• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    One Last Adventure Day

    Great Meetings, No Poker, and 16,000 Steps Walking… Yes, tired legs again. But another helping of bread pudding. Another meal in the buffet. Also wondered into “The Container Park” on Fremont Street. Now that’s a cool new place. And the fire-shooting giant grasshopper out front, moving in the beat to some music was fun as well. Yup, this is Vegas. ————– Weekender Pop-Up Online Workshops Are Now Up on Teachable. A couple of these are about half full. February 15-18, 2018 — Controlling Fear of Failure — How to Study and Practice in Fiction (A Study Plan) March 15-18th — Adding Tension to Your Writing — Making a Living in…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    One More Adventure Day

    More Meetings and a Ton More Walking… I got over 13,000 steps today after 16,000 yesterday. Yes, tired legs. Hours worth of meetings today and then some play, including a poker tournament tonight. Got knocked out right before the final table in 11th. Still fun numbers of hours. Those of you who read my books, I have now had four helpings of bread pudding in the Golden Nugget Buffet. I can almost see some of the Cold Poker Gang sitting at one table and a few tables away some of the Ghost of a Chance Agents. I love the place, can you tell? (Grin) ————– Weekender Pop-Up Online Workshops Are…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    BOOK FIVE OUT OF 67

    Still Having An Adventure And Far Too Many Meetings… So I figured tonight since I walked over 16,000 steps today, I would just share the video I did about the fifth book in The 67 Challenge, a Thunder Mountain novel. Some of you might remember I wrote this one in July in that challenge just as I wrote the last book in this challenge. July was a good month of writing. The book was published the second week of December. ————– Weekender Pop-Up Online Workshops Are Now Up on Teachable. A couple of these are about half full. February 15-18, 2018 — Controlling Fear of Failure — How to Study…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Adventures

    WE ALL GET STUCK AT TIMES… I’ve been noticing lately how I am feeding the creative voice by simply doing something a little different from my normal schedule at times. I seem to have the most trouble in the winter because of the light and the rain. So winter I really need to mix things up some. And regularly. Now I have a life that compared to most is pretty mixed to start with. I am the CFO of WMG, I tend to help out picking for all three of our stores and working with the three managers, I am exercising some, and writing and publishing my challenge. So busy…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Book Four Out of Sixty-Seven

    Yikes…  That feels like a long ways to go. I know, I know, one book at a time. (grin) So here is the video I did about the fourth book in The 67 Challenge, a Thunder Mountain novel called Tombstone Canyon. A time-travel western about a hidden canyon that actually exists in the Idaho wilderness. Some of you might remember I wrote this one in July in that challenge. It was published the first week of December. ————– Weekender Pop-Up Online Workshops Are Now Up on Teachable. A couple of these are about half full. February 15-18, 2018 — Controlling Fear of Failure — How to Study and Practice in…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Curriculum Updated and More Information

    Finally, After A Year, the Curriculum Updated… The Curriculum now includes all the new writing and publishing workshops from the last year and the new Pop-Up Weekender workshops we just announced. No workshop doubles up information. All of them are unique and focused in an area of fiction writing and business. The curriculum is divided into a number of categories to help you decide, but I will always answer questions if you are unsure. ————————— I’m Still Working On Marble Grant Novel Actually, making a little progress. And I am still working on getting back the responses to the last short  story challenge that ended on December 1st. That is…

  • On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    New Pop-Up Weekender Workshops

    POP-UP WEEKENDER WORKSHOPS WMG Publishing announces a new category of writing and publishing online workshops. Shorter and more intense learning experiences. Kristine Kathryn Rusch and I have a number of workshop ideas we have wanted to do, but they are too long for a lecture and two short for the six week structure of the regular workshops. To remind you… —A Regular workshop goes through seven or so videos each week for six weeks and five homework assignments and costs $300.00. It takes six weeks to finish a class. Full list and descriptions at www.deanwesleysmith.com/online-workshops/ —A Classic workshop is a retired regular workshop that you can go through as quickly…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    The 67 Challenge Books Two and Three

    Two More At Once Tonight… I am 67 years old and decided I wanted to try to publish my age. So on November 10th I started focusing on The 67 and working with WMG on scheduling and such. The 67 Challenge will run to November 9th of this year. That means I have to have everything turned into WMG no later than early October for the book to get all 67 books published. So on November 12th the first book in the challenge was published. A novel called Death Takes a Diamond. It is from my Mary Jo Assassin series. Two more books that count in the challenge for me…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    The 67 Challenge: Book One

    Going Fine So Far… Some of you might remember that back toward the end of October I set up a challenge for myself for my 67th year. I am 67 years old and decided I wanted to try to publish my age. Golfers try to shoot their age, so I figured why not? The rules I put on myself were basically counting books the same way as Asimov counted his books. If my name was on the cover and I did a bunch of work for that, it counted. I excluded short stories because I could publish well over 6o of those per year without pushing. So these books had…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Coast Workshops Update

    Thought It Was Time… So here are the available coast workshops and their status at the moment. Here are the dates of the coming coast workshops. Full descriptions at Coast Workshops. ANTHOLOGY WORKSHOP… Feb 24th through March 3rd, 2018.  Full and Writing already. FANTASY WORKSHOP… April 14th through the 21st, 2018.  Taught by Kris. FULL AND READING ALREADY THE GREAT BUNDLE WORKSHOP… May 5th through the 12th, 2018. A completely new and original idea for a writing workshop. See the details on the Coast Workshop page. This one will start writing in late March. Still a few spots open. Jump in if interested. CROSS GENRE WORKSHOP… September 15th through the…