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Challenges for 2025…
I Love Challenges… Of course, most of you know that. And at some point I will be talking here about my personal challenge and goal for 2025. Today, I sent out a letter to everyone in the three Beautiful Trophy Award challenges for 2024 to see how they were doing and to get a sense of how many trophies we will need to have hand made. If you did not get that letter, make sure your email is turned on with WMG Teachable. The “Beautiful Trophy Awards” are hand-blown glass floats made in small glass shops on the Oregon Coast. They are stunningly beautiful and every one is different. We…
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Las Vegas Aces Toy Drive…
The Santa Series by Kristine Grayson Starting on Wednesday and running for only seven days, we are doing a really fun Kickstarter for Kristine Grayson’s Santa Series. She has a new fifth book in the series (all stand alone) and the entire series has been rebranded with beautiful new covers and interiors. And the electronic books will be delivered on Friday the 20th so you have time to enjoy a wonderful Santa novel before the holiday. Check it out at The Santa Series Kickstarter. Only seven days long. Don’t miss this one. Season Ticket Holders Event… We got to go into the Aces practice facility in Henderson. Let me simply…
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Cowboy Christmas Outfit
Schedule Screwed Up… So I think I have time for a longer blog post and one of a couple topics I would like to talk about, but then when I get here the brain is shut down. But wow have I been getting up earlier. And last night I actually got eight hours of sleep for the first time in weeks, and I think I am more exhausted from that. So since this blog streak must continue, nothing to say tonight except for a picture of me at Cowboy Christmas. This is a massive show that takes place for a few weeks in December all over Vegas. Has to be…
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Great Santa Run
I Walked, as Did Most… Somewhere between 3-5 thousand people and kids and dogs all dressed in identical Santa suits, filling the streets of downtown Las Vegas with a 5K charity run/walk. Stupidly fun. I got up way to early for it and never really recovered today, so doing a short blog tonight with a few pictures and calling it a night. But I did manage to watch the Oregon Ducks game since Kris and I used to live in Eugene. I find it stunningly funny that forever, the powers that be back East thought no one on the West Coast could play football. But then they go and let…
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The Old House…
PUTTING TOGETHER ISSUES… Spent a few days putting together an issue of Pulphouse Fiction Magazine. Problem is that I glance at a story I want to include and end up getting sucked into the story and reading again. So it takes me way longer than it should to write an introduction to the issue, do author introductions, and get it all ready. But I love the process. And I am finishing up a little bit of misc story reading and then diving full force back into the stories that have been sent for the Pulphouse Kickstarter stretch rewards. Just a tad farther behind than I wanted to be with the…
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Fun Day!
US Thanksgiving Holiday… We had intended to head out a 6:30 am to a park to the north of Las Vegas for a charity 5k run that started at 8 am. Intended was the operative word, but due to events the day before with business and other stuff, Kris and I both managed to stumble to be round 2 am. (I was a little later.) So the towel was tossed and we got extra sleep. Then I cooked (with a ton of help from Kris) a turkey dinner and we were were joined by four great friends and we had a blast. Kris had baked a bunch of fantastic pumpkin…
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Thinking of the Start of the New Year…
New Year Is Not Far Off.. Today I got up late (since I stay up until 5 am), watched far too much college football including that crazy ending to the Arizona/BYU game, then headed out to the store(s) to get all the stuff Kris needs to make her fantastic pumpkin pies and a turkey and all the extra stuff as well. Actually fun. And then watched more television and didn’t get into my office until after midnight. And most of the time since getting in here I have been working on and thinking about the start of the new year and what I am going to do to really ramp…
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Judging, Gifts, and Golf…
Yes, I Am a Judge… Of the Writers of the Future writing contest. How it works for us professionals is that the editor of the book Jody Lyn Nye and a host of first readers wade through all the submissions every quarter and they send us professional-writer-judges 8 stories. I tend to judge two quarters a year is all. There are no names on the stories, but if I recognized a student’s style or story, I would disqualify myself. So total blind judging on our parts. Now here is what is interesting that most writers don’t know. Many, many writers were published out of the contest, which means they had…
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Writing, Learning, Fun…
New Structure Format… Coming Out of Writer’s Block… I have for some time now not been writing at the pace I usually enjoy. This is from three life events. Going blind for a time, major shoulder injury and surgery, and then a discovery with our business. But as with all Writer’s Blocks caused by life events, I am emerging back into the light and my creative voice really wants me to pick up speed. So now I am deciding on what to do next. And I hope sort of a start on December 1st with a ramp into 2025. I know what I want to do on the publishing side.…
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New Blog Structure…
Or Actually an Old Structure I Am Going Back To… Three parts of the blog if I can every night. 1… Something About Writing or Publishing 2… Something About Learning or Workshops 3… Something Personal and Fun or My Writing. I will miss one part or another, depending on time and events. But will attempt to have something for all three each day. Yeah, I know that is nuts. 1… Notes From An Editor… Part 2 Reading stories over the last four days made me realize something in general as the editor of Pulphouse Fiction Magazine. I love just whacked out weird stories that work as stories. You know, the…