Jerry left us yesterday… I have actually known Jerry Pournelle since 1982, which seems like an impossible amount of time. We were not close, so no need to feel bad for me because of his passing. Give your thoughts to his family and very close friends. They are hurting today. For me, as I assume for many others, Jerry Pournelle was one of those who always seemed to be there in the science fiction world, and I have many, many interesting memories with Jerry. Actually, early on I only knew him as another professional writer and I sat on many panels with him. We didn’t agree about much of anything,…

I Have Promised… Since I’ve been working on some short stories for Smith’s Monthly, I was reminded about my old making-a-living posts. Over the years I have done periodic posts about how it is possible in this new world to make a living at writing short fiction only. That belief hasn’t changed. Math hasn’t changed much either. So I’ll update that next week for 2017. Stay tuned. It seems to always be a popular post in different ways. (grin) Challenges This summer I did some challenges with writers to write either 30 short stories in 30 or 60 days and/or also three novels in three months. If they did they…

Some General Updates… Over the next month or so I will be finishing moving all the of the classic workshops over to Teachable. Right now there are about four or five there now. And I will redo the Curriculum for the workshops to add in the new ones we have done this spring and summer. In the meantime, October, November and December workshops are listed. I have some To Be Announced slots over the next three monhts, but not sure if we will fill those or not. In September five of the twelve offered workshops has no one in it. And not even the new workshop filled. So got a…

Working Well… Today, because it was the day after a major holiday, I needed to stop by the offices and north store for a few errands. So Kris and I headed up there in the middle of the afternoon. A new store manager was being trained there today because Josh is moving to the computer side of everything. And Allyson and her publishing crew were going great guns, all smoothly and without stress. The new bookstore is doing great, with Dan making fantastic progress getting a thousand details set up, and of course Billy at our flagship store is on full steam, since we are still coming out of the…

How I Feel Every Time… To the best of my knowledge, I did 106 books for traditional publishers, ending in 2008. At that point, as I have said numbers of times, I was tired of publishing, tired of the worsening contracts and the horrid attitudes of editors. I was disgusted by the system and the corruptness. And I got really tired of watching the system chew up not only friends, but new writers. In other words, I was finished. Indie publishing saved me. I could control my own copyediting, my own covers, and retain ownership of my copyrights. Plus I didn’t have to feel like a beggar with a tin…

The Universe Between Bundle Last Day!! The fantastic fantasy bundle Universe Between ends later tonight. The bundle helps AbleGamers.com as well. While you are just waiting around for me to do a pricing post, (grin) grab the bundle and discover some top writers I know you have never read before. Talk about pricing? Wow, this is a good deal for some great novels and a volume of Fiction River on top of it all. And don’t forget that the September Online workshop are starting on Tuesday. Not even the new one is full yet. ————– Here are a few details… I had the pleasure of curating another bundle for Storybundle.com…