• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Writing in Public

    Up Too Early

          Up Too Early Went to bed at 5:30 a.m. and was back up at 8:30 a.m. Now that is just silly, but we got the new store open. Somebody asked me why I was up so early and I said “It’s not often you open a store.” Pictures soon. ————- The Day At the new store at 9 a.m. and worked there until I went off for a lunch meeting at 2 p.m.  Then back to the store until Kris and I walked to dinner to meet another professional writer. Then home for a nap that felt like it almost killed me after only three hours of…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Some Fantastic Writing Books!

    Writing Bundle Folks, there is a new writing bundle that just started with ten writing books. Two are mine. Another by Kris, another by Lawrence Block, another by Gerald Weinberg, another by JoAnna Penn, and so on. Trust me, you don’t want to miss this one. I’ve read all but two of these books and trust me, they are worth a lot more than what you would pay in this bundle. Those of you who want to learn, this is the cheapest education you can get from people who know what they are talking about. The Write Stuff 2016 Bundle Here is Kris’s blog about the bundle: The Write Stuff…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    The Voice

    The Voice If you did not watch the finals on The Voice tonight, you missed not only some amazing, stunning music, but some good writing moments. And I’m not talking about the original songs they wrote. More below in the topic of the night. ————- The Day Lots and lots of running around, took the stray cat to the vet, left her for surgery tomorrow. She might not make it through, but it’s the best choice we and two vets think she has in making it. I’ll let you know. Spent a lot of time today fighting glass shelves over three windows into place in the new store. Also a…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Three New Smith’s Monthly Titles

    Three New Smith’s Monthly Titles Monday, the third issue in one week of Smith’s Monthly will go out. It won’t get me completely caught up yet, but getting closer. Issue #28 went out last Monday to subscribers and Patreon supporters. Issue #29 went out Friday. Issue #30 will go out  today (Monday). The reason for the delay was me, and not on the writing side. So the wonderful folks at WMG convinced me to give up where I was getting delayed slowly over the winter and just let me focus on the new store and then writing. Thanks, Allyson, Judy, and Dayle for making these three issues possible so quickly. Now…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops,  Writing in Public

    Store and Workshop

    Store and Workshop Another full day at WMG offices (part of which will soon be our new store). I worked on one of the new workshops as well as did a bunch of stuff in the store. Got the second temporary sign hung outside, got some final trim work done, did a lot of work on all the die cast cars. And then spent the evening sorting through and getting some non-sports cards ready. (They are art cards mostly. But we have a lot of Trek, Star Wars, X-Files and other cards. We have one area of the store that is nothing but non-sport cards. And dug out some old…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Writing in Public

    A Complete Store Day

    A Complete Store Day From the moment I got out of the house until I got home at midnight (I ate lunch and dinner up at the store), I worked on the new store (except for a short trip out to our original store to pick stuff up). Turned out to be about 11 hours straight. I will show pictures of the store when we open on Wednesday. But below is one of me on a ladder working to put up one of our temporary signs. (Our nice wooden signs won’t be in for about a month. There will be five of them on the front of the huge building.) To give…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Bundle Ending

    Bundle Ending in One Day!! So if you want to read my novel HEAVEN PAINTED AS A POKER CHIP, you can get it in a bundle with eleven other novels from other writers from Bundlerabbit. Click on the image to go to the bundle. Trust me, there are some great writers and great books in this bundle besides me. Just click on the picture to go to the bundle. Don’t Miss This One! The Day The door of yesterday’s battle continued the fight into the office. And at one point it bit Allyson, but she is all right. The door will find a home shortly, but there may be more…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Writing in Public

    New Door and Other Adventures

    The Battle of the Door Well, somehow, on a slightly rainy, somewhat windy, late afternoon a good hour from home, in the parking lot of a large chain home-supply store, Kris and I managed to wage a great battle to put in an entire framed interior door into my old van. And get the back door closed. Now, when I said we’d pick up a door while over in the bigger city, I just assumed it would fit in my trusty old van. Everything fit in my trusty old van. Not so much a framed interior door 36 inches wide by 84 inches tall. Suited for closing off a back room…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Workshops and Store

    Workshops and Store I spent all day on the store and on working on workshops, so it was a very fun day. Patreon Supporters and Smith’s Monthly Subscribers As planned, I got a recent issue of Smith’s Monthly out to subscribers and up on Patreon. The next issue should be out to subscribers and up on Patreon on Friday, and then with luck, the third issue in this run will be on Monday. Now it’s going to take me some writing to get caught up. ————— Topic of the Night: nothing tonight I’ve been sitting at the computer too long today, so no topic tonight. Need to give my eyes a…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Distracted

    Distracted In case you hadn’t noticed, I haven’t written a word of fiction or nonfiction this month so far. I’ll talk about it in the topic below. Patreon Supporters and Smith’s Monthly Subscribers As planned, I got a recent issue of Smith’s Monthly out to subscribers and up on Patreon. The next issue should be out to subscribers and up on Patreon on Friday, and then with luck, the third issue in this run will be on Monday. Now it’s going to take me some writing to get caught up. ————— Topic of the Night: Distracted I haven’t done a word of writing this month. But honestly, that’s normal for me and…