-
Story Eleven and Mentors
Talking About Mentors I did a one-shot class last year about what I learned from my mentors over 50 years of writing. It was fun to do, looking back like that. It is on Teachable and still available. No one gets successful in this publishing business alone, that’s for sure. And now Kris and I do our best to get our years of knowledge passed on to the next generations through workshops, blogs, and mentorships. Back when we were coming into the business, a mentorship was more of let’s talk when we are both at the same convention. Damon Knight and Kate Wilhelm were different, slightly. They taught at Clarion…
-
IN-PERSON WORKSHOPS ALL SET!!!
Space Opera In-Person Workshop Starts Monday… Right here in the WMG office in Las Vegas. We wanted to make sure it would work and it will. And will be great for writers attending for a ton of reasons, not the least of which is food and comfort and being able to have your own coffee in the room. (grin). So not having to mess with the problems of scheduling with hotels, and going back to what we had planned in 2019 before you-know-what hit, the craft workshops will all be in the WMG office for the next two years. And for the craft workshops, we are avoiding the summer. Just…
-
Story #8 and Backing Up Work…
Back It Up!!! I learned this the very hard way back in 1985. I came back from the Portland airport to my house in Lincoln City to find it all boarded up and my mint collection of Astounding pulps hosed down on the front yard. Seems the fire started in the electrical box in my office. I lost all my stories that were not in the mail at the time, meaning about 100 short stories. I lost my first two written novels as well that were beside my typewriter that had melted into a puddle. I lost it all. Years of writing. It took me years to get back to…
-
7th Story and Kickstarter Success…
NEW WRITERS HAVE NO HISTORY… And I honestly would not expect a new fiction writer coming into publishing for the first time to have any perspective on what happened, often before they were born. So I am trying to imagine what a new writer faces today in 2025. A dumping ground on social media of really bad opinions and information that just makes it all seem impossible. And with their craft, they carry a ton of destructive baggage from teachers. Rewriting, polishing, beta readers, workshops, you name it. A hundred ways to destroy anything original in a new writer. Then the publishing world itself looks totally overwhelming. Publish your own…
-
SERIES COLLIDE KICKSTARTER IS LIVE!!
SERIES COLLIDE IS PART OF THE COLLIDE SERIES… Yeah, I know, kind of weird, but in the last five years we have done these collide Make 100 Kickstarters with 50 stories by Kris and 50 stories by me on different genres or topics. So this year we are doing stories from Kris and my series, and this is the 5th installment of the Collide Series. Two great special workshops in this one as well about how to write series endings (stories, books, entire series) and how to write Cross-Genre series, which both Kris and I do a ton. Her Retrieval Artist series and my Thunder Mountain series are two examples…
-
Challenge Day Four… Crazy Busy…
4:30 AM, So Not Writing Much On Publishing… I recorded the first week of both the Publishing Monday and also the Bite-Sized Branding and Trademark. And I had a lot to talk about tonight on that which will have to wait for tomorrow or the next. Story took me longer to finish, mostly because I got started on it so late . Learning and Such… The codes for the 12 Day Holiday Sale are still active and will be until Monday, so just a few more days and then they go away. Starting next week is the Romance Novella class on the WMG Writer Store (Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Mystery…
-
Day Three of the Challenge
Stunningly Simple and Yet Difficult to Understand… You become a trademark owner as soon as you start using your trademark with your goods or services. You establish rights in your trademark by using it. Here is what I think is the problem with fiction writers with both copyright and trademark. Fiction writers have no issue making stuff up. Yet when it comes to putting a value on what they made up, even if readers or editors buy it, that product has no value to them. And writers purposely stick their fingers in their ears and hum the Star Spangled Banner when you try to talk with them about the value…
-
First Day of the Challenge…
Publishing Opinions from Yesterday… Interesting that no one agreed or disagreed or said anything about the opinions yesterday of where I think indie in 2025 will go. But I did get a letter from a new writer asking me if my book Killing the Top 10 Sacred Cows of Publishing was still accurate. I told him it was dated and things are much worse now for traditional publishing for fiction writers than they were when I wrote the book ten or so years ago. Much worse. Traditional publishing is a graveyard for young fiction writers and their dreams. No other way to look at it, sadly. But this guy also…
-
My 2025 Challenge
And Back to the Format of this Blog… This blog on most nights will be in three parts for all of 2025. Part 1… PUBLISHING… First part I will talk about something in publishing or writing. More than likely finish the series on trademarks and so on. That will start tomorrow. Part 2… LEARNING… This will be all sorts of things about books or learning or workshops… For example, the 12 Holiday Days of Workshop Sales is still going. See yesterday’s blog. Great bargains to help you learn and get into the new year. Part 3… MY WRITING… Every night I will write about my writing that day, about the…
-
Last Day…
Tomorrow This Blog Goes Back to Normal… And tomorrow I will finally announce my challenge here that I am going to attempt for 2025. I think I have all the parts worked out, so should be interesting. And this blog will go back to having three parts. But for right now one really great last day on the 12 Days of Holiday Workshop Sale. The Everything Subscription at half price. That covers everything that is on WMG Teachable and everything that is coming into the future. Might be the best year-end gift for your writing you can do not only for this year but for years to come. Twelve Days…