• Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  workshops

    I Warned You There Would Be Pictures

    Actually Only One Photo Is Needed… About fourteen writers from the anthology workshop got up early and went out to run. Plus about five writers to cheer us on. Super fun. We had doughnuts waiting for us back in the anthology suite in the hotel for when we got done running and before we started into the workshop. The run was a 5k charity run with lots of celebs and others from around Vegas out to support it. Joe Cron said we should do a group shot before the start and we got photo-bombed by two members of the Blue Man Group. (One is holding the boombox over Joe’s head.…

  • Fun Stuff,  On Writing,  publishing

    Tip of the Week #57

    The I’m Not Old Enough Excuse… I was going to do a blog on this, then decided to make it a tip of the week. (For those who do not get the Tip of the Week on Teachable, this is what they are like.) So then I got lazy and decided to just put this up on YouTube instead of doing a blog about it. So here is Tip of the Week #57. Warning to writers: It has the swear word “Practice” in it.  

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    As Promised…

    Pictures… Crawled out of bed at 6:30 a.m. and Kris and I were headed out the door before 7:30 am on a rainy and slightly cold morning for Las Vegas. All to attend a “5k fun run.” Actually it was for a great cause and made money to support rare childhood diseases and turned out to be a lot of fun, although very, very wet. (A squishing sound coming from a 68 year-old-man is never promising.) For the first time since I fell in November, I finished ahead of Kris and with a time around 38 minutes, but still run/walk. Got to work that down to around 30 minutes which…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    There Will Be New Pictures

    A Run At 8 am… Off for another 5k fun run in about seven hours, so this will be shorter than I had planned and I will get to the writing blog later. Need some sleep. But that means tomorrow Kris will have new pictures of our run on Facebook. Those are always fun. But before staggering off to get some sleep, I did want to say that the regular February Workshops are starting on Tuesday and Wednesday. Good list. Nine workshops. And soon I will have the workshops for April-July up. That will include some new workshops. And the next Futures Workshop called Structures will start in March. First…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Series Workshops Are Done…

    It’s Late, and Bowling in a Nerd Bar… Much harder than it should be. But great fun with a bunch of writers. Webinar for the last of the Study Along stuff tomorrow morning early. So for the second day in three, I’m going to turn this over to a cat picture. Back with writing stuff tomorrow. Cheeps… Our indoor feral…   

  • Fun Stuff

    A Special Cat Picture

    Because I Am Exhausted from CES… I finished up the series blog post on wanting to make stories special that is right ahead of this one. So thought before I staggered off to bed I would show you a picture of Gavin on his and Cheeps new cat tree. I was trying to finish up a few letters, but my eyes are blurring. So if I owe you a letter or response, tomorrow. No CES for me tomorrow. Night…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    A Great Christmas

    Short Post Tonight With a Picture… The host is working on this site with a new security update, so no worries if you see it is not secure. Working on that tonight and tomorrow (26th). But in the meantime, here is a picture of Kris and I on our way out to Christmas dinner. And even with a fire-alarm in the middle that forced the evacuation of the entire Wyn Casino, it was a wonderful dinner. A lot of fun. Happy Holidays, everyone.  

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Been Reading and Watching Movies

    We Writers Consume Story Everywhere… I’ve been doing that over the last few weeks in a number of places. First off, I have been reading challenge short stories and novels. Almost all done and will be sending out comments soon. Some really wonderful novels and stories, I must admit, from those who took the challenge starting in September. I am enjoying the reading a great deal. (And I might do it again for January. Haven’t decided yet.) And I have, when time allows, been watching Hallmark Christmas movies. Not for the plots, of course, but for the structure and the characters and the relaxing aspect of them. In other words,…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  On Writing,  publishing

    A Happy Holidays Gift From WMG Publishing

    Actually, Two Gifts… WMG Publishing this year, for the very first time in the almost ten year history of the company, is doing two special holiday reading mystery boxes. Both have over $250 in value of books for $50.00. (Yup, I said that.) The Writer Gift Box has a lecture, a classic workshop, and 12 different writing books in it. All for $50.00 (just the lecture and the classic workshop are worth $200 alone. Person who gets the box gets to pick the choice of classic workshop or lecture.) The Holiday Gift Box includes 40 ebooks (novels, novellas, short-story collections, magazines, boxed sets, bundles, and a sampling of something from each…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  running

    The Run Went Well Until It Didn’t

    Best Start So Far… This was in the 5k the day before the Rock and Roll Marathon and Half Marathon. About 30,000 plus were running. Massive to say the least. Even with bad traffic, we got there in time and I stayed with Kris for the start. Then I went out ahead of her as I normally do. And for the first time I was feeling great. Didn’t need to walk at all. Until, that is, just beyond the 1.5 mile mark when I tripped on something and instantly hit the concrete very hard. Managed to fall correctly, so only jarred myself, knocked the wind out of me, and I…