-
Playing with Branding
My Cold Poker Gang Branding… Combined with Smith’s Monthly. Kind of fun how the branding goes across with the art, yet is very different. Just thought I would show how we are doing this. Allyson Longueira, the publisher at WMG Publishing, does the covers for my Cold Poker Gang series. It has a very distinctive look and she won’t let me mess with it. (grin) Besides, they sell and I really like them. But I do all the covers for my Smith’s Monthly issues, and Allyson and I need to find art that fits both brands when I am publishing a Cold Poker Gang novel in Smith’s Monthly. So here…
-
February Workshops Take Two
Early in the Morning… I have been at this computer now mostly for going on 17 hours, with a few breaks and a nap along the way, so I am going to just repost the February regular workshops being offered and starting on the 4th. You will see in a couple days why I spent so much time here today. Fun stuff, I can promise, he said, vaguely about a nifty Kickstarter project featuring cats. (grin) So the post about the workshops again… Now Available… Here is the list of the February 6-week workshops and descriptions about each class. And a link to each one. A really good group of…
-
Not A Run For Me
I Took It Easy… This morning was a true fun run. No timing, the course was less than 5K and no one cared. It was for a great cause. And I am still slowly nursing along a sore hip. Getting better, doing stretches, but I decided to go another week or so without a push. This week I will be at the gym doing stretches and getting some milage, building back up my milage as the weight slowly drops. And haven’t missed being over 10,000 steps a day for two weeks now. Nice streak started there. And in two weeks we have a double run. Same run, actually, but 5…
-
Up Early
Two Days In A Row… I’ve spent almost all the evening tonight working on a project that will be announced early next week. A really, really fun one. And this morning I got up early for me and walked Kris to the workshop, then sat in the buffet and wrote and did more organizing for a few hours while not eating much. Tomorrow morning off to do a fun run. Not up super early, but still early enough that I will get under six hours for the second day in a row. Naps after the run will be in order. Yesterday I recorded a video about my writing for the…
-
Study Along Workshop
Science Fiction Craft Workshop Starting Up… And online, on Teachable, the Science Fiction Craft Workshop Study Along is starting as well. First stories are due on Friday evening. A ton of videos, more story assignments, a bunch of videos about sf books over the five days. Basically, the study along patterns what Kris is teaching here in Las Vegas. Of course, since it takes a couple months to read for the study along workshops, the science fiction one is well closed. And going to be a blast. I don’t have much to do, but I still have fun seeing people. Kris and the writers, however, are jamming. (grin) However, there…
-
February Regular Workshops
Now Available… Here is the list of the February 6-week workshops and descriptions about each class. And a link to each one. A really good group of workshops this month. And the Floating Viewpoint workshop has been postponed. Starting two workshops in three months is enough to start the year. Starting in March is “Making a Living” workshop. All workshops are on Teachable. February Regular Workshops Class #11… Feb 4th … Endings in Fiction Class #12… Feb 4th … Attitude in Fiction Class #13… Feb 4th … Writing Romance Class #14… Feb 4th … Writing with Speed Class #15… Feb 4th … Teams in Fiction Class #16… Feb 5th ……
-
Controlling Critical Voice
After Yesterday’s Post… I got a couple of questions about how I control my critical voice when I do so much teaching, which is automatically generated from critical voice. A couple things first. If I ever stopped writing for anything past a short life roll, I would stop teaching at that same moment. Sadly, a couple of my mentors became nothing but teachers and never really wrote again. I lost respect for them, to be honest. Second, I do the teaching to keep learning. When a workshop becomes boring to me, and I can’t learn from it, it goes to classic status or vanishes. Why Kris and I are always…
-
Invested In Not Writing
Amazing How Common This Is… Basically put, writers, over time, develop a real and crippling investment in not writing. And, at the same time, often claim they want to write. These writers cross the spectrum of types. — Teachers who always wanted to write, teach writing, but now feel inside that they just flat don’t dare expose that they are still beginning writers at their core. — Burnt out writers who have made writing so important (because they have had a few successes in the past) that they don’t dare write anything more. Failure is a very high platform that these writers in their minds don’t dare jump from. —…
-
I’m Still Up
Even Gavin Is Getting Annoyed At Me… Just finishing up the last of the stories that came in for the anthology workshop coming in February. Now writers are reading. A lot of reading. Next year has a few people signed up for the 2021 Anthology workshop. Everyone thinks there is a lot of time. But the group list for that will start in about six months and the writing starts in November of this year. So write me if interested. So I knew this night would be long. Turned out I was right. But I kept up my 10,000 steps a day streak on the exercising and slowly getting back…
-
Went Running Again
Pride Run at the Springs Preserve here in downtown Las Vegas. Running around a desert in the middle of the city starting at 7 am. The Preserve is a fantastic place and Kris and I support it by being yearly members. But 7 am??? I went to bed at 2:30 am, got up at 6 am. Picture below of me trying to pin my bib on as the sun comes up. Yeah, that was fun. Sharp-pointy-things and no sleep go well together. My hip is feeling better, so thought I would give the 5K a try. I did fine. I actually stayed with the leaders of the 5k for about…