• Challenge,  workshops

    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…

  • Challenge,  running

    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…

  • Challenge,  publishing,  Smiths Monthly

    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,…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    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…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    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…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    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…

  • Challenge,  Misc

    Running Early

    So No Time for Anything Tonight… Other than trying to type this to hit my daily blog streak with a 19 pound cat on my lap wanting attention. It is rare that he does this, rare like in never, so I am making due. But he is a flopper and a shover and my lap is just not that big anymore. Pictures of Gavin on my lap as I tried to type this…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    One Mentor Spot Left for 2020

    Doing 2019 Still… I had five people take me up on me helping them by being a mentor in 2019. I am basically a cheerleader, someone they have to check in with each week, talk about the ups and downs. I answer questions when asked, give opinions on covers, read stories, and so on. In essence, I am there. And I am not really going away from those that I have been helping just because a year of time ended. A couple of the people started late, and one has pretty much vanished due to health issues. I hope that person will return later. So I figured I could handle…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Sales Numbers

    Some Interesting Comments… A number of posts back I talked about the difference between indie writers and traditional publishing writers. Not one person thought my sales numbers of over forty thousand for the traditional published author were too high. No one even questioned them. (They were far too high for 2019.) But wow did I get a lot of people objecting to around 50 copies a month average sales for indie. I understand that. I was doing a comparison on two books between the two types of publishing. And I used the word average, but so many writers don’t understand that term when it comes to sales. So let me…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    October Workshops Starting

    Plus the How to Write a Pulphouse Story October… If you signed up for that workshop through the Kickstarter and want to take it in October, write me at once. If you have workshop credit from the Kickstarter, you can use it against these October workshops if you want. We will have everything out later in the week as surveys get back in. The Regular October workshops are starting and for a few of these, this will be the last time they are regular workshops with homework. They are headed to classic status. However, if you are a lifetime subscriber, you can still send in the assignments on those. But…