• Challenge,  On Writing

    Writing Quote From Joe Lansdale

    Wonder Where I Have Heard This Before? Joe Lansdale said on Facebook today… “The writer who thinks the whole purpose of writing is suffering isn’t one I’m much interested in. The one that tells a story for the joy of telling it is the one I’m interested in. Writing can be hard, but it shouldn’t be miserable. Some days it might be, but on the whole it should be an exciting, if occasionally, frustrated adventure. A story is made better by style, character, dialogue. All the tools that make it work, but the most important component is joyful passion and a willingness to improve on your passion to make it…

  • Challenge,  On Writing

    Pulp Speed Writers (Take Two)

    A Post I Wrote in 2016… Talks about the kind of writers who are or were Pulp Speed Writers. After yesterday’s post, I thought it would be worth bringing back as well. Answer a few questions. Pulp Writers’ Abilities… I got a great question today about some of the basics the really prolific pulp writers did to be so productive. And how to go about finding out about a lot of their styles. How I have learned about so many of the older pulp writers is by reading books about them, often in their own words, reading books about the era, and just finding anything I could to read about…

  • Challenge,  On Writing

    Pulp Speed Flashes To The Present

    Fourth Time Brought Forward I wrote this post in 2014, then brought it forward again in 2015, and then again in 2019. Got a few questions about it, so figured after two years, one of which lasted forever, it couldn’t hurt on a slow Friday night to bring it back once more. PULP SPEED… Not at all sure why this idea sort of hits me right. I think because it flies in the face of all the myths. A writer has to have all myths under control to even attempt this. So this post might just make you angry because it hits at belief systems I’m afraid. The second reason…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Updates On Some Classes

    Slowly Seeing The Light… Amazing how the pandemic just ground so much of all of us (and the world) down to a halt. At WMG Publishing last spring and through the summer, we spent all the time making sure we were solid. Some projects were put on hold, others cancelled, until by the time we got to late August, we felt pretty solid as a company and a business. But at that time we still had no idea at all where the world, business, and publishing in general was headed, what with the second wave at that time on the pandemic and the strange political craziness here in the States.…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    New Classes Available

    Three New Classes Today… More coming over the next four days. NEW SIX WEEK WORKSHOP ADDED IN MAY… This one is called: May STAGES OF A PUBLISHER. Talked about adding it a month or so back, finally got it starting in May. (And yes it has been added to the Lifetime Workshop Subscription.) This turned out to be an eye-opening workshop. I wouldn’t miss this one. Might make you a ton more money down the road. Maybe not so far down the road, actually. Also we started two new Pop-Up classes as many of you expected. #29 Pop-Up: EPIC FANTASY WORLD BUILDING #30 Pop-Up: CREATING BELIEVABLE EPIC FANTASY NAMES These…

  • 70 Book Challenge,  Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    70 Publishing Challenge

    Half Way There… I turned 70 back in the middle of November of 2020 and set up a challenge for myself. Actually a number of challenges. One was to complete a marathon and I did that in late November. I plan on one or two more marathons this coming fall. But I also sat up a publishing challenge for myself. I wanted to publish 70 major books (not counting individual short stories) with my name on the front cover. I did an update back in January when I said I was way behind. Well, I am now caught up. Granted, I only have twenty books published in five months, but…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  On Writing,  publishing

    Secrets and Lies Storybundle

    FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO LOVE MYSTERY… Kris put together what I think might be one of the best mystery StoryBundles in a long, long time. And I feel really lucky to have a book in this one, let me tell you. Here is the link to get it:  https://storybundle.com/mystery There are some amazing novels and stories in this bundle and if you love mystery, you don’t want to miss it. I even have one of my Cold Poker Gang novels in this called Dead Hand. It would be a good one to jump into the series with. https://storybundle.com/mystery On another topic, all the surveys went out today on The…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    April Workshops Starting Up

    Tuesday and Wednesday… Yes, it is that time. The April workshops are starting up. You can find them on WMG Publishing Teachable at https://wmg-publishing-workshops-and-lectures.teachable.com/ Hit “See all Courses” and look for the April classes. Also, for those of you taking the special workshops from the Colliding Worlds Kickstarter, the Writing SF Stories and the Vastness of Space three-week special classes, they are starting as well. I sent you a letter on how to find those and get into them back in February. They were only available through the Kickstarter campaign. The six-week classes open to everyone in April are: Class #31… Apr 6th … Covers 101 Class #32… Apr 6th…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Just Some Bits…

    Saturday Night Clean-Up… I will finally get to have more hours for writing starting this coming week. Finally. So figured tonight when no one was around, I would clean up a few things. — The survey should go out on Tuesday or Wednesday for The Return of the Fey Kickstarter campaign. After that I will keep you informed on the campaign when other details go out. But next week will only be the surveys because we want to give everyone time to get them back to us. That way we don’t miss anyone. So when you get the survey, please fill it out as soon as you can. And thanks…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    A Dip Into the Past…

    Looking Through the Twenty Issues of the Original Pulphouse Magazine… In the last Pulphouse Kickstater, we offered a stretch reward that we said would be coming out about now that was a sample of the stories I published back in the original Pulphouse: A Fiction Magazine. So I was putting that together tonight. I quickly came to realize a few things. The small volume I was putting together could not be a best-of volume because there are just far, far too many great stories in those twenty volumes. I needed to pick eight for this short sample of stories from back 30 years. So this would not be a best-of…