• Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  Recommended Reading

    Holiday Workshop Also Starting

    HOW TO WRITE A HOLIDAY STORY… The December session is starting. The only way to sign up for this workshop was back when we did the Kickstarter for the fantastic Holiday Spectacular. Everyone who signed up for the three-week workshop should have gotten an email from me with codes. You can’t get into that workshop if you are not already signed up, but you can still get into the Holiday Spectacular to have a story delivered every day if you want. Not only do you get all the 30 stories or so that are still coming over this entire month, but you get the ones that are already up. So…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Cat Troubles Posting

    Darned Near Impossible… To Write with a 19 pound cat wanting to cuddle on your lap. Gavin decided that he either wanted to be on my lap or force me to give up and go to bed. All 19 plus pounds of the big lug. So here are two pictures I managed to get of him in the middle of his cuddle campaign. As I type this now, he is making rude bathing noises under my chair. Maybe it is time to go to bed and let the cat win.

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Fun Holiday

    With Running and Great Food and Friends… Started the day off getting up in the middle of my night, putting in the turkey to cook, picking up Steph and Val at 7 am and all four of us heading out to Summerlin for a Turkey Rock Fun Run. It was a cold but beautiful morning, sunny and no sign of the coming storm at all. So I kicked up to the 10K (6.2 miles) and didn’t set any records, but I did finish and got second in my old gomer age group. (Pictures below.) Then home to cook (yes, I cooked the basics of the dinner) and Chris and Steve…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  running

    35,000 Close Friends Went Running

    Kris and I Joined Them… That’s right, what better thing to do than run 5K with 35,000 of your closest friends on a Saturday night in Las Vegas in the dark on narrow streets. (This was the run I fell in last year and got so badly damaged.) And tomorrow evening is the Rock and Roll Marathon that shuts down the the entire Las Vegas Strip, from downtown to beyond the airport. Tomorrow no one in their right mind will get in a car in Las Vegas. Not only is the Strip completely closed from 2 pm until after 10pm for the run, but on the Strip at 7 pm…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  Recommended Reading

    Holiday Spectacular

    Kickstarter Backers Got a Deal… And the surveys are out and rewards and stretch rewards will be going out shortly. And on November 28th, the original stories will start arriving in people’s inboxes. Thirty-five holiday stories in a row for 35 days. Now, if you missed the Kickstarter, but would still like to have the stories every day, or give the stories as a gift to a friend, you can. All original and all written by top authors, including two by Kris. Here is how you can get them, and watch the nifty new very short video that explains it all. Simply go to this page to subscribe. $25 for all…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Fun This Week After Workshop…

    Wednesday… Lunch and Dinner with Writers… Then on Thursday back to exercising and starting the catch-up from a week away from normal routine. Friday, a fun dinner with Carolyn Clink (Rob Sawyer’s wife and partner. Carolyn came to the Master Class while Rob was in China.) Then the three of us headed off to see John Cleese. Turns out that even though we had bought the tickets in the large concert hall at separate times and dates, Carolyn ended up with a seat right beside us in a four-person row. I can’t even begin to calculate the odds of that happening. Then when the show was over, the nice guy…

  • Fun Stuff,  On Writing,  publishing

    One Day Left…

    Almost to the Second Stretch Goal… Only one day left in the Kickstarter. You get 35 original holiday stories sent to you, one per day during the holidays, plus all kinds of other great stuff. Time is running out to get in on this original and fun idea. And we are well on the way to the second stretch goal, which means more great reading. So help us hit that and get some great reading through the holiday season by some top short fiction writers. And if you want great discounts for workshops and lectures, you have just one day to get them. And trust me, after doing two Kickstarter…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  publishing

    Three Days Left In the Holiday Spectacular

    GREAT STORIES AND REWARDS… Only three days left in the Kickstarter. You get 35 original holiday stories sent to you, one per day during the holidays, plus all kinds of other great stuff. Time is running out to get in on this original and fun idea. And we are well on the way to the second stretch goal, which means more great reading. So help us hit that and get some great reading through the holiday season by some top short fiction writers. And if you want great discounts for workshops and lectures, you have just three days to get them. And trust me, after doing two Kickstarter campaigns so…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  running

    The Promised Pictures

    Completed the 10K… (6.2 mile run) It wasn’t pretty, but I did it. Actually, the course turned out to be 3.1 miles uphill to start, and it turned out to be a ton warmer than I expected. All desert and concrete. So I got overheated, which for a person with my heat history, is not a good thing. And the hill made it harder for a person like me who is still too heavy. I managed to stay hydrated just fine and slowed down some to even walking and running, so didn’t hit the time I was hoping for. But finished alive and without heatstroke. Win. So here are some…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  running

    Friday Night In The Fall…

    So For Me That Means An Early Run in the Morning… In fact, up at 6:30 am or so tomorrow, three or more hours before I normally get up. And tomorrow I am running a 10K (little over six miles) instead of my normal 5k runs. Seems like all fall there are runs on the weekends. Great fun, actually. My time goal is under 70 minutes, although I would love, love, love to get it under an hour. But got a hunch I will do a little too much walking to hit that. And I am still a little too heavy. We shall see how it goes. 70 minutes is…