• Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    On The Road Once Again

    Headed for Lincoln City, Oregon.  That is a 20 hour drive and I am staying to the back roads for the most part, up through the center of Nevada, stay in Boise, then across the center of Oregon to avoid Portland traffic. And yes, I will be careful, basically drive-through meals and more hand sanitizer than I can absorb. Plus I stay away from anyone too stupid or callous to NOT wear a mask. And I do mean way, way away. A side note: If you are following this blog and think you are too good, too perfect, too smart to wear a mask when out in public anywhere and…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  running

    Exercise Again

    Every So Often I Just Have To Talk About This… Exercising. Critical for writers. Not a fun topic and most writers just sort of shrug and move on. But since I didn’t get the time to really unpack everything Brandon is doing on his Kickstarter today and record some videos about it, I figured I would fill this blog tonight with a reminder to exercise. I am working to lose weight and my goal as I have told many, is to run at least one marathon in my 70th spin around this planet. I am building toward that with a written-out plan that I have in a notebook beside my…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  publishing

    Author’s Copies

    They Become a Necessary Problem… After collecting author’s copies for 35 or more years now, they tend to build up in volume. And when you have two prolific authors, they really can build up in numbers. So one of the large collections I will be bringing to Vegas is all of Kris and my author’s copies. (Our brag shelves are already here. I am talking about extra copies.) The reason is that the new offices in Lincoln City just doesn’t have the room for all the back stock of WMG books and all of Kris and my author’s copies. So one collection is moving to the new Vegas office and…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    A Sort-Of Day Off… And Black Books…

    Without Really Taking the Day Off… You know how that goes… You sort of think you are going to take the day to rest, but then end up puttering a bunch of stuff done. Yup, that was me today. Finished up email, worked on a workshop, did laundry, got some research done of the UHaul for the final July move to bring the marbles, digests, files, and extra author copies down to the Vegas office. And three naps. Guess I was tired. (grin) Black Books… I have mentioned to a few people that I bought a long time ago a mountain of gold, just could never get to mining it.…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  Licensing

    Some Licensed Products

    Cold Poker Gang Licensed Stuff… In the mail today I got a nifty box with another metal box inside. It was a set of poker chips in a metal case with an image of the cover of Bottom Pair on the outside of the metal case. And inside each chip was embossed in gold with the words “The Cold Poker Gang.” I put two decks of The Cold Poker Gang cards inside it in exchange for the regular cards that came with it. I get to keep it for something down the road, because no one took a set in the Kickstarter Campaign. So I get to keep this first…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Some Promised Pictures…

    Hard to Get a Sense of 7,000 Square Feet of Stuff… But the following pictures will sort of give a hint at the monster I am tackling. (And yes, I owned all of this stuff.) What I did for four days was mostly pack and make decisions about entire collections and found homes from most of it. Like a large collection of anniversary clocks went to my old bookstore, along with a ton of nonfiction books that I sorted that were from Kris’s old library. I had also bought a massive collection of decorative wooden boxes. Those went to the bookstore as well. The massive Muffy Vanderbear collection (that was…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Home and Exhausted

    Assignments and Email Tomorrow… Long two-day drive from the Oregon Coast to Las Vegas. I had forgotten just how long, actually. But great to be home. Last twenty hours of Cold Poker Gang Kickstarter. And we are nearing the next stretch goal which adds another free book for everyone plus a choice of Pop-Up Writing Class worth $150. So sure hope we can make that. It would be very cool. And thank you, everyone, for the support of my series. Means a great deal. And one blast to the past. One of my most famous short stories, a story I have made over $20,000 on and counting is called “In…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Headed Home Tomorrow

    Tuesday…. I need to spend a few hours to pack the car tomorrow morning, then head out. It will take me two days to get back to Vegas. And then on Thursday I will be back in my office and answering letters and assignments. But give me some time to get caught up, please. Thanks! And wow, we went right past the third stretch goal with the Cold Poker Gang Kickstarter (information in posts below) and are solidly on the way toward the 4th. Wonderful!! Again, thanks!! The big warehouse has gone from massive amounts of things to massive numbers of piles of boxes. But most things now have a…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    In a Suite On the Beach

    In Lincoln City… Spent about three hours up in the warehouse tonight, some of that time talking with Steve and Chris York who stopped by. Wonderful to see them. Some time giving Kris a FaceTime tour. Ugly amounts of work. So much really good stuff. Like at one point I was moving a few boxes of toys and found an entire box of Lionel Train Track from the 1950s in great shape. Maybe a 100 pieces. Not a clue what to do with it. Boxes of stamps (my friend Bill collected stamps). One entire box was stamp collecting supplies. I will keep the US stamps to use (sold the older…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  publishing

    Cold Poker Gang Kickstarter Hit Two Stretch Goals!!

    Gets Great From Here On Up!! Any supporter will now get three books and a choice of lectures just for supporting the kickstarter. And with each stretch goal hit now, more reading and more workshops, pop-ups, and so on. (The “so on” will be really amazing for anyone if we get there. (grin)) And I am excited because now we are finally going to get the Cold Poker Gang entire series into hardback. I want that set of books on my shelf. Just having it there will make me write more and more books in the series, I can tell you that. I am that superficial at times. (grin) So…