at 1:19 pm

That’s a great cover, Dean. Are you still writing this month? I miss seeing your word counts.

Mickie Dreysen

January 28, 2018 at 4:16 pm

There’s a lot I could say about what inspires me about your writing, Dean,
but the fact that you make it look so easy to keep plugging away is the
best part.

I know you’re having fun. But let’s face it, at least for some of us, thinking
of this as fun, day after day, and not like I’m wasting time and energy on
something when I should be off working…

Eh, forget that. Congratulations on the book, and we’re keeping count!
(no, not really. We’re mostly looking in awe. Anything even close is going
to be fantastic, and awesome to watch. Thank you sir for what you do.) -mkd

P.S. As it turns out, there’s one good thing, from my point of view, about the
mess with Data Guy: I got a story out of it. Now I just need to make sure I keep up with
her. She’s a character who’s been hiding in the back of my head for a while; tur
ns out I just needed the right kick in the pants for her to jump to a new place
in the queue.

dwsmith

January 28, 2018 at 5:55 pm

Thanks, Mickie, for the kind comments. And anything good coming from the Data Guy stuff sounds like fun to me.
Mark Kuhn

January 29, 2018 at 10:03 am

Mickie, trust your Creative Voice, write what you feel is coming directly from it. Finish what you start. There is no such thing as time wasted at the keyboard. Notice I typed Creative Voice with caps, like a person’s name. It is a force to be reckoned with.
- Mickie Dreysen
  
  January 29, 2018 at 5:54 pm
  
  Thanks Mark, I appreciate the vote of confidence more than you know. Which
  means I get to blame both our host and you for part 2
  of my little experiment (grin)!
  
  Actually, if anyone else is having a rough start to their writing year, I’ve
  had an experience here that may go along with seeing Dean plugging away on
  getting his work up one by one toward his 67. I’ve had to take one of Dean’s
  lessons (or, at least, my interpretation of some of the things I’ve read
  between the lines here on his blog) to heart.
  
  Here’s the way it went. I started out January with a novel; I’d had the first
  chapter sitting in a travel notebook, written out by hand way back in May of
  last year. The timing was perfect, start of the new year, no other stories
  ready, time to get this thing going. My first chapter was beautiful.
  
  And, any time I sat down, I could sink into the words as easy as you please.
  
  Then, I noticed myself looking for reasons to stop early each day, five hundred words in.
  
  And, I noticed myself looking for other things to work on, day job stuff. I
  told myself, hey, I still like the story, when I’m sitting down to do it.
  
  About the fourth or fifth time I told myself this, I ditched the novel and
  decided to write some short stories for a while. The first one’s waiting to
  be formatted, or whatever I end up doing with it.
  
  The second one is what bit me here
  and is an experiment in, quite literally, real time.
  
  Point is, I wasn’t doing right by my characters or my story in that novel I ditched. It’ll
  be waiting for me, when I’m ready for it. In the meantime, I found something
  else to work on that doesn’t have me saying things like “well, it’s fun, but
  only when I can force myself to sit down and work on it”.
  
  Thanks, Dean. It’s your fault (grin) I found a technique that works to get to
  the next story, and the next joy/smile/happy day doing it.
  - dwsmith
    
    January 29, 2018 at 7:14 pm
    
    Mickie, way to go listening to your creative voice. Never fun to force that. But the key, as you did, is finishing something when you jump away.
    
    Keep having fun. It really is an amazing secret about this writing stuff.

USAF

January 29, 2018 at 1:05 am

great cover dean…. really pro.

Keep going. You can do it. Just remember to eat and sleep and drink water to stay strong.

I have currently 42 books ‘almost done.] Seriously, the way I’ve written for decades; work on many a little at a time. SO there they are/ I am.

I think i feel daunted at bringing them all to fruition in a year, although have to say your teaching about writing without constant combing ad infinitum has helped immensely, altho demon keeps saying ‘nothing less than perfection’… meaning ten more combings. to which I keep saying “not today satan.” lol

Right now, main issue is tho several covers done and I think they are good ones, I am struggling to figure out in each book what comes first, second, third etc.

When you put together your books, do you put chapters in order by a guideline in your head/heart? Or?

D S Butler

January 28, 2018 at 1:19 pm

That’s a great cover, Dean. Are you still writing this month? I miss seeing your word counts.
Mickie Dreysen

January 28, 2018 at 4:16 pm

There’s a lot I could say about what inspires me about your writing, Dean,
but the fact that you make it look so easy to keep plugging away is the
best part.

I know you’re having fun. But let’s face it, at least for some of us, thinking
of this as fun, day after day, and not like I’m wasting time and energy on
something when I should be off working…

Eh, forget that. Congratulations on the book, and we’re keeping count!
(no, not really. We’re mostly looking in awe. Anything even close is going
to be fantastic, and awesome to watch. Thank you sir for what you do.) -mkd

P.S. As it turns out, there’s one good thing, from my point of view, about the
mess with Data Guy: I got a story out of it. Now I just need to make sure I keep up with
her. She’s a character who’s been hiding in the back of my head for a while; tur
ns out I just needed the right kick in the pants for her to jump to a new place
in the queue.
- dwsmith
  
  January 28, 2018 at 5:55 pm
  
  Thanks, Mickie, for the kind comments. And anything good coming from the Data Guy stuff sounds like fun to me.
- Mark Kuhn
  
  January 29, 2018 at 10:03 am
  
  Mickie, trust your Creative Voice, write what you feel is coming directly from it. Finish what you start. There is no such thing as time wasted at the keyboard. Notice I typed Creative Voice with caps, like a person’s name. It is a force to be reckoned with.
  - Mickie Dreysen
    
    January 29, 2018 at 5:54 pm
    
    Thanks Mark, I appreciate the vote of confidence more than you know. Which
    means I get to blame both our host and you for part 2
    of my little experiment (grin)!
    
    Actually, if anyone else is having a rough start to their writing year, I’ve
    had an experience here that may go along with seeing Dean plugging away on
    getting his work up one by one toward his 67. I’ve had to take one of Dean’s
    lessons (or, at least, my interpretation of some of the things I’ve read
    between the lines here on his blog) to heart.
    
    Here’s the way it went. I started out January with a novel; I’d had the first
    chapter sitting in a travel notebook, written out by hand way back in May of
    last year. The timing was perfect, start of the new year, no other stories
    ready, time to get this thing going. My first chapter was beautiful.
    
    And, any time I sat down, I could sink into the words as easy as you please.
    
    Then, I noticed myself looking for reasons to stop early each day, five hundred words in.
    
    And, I noticed myself looking for other things to work on, day job stuff. I
    told myself, hey, I still like the story, when I’m sitting down to do it.
    
    About the fourth or fifth time I told myself this, I ditched the novel and
    decided to write some short stories for a while. The first one’s waiting to
    be formatted, or whatever I end up doing with it.
    
    The second one is what bit me here
    and is an experiment in, quite literally, real time.
    
    Point is, I wasn’t doing right by my characters or my story in that novel I ditched. It’ll
    be waiting for me, when I’m ready for it. In the meantime, I found something
    else to work on that doesn’t have me saying things like “well, it’s fun, but
    only when I can force myself to sit down and work on it”.
    
    Thanks, Dean. It’s your fault (grin) I found a technique that works to get to
    the next story, and the next joy/smile/happy day doing it.
    - dwsmith
      
      January 29, 2018 at 7:14 pm
      
      Mickie, way to go listening to your creative voice. Never fun to force that. But the key, as you did, is finishing something when you jump away.
      
      Keep having fun. It really is an amazing secret about this writing stuff.
USAF

January 29, 2018 at 1:05 am

great cover dean…. really pro.

Keep going. You can do it. Just remember to eat and sleep and drink water to stay strong.

I have currently 42 books ‘almost done.] Seriously, the way I’ve written for decades; work on many a little at a time. SO there they are/ I am.

I think i feel daunted at bringing them all to fruition in a year, although have to say your teaching about writing without constant combing ad infinitum has helped immensely, altho demon keeps saying ‘nothing less than perfection’… meaning ten more combings. to which I keep saying “not today satan.” lol

Right now, main issue is tho several covers done and I think they are good ones, I am struggling to figure out in each book what comes first, second, third etc.

When you put together your books, do you put chapters in order by a guideline in your head/heart? Or?

Up to Sharing Book Six…

Weekender Pop-Up Online Workshops Are Now Up on Teachable.

February and March Online Workshops Are Now Up on Teachable.

7 Comments

D S Butler

Mickie Dreysen

dwsmith

Mark Kuhn

Mickie Dreysen

dwsmith

USAF