• Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  workshops

    The Return of Boss

    Three Full Days Doing the Survey And almost ready to go. Waiting on one more detail and it will finally head out. I’m learning a great deal, actually, since this is the first one we have gone with a fulfillment company on. It should be pretty good, even though this time they are only doing the survey and we are still doing the actual fulfillment. But it is a ton nicer and a ton more work. And also we will have a site up for a time to take late pledges. In other words, if there is something you missed during the Kickstarter, you can still pick it up, or…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Fun Interview

    Robert Jeschonek Interviewed Me… A fun and short discussion with Robert about different things science fiction and 1970s, because he’s doing that SPACE: 1975 Kickstarter Campaign. When we recorded it, it was about 60% funded, but now the campaign has made the funding and first stretch goal and is doing great. I am excited because I get to write a story for it. The interview happened when I was in the worst of the allergies from the smoke and I wore big headphones, so I looked a little more beat-up than normal. (grin) But it was fun. And since I sold my first couple of short stories in 1974, I…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  workshops

    Really Fun Special Workshop

    And Only FOUR Days to Get It!!! Robert Jeschonek is doing a really fun Kickstarter campaign where he has a bunch of us writing stories for this 1975 themed science fiction anthology. It is called SPACE: 1975. Check it out! Only four days left. Ends on Tuesday. So Kris and I got talking about how many different things and techniques we had to learn to actually write or something like this in science fiction, and it occurred to us that writing to topic, especially historical topics, in science fiction, had a lot of tricks, techniques, and methods that writers could learn from. Kris and I learned them over hundreds of…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  On Writing

    Two Cool Things!

    Really Worth Checking Out… The first is a brand new series of blogs/articles from professional writer Chris York, who writes mystery and science fiction, but these days mostly really amazing cozy mystery novels under a couple of names. Chris is married to writer J. Steven York and they have been our closest writer friends for more decades than any of us care to think about. Anyone who has come to a major workshop for WMG, either on the coast or here in Vegas, knows Chris. Anyhow, since the beginning of this year, Chris retired from her long-time day job as an accountant for a major hotel and condominium complex and…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  On Writing

    Working on the Survey…

    For The Return of Boss Kickstarter… It ended tonight and thanks, everyone, for the great support. Really fun. But now I am working on the survey that will get sent out in a week or so. Basically I am rebuilding the entire campaign… twice. Not kidding. And adding some extra stuff people can grab if they want, or if they missed it in the campaign. At some point, Loren and I will do some videos in the Kickstarter Best Practices about surveys and the many ways they can be handled after you run a successful kickstarter. Kickstarter itself gives you a decent tool to use. And using that is pretty…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  workshops

    Last 18 Hours…

    As I Write This… The Return of Boss Kickstarter campaign ends at 8 pm West Coast Time tonight (Thursday) and looks like we are going to go past the 6th stretch goal. So writers, you get four Pop-Ups as stretch goals, worth $600 total. We already have two of them recorded and will be finishing up the last two and have them all up before the survey goes out in a week or so. Also a lot of great reading as well as stretch rewards, plus everyone who backs this gets the new Diving novel Thieves as well. So make sure you don’t miss it. This turned out really well…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  workshops

    Best Workshop Deal Ever….

    In the Return of Boss Kickstarter Campaign… Kris’s wonderful Diving Universe novels and novellas and short stories are all in the subcategory of Science Fiction called Space Opera. So back when Kris finished the new Boss novel and we were talking about what cool things we could do for the campaign for writers, we came up with the idea of teaching a special three-week workshop called How to Write Space Opera. It will only be offered through this special Kickstarter campaign and now only for two more days. Ends Thursday Evening! But since the Diving Books are space opera and learning how to write great space opera is a tough…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  On Writing,  publishing

    The Return of Boss Kickstarter…

    Is Down to Counting Hours… As I write this, 65 hours left. Only that much time left to sign up for the new special workshop, or get the two new Diving novels early. Or a bunch of other great stuff. We have made it through five stretch goals, which means there are some great extra books and for writers three Pop-Ups that everyone will get automatically. And there is still time to hit that last stretch goal and add in even more. So help us pass the word. Or if you haven’t looked at it yet, click over to The Return of Boss Kickstarter campaign and look at all the…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  publishing,  workshops

    Just Hit 5th Stretch Goal!!!

    How Cool Is That? I am, of course, talking about the Return of Boss Kickstarter campaign that is going on now. And we have a nifty sixth stretch goal and a seventh waiting in the wings. So I figured that with 5 days left (ends Thursday evening), and since we still have another stretch goal we are aiming for, I should detail out what every backer at the $5 level and above gets at this point in time. To start off, anyone, backer or not, can follow the link in the campaign story and get a free electronic copy of the novella “Diving into the Wreck.” That is the award-winning…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  On Writing,  publishing

    Short Story and Fun Project

    Writing a Lot of Short Stories Lately… Tonight I just finished a new Poker Boy story for a project, got another cat story to write for the cat books, and have another story assignment. But one story assignment I hope you will all help me get comes through this really nifty Kickstarter campaign going on from the amazing Robert T. Jeschonek. Many of you know Robert from his fantastic stories in both Fiction River and Pulphouse Magazine, but he also writes amazing novels and sells his short fiction to just about every major market. And now he is editing this wild and fun idea and wants me to write a…