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Reading a Lot of Great Stories
Study Along Workshop for Thriller/Humor I have been amazed at a number of things. First off, how many writers got stories in for this workshop. Writing thriller/humor short stories is a tough challenge and a lot of writers tried it. So that impressed me. Second thing that impressed me with the first assignment was how good they were overall. Some great mysteries and a bunch of writers actually hit thriller/humor short stories. Then with the story in 40 hours, a lot of writers made the deadline and again the stories were great. And the third story deadline of 24 hours had about three times as many stories as I expected,…
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Another Friday Night
Over The Years… I think it is a total miracle that I have not missed on this blog on a Friday night. Some of you know I tended bar for 17 years, and just about always on a Friday night. So back in 1987, when I went freelance with writing and editing and publishing, I swore I would never spend another Friday night or another New Year’s Eve in a bar. But for some reason, after 35 years of not going anywhere on Friday night, the itch to go out and do something on Friday night is still there. I never want to do anything in reality, but it is…
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RESCUE TWO KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN NOW LIVE!!!
ALL KINDS OF GREAT STUFF!! Including a ton of different workshop stuff, and with every award you get a copy of my new Seeders novel RESCUE TWO. Rescue Two Kickstarter. The two special workshops are on science fiction. — WRITING IDEA FICTION Special Workshop. All the ins and outs of writing idea fiction and how to do it and how to come up with ideas. You can take it starting April 12 or May 3rd. And remember, this is the only place to get this workshop. — WRITING ABOUT TIME Special Workshop. All the ins and outs of writing about time while in space and how to do it and…
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Challenges (Wrong Information Out There)
Not Sure How This Information Got Spread… But I heard yesterday from a person who didn’t feel that spending $600 and then not being able to write on something a year in would be a good thing. And that they would lose their money like putting it in a slot machine. I wrote back and said that the challenges don’t cost anything. Yes, you spend the $600 to get into the mix. But if you miss, you get $600 in credits for anything on WMG Teachable except for another challenge. So in other words, you buy $600 in credits for any workshop or anything, and then get to have some…
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A Novel Happens
Not Intended, but Creative Voice Won… As it should. Tonight got to the writing computer around 12:30 am. Typed in a title that had caught my eye. A STAR-FILLED NIGHT Started typing about a guy who met a woman outside the Titanic Exhibit at the Luxor here in Vegas. Story could have gone anywhere, but suddenly I found it solidly in the Thunder Mountain world. And at 1,300 words or so I wrote Chapter Two and said, “Shit!” Thankfully I didn’t wake Kris up clear off into the bedroom. My creative voice said, “This is the best idea for a Thunder Mountain Story, set on the Titanic, about the three…
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Aliens Among Us
A New StoryBundle… Hold on, you can’t buy it yet. I have not put it all together yet, to be honest. I am looking for some great science fiction novels or novellas with aliens in them. Turns out they are harder to find than you might think. But, of course, I am being selective because I love doing these bundles and work hard to make them the best they can be. The one going right now is CATTITUDE and if you love cat stories and haven’t grabbed it yet, don’t wait too long. It will be gone soon. So I am being selective looking for novels or novellas that focus…
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Cool Collections Workshops Starting in March
Four Different Collections Workshops They last nine weeks, you write five stories, I help you put the entire book together and the week #9 assignment is that you publish the collection that didn’t even exist before you started the class. Great fun!! And yes, by putting in the code MidWinter, you get them for half price. Also, if you hit every assignment and publish on the last day, you get a Pop-Up Credit worth $150.00 So this is a fantastic deal, especially during the sale. Collection Classes focus for March/April are SPIES RELATIONSHIPS FANTASY HEROES/HEROINES Relationships can be about any kind of relationship, not just romance. Remember, during the nine…
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Fifty
Title of the 50th Story In My Daily Short Story Challenge… That’s right, just for kicks and giggles, I realized as I started into the story and put the date on the file that it was story #50 of the challenge. So I figured, “Why Not?” And I titled the story “Fifty” and started writing. Turned out to be a 2,300 word Thunder Mountain story. Fun one. The challenge of a story per day for a year is going along fine so far. I am behind only on getting the stories on Patreon. Put another up last night, going for sleep tonight so no more tonight. As it was on…
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Multitasking Big Time Today
Not Even Counting the Sale And Bundle Stuff… Today, after my normal email, I went to work on doing the final layout of Smith’s Monthly #58. It will be out next week and up on Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/deanwesleysmith Then after that Kris and I walked a few miles to a great lunch place and spent some time there working on different workshops, getting them all planned out. I have also recorded a new class called CLIMBING OUT OF THE RUBBLE which will be part of the Master Business Class, the licensing class, and also on the Decades Ahead class. It will be up by Monday in all three. It will be…
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Four Challenges Now
They Are Designed to Help and Be Fun… On WMG Teachable, you can find four challenges now. The Great Challenge… Write one short story a week for one year. The Novel Challenge… Write one new novel over 30,000 words every two months for one year. The Novella Challenge… Write one novella (15,000 to 30,000) words per month for one year. The Publishing Challenge… Publish one new major project per month for one year. (Novel, novella, collection, or omnibus all count.) The cost is $600 to buy in ($300 during the sale this next week). You start at any time, but once you start, the clock is ticking. If you miss,…