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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…
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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. —…
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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…
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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…
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Smith’s Monthly Covers
Working On Four Issues at a Time… And making great progress. First new issue will be out in March, #45 in the series, and after that one per month. Each one will be between 60,000 and 70,000 words of fiction. In the next week or so I will have 4 issues done and in copyediting process. Tonight, besides putting issues together, I worked on the covers and such. So thought I would show you some of them. They are trim size 7 x 10 and the black bar with the spine wraps to both the front and the back side. First #45, both wrap and epub cover. Then #46, #47,…
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The Trademark Book
For Fiction Writers… Remember, I started that book here, did some chapters, promised I would keep going. I even have another chapter or two written. And that is where it will end. So why did I stop? Two pretty basic reasons. First reason is that fiction writers just don’t need it much at all. Fiction writers can’t seem to find the time or energy to learn copyright, what they do need to learn. And copyright is “See Dick Run” simple compared to trademark. So the lack of need and my discouragement that fiction writers don’t even bother with the basics of IP by learning copyright. No point at all putting…
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Lots of New Videos
In A Bunch of Classes… Just in the last few days, I have made videos live in the following classes… — The new Romance Regular workshop. (Week #2) — The Decade Ahead (first quarter) — Novel Challenge (talking about something that happened to me in the novel I am writing at the moment) — Publishing Challenge (video reporting in that my first book in the challenge is published) — Shared World class (talking about owned shared worlds) — Licensing Transition class (talking about corporate structures) I have decided, on the request of a couple of writers who want to jump in soon, to leave the Shared World Class and the…
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Lifetime Workshops
And Other Nifty Things Such as Mentoring… I wanted to do a post here to let everyone know what was possible in the mass of workshops and lectures we have on Teachable. Lifetime Workshop Subscription… As more and more workshops and classic workshops and special workshops came on board over the last few years, we offered this. It has enormous advantages since you can do workshops at your own pace, are automatically signed up for new workshops, and can go through workshops that have been retired, yet still have value. This has over $17,000 in workshop value and the price is $3,000. Lifetime Lecture Subscription This is a subscription to…
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First Thirty-Three
Publishing Today!!! Everyone who supported my Make 100 Short Story Paperbacks Kickstarter last year should be getting a download copy of the First Thirty-Three collection. The second two will be early next month. Great fun! And a lot of reading. Thanks, everyone for the support. Here is the cover. It will take a few days before it gets to all the locations and stores. And the trade paperback and hardbacks will take a bit longer after that. A big book. A link to the project page on WMG.
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Las Vegas Workshops
All 2021 Workshops Now Open… You can sign up for any of the four we have announced here today. And I know 2021 seems like a long ways away, but in reality we start the group list for the anthology workshop in September of this year and the writers start writing in November. Of this year. And the reading list for the January craft workshop will go out in October. And so on. Plus it takes time to set these up not only for us, but for all of you to make your travel plans to Las Vegas. — One note on the April 2020 Short Story workshop first. Invites…