• Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    That Was a Surprise…

    Tina Turner: The Musical This is a touring broadway company, and I knew it was about Tina’s life, and I knew a lot of what had happened up until she left Ike, which was intermission. The second half of her life and her struggles I did not know about. But above all that, the entire thing was amazing. And the woman playing Tina could sing. Wow! So a fantastic and fun night tonight. If this broadway touring show comes to your town, go see it. Be ready for some rough moments and scenes. But worth it.

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Ninja Warrior

    Women’s Championship… Katie Bone, at the age of 16, won the Ninja Warrior’s Women Championship in one of the most amazing displays of power and ability I have ever seen. And she is a type 1 diabetic. I have watched film of her winning rock climbing contests, and at one point I turned to Kris and said, “If Katie gets to stage four, she will win this thing. She goes up a wall better than Spider-Man could.” Stage four is a sixty-foot tower they have to climb twice to win. I was right. She is an amazing example to all of us to not let life issues and health get…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Kris Has a Birthday!

    I Got Her Two Cakes… Why? Well, because for a decade or more, the only cake Kris got was some ugly thing I baked. When we lived in Lincoln City, OR, the idea of dairy-free to the locals meant they didn’t put milk on it, but covered it in butter. So we moved to Las Vegas where there are more major bakeries that do Vegan than we could visit in a day. (We managed six or seven one afternoon in only one area of town.) So today (Sunday, June 4th) I am taking Kris with a group of friends out to her favorite (and safe) restaurant for a fun dinner…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Day Off… Sort Of…

    As Much of a Day Off As I Ever Take… We had our wonderful cleaning crew here starting just after I got out of bed, so Kris and I wished the cats good luck and headed off to a fun lunch at a place called the Black and Blue Diner. Then we had an adventure. We went looking for vegan cakes. Kris had a list of seven or eight she had found online, and we managed in three hours to hit four of them spread all over one part of Vegas. We were so far away from our place to the West, I swore if we drove much farther we…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Writing and Recording…

    Spent Most of the Day Doing Both… So by the time I turned my attention to this blog, I was way too tired to think about more myths and more choices. So how about a cat picture instead? A picture of the beautiful Miss Suzy who lives with the writers Chris and Steve York, or from what I understand, she allows them to live with her. And the little orange guy is our Gavin, He is now 21 pounds and a love and a main member of promotion central. This was a picture taken a few days after we rescued them both.

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    37 Years

    Kris and I Met May 4th, 1986… Can’t imagine living the last 37 years without her. So I am going to celebrate with some memories from the past. We had a wild and fun time in those 37 years. These pictures will not do that justice… But you can see what we looked like young. (Kris still looks young.) Kris going by me in a flash… Note how she is laughing at me. (grin) This was just a year or so ago. Oh, my god were we young… 37 years ago. Kris’s first pizza after being unable to eat pizza for over a decade due to health issues. Damn that…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Fun Pictures…

    Wonder What I Did Last Week… Here are a few pictures taken by the Writers of the Future people at the 39th year awards. Keep in mind that I was the first person across the stage 39 years ago… And with Jody Lynn Nye I was the co-editor of this volume in the transition after Dave Farland’s tragic death. (First, before the pictures, remember the May workshops are starting up. See yesterday’s post for details.) Here is that first picture 39 years ago of me being the first across the Writers of the Future stage. Oh, so young. Algis Budrys in tux, I am shaking Greg Benford’s hand. Behind me…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Some Publishing History

    I Tried And Mostly Failed… To get the importance of publishing history across to the young fiction writers at Writers of the Future. Here is a tiny part of what I said in a rushed fashion, I am sure I was skipping parts. Note: I am only talking about commercial FICTION!! Note: I am only talking about distribution and business structure of commercial FICTION!! In general, fiction publishing distribution patterns and delivery systems tend to run in 50 year cycles. Post Civil War (in this country) was the Penny Dreadfuls, Dime Novels, and Journals. They were slowly being replaced with pulp magazines around 1900 and were mostly gone (with few…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  Recommended Reading

    Get a Masters in Publishing

    That’s Right, A Real Master’s Degree From a real university. Western Colorado University. New York Times bestselling writer Kevin J. Anderson teaches it with the help of WMG Publishings publisher Allyson Longueira. Kevin and Rebecca Moesta also own Wordfire Press.  They also have a ton of guest speakers at times, including me, Mark Leslie from Draft to Digital, and so many more. You never know who is going to show up online in a class any given week. Stunning amount of knowledge and hands-on experience. You want to learn how to be a publisher in 2023, this is the class for you. Plus you get a real live Masters Degree…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Playing with a New Look

    Playing… The idea is to have at least three sections every night. And start doing a little focus on my own books at times. But tonight just playing with the look. So pardon me that this is my blog tonight for my daily blog challenge…   Topic of the night will be here…  It will come first and I have a bunch of topics I will be getting to, including more of the “… you might be a myth believer.” Also I want to finish up the Copyright Valuation series, talk a lot more about AI, and at times answer questions here I get from other writers. In topic of…