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Typing Fast vs Being Prolific
Two Very Different Things… I know a ton of writers who can type and write per hour a lot faster than me. In fact half the writers taking the Speed workshop ended up being a lot faster hour-by-hour writers than I am. So how in 2017 did I write seventeen novels and about sixty short stories and very, very few other writers did that much, not counting all the blogs and editing I did? The answer: I spend more time in the chair. And I have cleared out the myths. I honestly don’t care what you think of Bob Ross, folks. But in two posts my writing was called “happy…
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Killing Another Sacred Cow… Having Fun Makes Your Writing Bad
Having Fun Equals Writing Poorly… Wow, I flat hadn’t seen that one before until a couple of really insulting comments on my blog I did about Mariah Carey having fun. Then it dawned on me that I bet a lot of writers think that if something is fun to do, it can’t have value, that it can’t be any good. Check in with yourself to see if you are one of those folks. Then ask yourself where you learned that myth. I know the myth about you must “struggle for your art” and that happy BS. But I had never flipped that slimy rock over and looked at the other…
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Having Fun Advice
On The Voice… As always, lots of great advice that can be directly related to writing. But this week, Mariah Carey, who was advising all the singers at this level, told two young girls the following… “If you are going to devote your life to a music career, you also need to devote your life to having fun with it as well.” Mariah Carey on The Voice. I know many of you get tired of me constantly saying over and over to have fun with your writing. I know that goes against the myth that sitting alone in a room and telling stories is “hard work.” And that many of you…
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Back to Writing
Got Some Details and Schedule Figured Out… Finally… So this morning I managed a couple thousand words, a slowish day for me, but a bunch more than I have done in this setting before. And it felt right and felt like I was finally in the right spot with the right timing. So I guess I have finally made, after more than a month, the transformation from a late-night writer to a morning writer. Trust me, folks, that trick wasn’t easy for this old dog. And starting on Thursday, I will be mailing everyone who is following along with the 100 day challenge a letter again on the first day…
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2019 Anthology Workshop and 2019 Master Business Class
Both Have Openings… Over the next few days I will be starting the 2019 Anthology Workshop group list. And sending out hotel information and first story information. Now granted, the workshop doesn’t happen until March 1st through 5th in Las Vegas. But there is three weeks of writing three stories at the end of November and early December, then time off for the holidays, then three more weeks of writing in January. Then a lot of reading. So really the workshop starts at the end of November. So time is almost up. That’s right, for the anthology workshop you will write six short stories to specific guidelines for real markets.…
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Future Workshop Series Now Available
A Really Fun Series of Workshops… We spend so much time on all these workshops helping writers become better storytellers and better at business, but we haven’t spent that much time helping writers deal with their futures and the future of their writing business. And to be honest, we get really tired of writers spending all the time to learn craft and the business and then not know how to sustain and end up gone in a few years. The problem was the topic was so huge, we didn’t know where to start. We first boiled it down to six different six-week workshops. Finally we managed to get it to…
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Business Master Class Is Over
Or It Will Be by 11:30 am… Wow, great fun, great information, great discussions, and seven of us even went zip-line flying tonight. Four of the instructors and three of the writers attending. The move to Las Vegas really seemed to work. And the massive amounts of information for five days was amazing. Wow, just wow. It will take everyone some time to sort it all out and figure out what to do first. Including me and Kris. But right now, as this comes to an end, Kris and I would like to thank not only all the wonderful writers who showed up, but most importantly the instructors who gave…
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Slow On Responses
Not Much Time for Email… So I will be slow on responses for a day or so. Please be understanding with this old guy. I have a lot of old and new friends in town for the next day or so to talk to. So I am not getting home until late. But I at least wrote this much to keep my streak of nightly blogging alive. No idea why I keep this streak going, but here it is. Sorry for the delay if I have not gotten back to you yet on an email. I will, I promise.
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Nifty Writing Bundle Once Again
NanoWriMo Writing Bundle… Right now here at the Master Business Class five of these authors are here who have books in this fantastic bundle of writing books through Storybundle.com. Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, Andrea Pearson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and me. I have read or looked at most of the books in this group, and I know a lot of the authors, and folks, this bundle is a real deal. Craig Martelle from the 20to50 conferences has a book in this bundle. Joanna Pen, Kevin McLaughline, Blaze Ward, Jamie j. Ferguson, and Simon Haynes to name just a few. You folks like to keep learning, this is the bundle for…
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November Workshops Available
All Twelve Are There… And if you have a credit from the recent Kickstarter, just write me to get into the November workshops. Or you can use the credits at any time into the future. Sign up at Teachable.com And there are lifetime subscriptions available on Teachable as well if you decide to get serious and really try to take as many as possible. Class #49… Nov 6th … Depth #3: Research Class #50… Nov 6th … Author Voice Class #51… Nov 6th … Dialog Class #52… Nov 6th … Writing into the Dark Class #53… Nov 6th … Writing Fiction Sales Copy Class #54… Nov 6th … Writing and Selling Short Stories Class #55……