• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Lifetime Workshops

    And Other Nifty Things Such as Mentoring… I wanted to do a post here to let everyone know what was possible in the mass of workshops and lectures we have on Teachable. Lifetime Workshop Subscription… As more and more workshops and classic workshops and special workshops came on board over the last few years, we offered this. It has enormous advantages since you can do workshops at your own pace, are automatically signed up for new workshops, and can go through workshops that have been retired, yet still have value. This has over $17,000 in workshop value and the price is $3,000. Lifetime Lecture Subscription This is a subscription to…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    One Mentor Spot Left for 2020

    Doing 2019 Still… I had five people take me up on me helping them by being a mentor in 2019. I am basically a cheerleader, someone they have to check in with each week, talk about the ups and downs. I answer questions when asked, give opinions on covers, read stories, and so on. In essence, I am there. And I am not really going away from those that I have been helping just because a year of time ended. A couple of the people started late, and one has pretty much vanished due to health issues. I hope that person will return later. So I figured I could handle…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Sales Numbers

    Some Interesting Comments… A number of posts back I talked about the difference between indie writers and traditional publishing writers. Not one person thought my sales numbers of over forty thousand for the traditional published author were too high. No one even questioned them. (They were far too high for 2019.) But wow did I get a lot of people objecting to around 50 copies a month average sales for indie. I understand that. I was doing a comparison on two books between the two types of publishing. And I used the word average, but so many writers don’t understand that term when it comes to sales. So let me…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    October Workshops Starting

    Plus the How to Write a Pulphouse Story October… If you signed up for that workshop through the Kickstarter and want to take it in October, write me at once. If you have workshop credit from the Kickstarter, you can use it against these October workshops if you want. We will have everything out later in the week as surveys get back in. The Regular October workshops are starting and for a few of these, this will be the last time they are regular workshops with homework. They are headed to classic status. However, if you are a lifetime subscriber, you can still send in the assignments on those. But…

  • Challenge,  On Writing

    Edmund Gosse Explains Things So Well

    From His Poem “Impression.” “Too much afraid of faults to be…” And that simple line from that incredible poem describes a great number of the writers I talk with every day. (You can read the entire poem here, published about writing in 1894. Worth the read. And if you could dare to write as ill as some whose voices haunt us still…) But that simple saying of being afraid of faults to be describes why so many writers don’t finish stories. And why so many don’t get their work out to readers or short fiction to editors. That saying a long time ago stopped making sense to me as a…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Up Early for an Outing Tomorrow

    With the Romance Workshop… Kris is taking the entire romance workshop on a field trip tomorrow. The mystery workshop in May went to the Mob Museum and this group gets to go to the Springs Preserve, and I’m going along because I am a member there and love the place. So got to be up early for me, so nothing tonight except to say there are seven more videos posted in the Licensing Transition and sign-ups for that are still open if interested. And sign-ups for the two Great Challenges are also still open. Lost two more writers this week, so far. And I am caught up, basically, on my…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Romance Workshop Going On Here Now

    And I Am Recording Kris’s Lectures for the Study Along… I realized tonight how really good these Study Along workshops are. Kris does a ton of videos about books on her reading list, then assigns stories, and I record her lectures from my point of view on a topic. And if you are taking the Study Along, you can turn in a story by the deadline and I will read it. First assignment of the Romance Workshop Study Along I ended up with 12 stories I will be reading over the next day or so. And just tonight I gave out story assignment #2. And the best deal is the…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    The Math

    Of Indie vs Traditional… You always know when I am going to do math, it will not be pretty. But a number of things happened in the last week that I figured it was time. First off, dealing with that myth of it costing so much to do an indie book. And second today a viral post from a traditional writer who got six figure deals and was whining that no one told her what would really happen (even though I am 100% sure she would have never listened.) So with those two in mind, let’s play a math game. With other important factors involved. Now you can be angry…

  • On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Science Fiction Study Along Craft Workshop

    A Reminder… I will be starting up the email group tomorrow for those attending the Science Fiction Craft Workshop here in Las Vegas in January.  The workshop is taught by Hugo Award winning editor and writer, Kristine Kathryn Rusch. But if you can’t make it to Las Vegas, the best way to take the class is on Teachable with the Science Fiction Study Along Craft Workshop. The workshop is January 24th – 28th, but the reason this is starting up so early is that there is a reading list and Kris wants everyone to have enough time to read everything she assigns. Both those coming to Las Vegas and those…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Myth Lectures Now Available…

    Posted the Last Two Myth Lectures… … In the Roadblocks Bundle of five lectures. The last two are on the myths of Productivity and Quality. Nasty myths, deadly to most writers. There are five lectures on myths in the bundle, five in the first bundle, and there will be two more bundles of five each coming over the next week or so. Best way to get them all is get a lifetime subscription to the lectures. Grab them on Teachable. Trust me, they might save you a lot of years and grief.