• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Smiths Monthly

    Filing System Drawback…

    Smith’s Monthly As A Filing System… A number of people have mentioned to me how cool that idea is to keep stories organized. And it really is. When I publish an issue. I have not published an issue since #67, which was November of 2022. Which means I have not filed anything since then. (grin) Granted, for six months of that time I was mostly blind and for another six months of that time I was recovering from surgery and most of this last year I was dealing with business issues. So yes, it has been 2 years and 4 months since I filed anything, but a lot of that…

  • Branding,  Challenge,  publishing

    Calling It A Night…

    Plans on a Blog On Cash Streams… But honestly too tired to get it written tonight. Stunning how many cash streams a writer can have these days. So stay tuned for that. Might give you a few ideas. Also I will have a blog talking about successful Kickstarters. Do you measure a Kickstarter by how much profit it brings in after costs, or by the gross number (how Kickstarter does it), or by numbers of backers???  So many writers get lost in the cool stuff they can offer. And also how does Kickstarter growth really work and how to measure it. Fun topics, all beyond my poor brain tonight. Attempting…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Smiths Monthly

    My Filing System

    I Am Both Organized and Not Organized For 67 months, I did Smith’s Monthly Magazine. Had one short break in the middle somewhere and now it has been on hiatus for over two years because of the life rolls. But it is coming back.  Soon. The last few days I discovered once again why I loved doing that magazine and what is really important to me about it almost more than anything. It is my filing system. Every month I would publish four or five or six short stories. I never repeated a short story, so there are 270 different stories in those 67 issues. There are also novels and…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Since I Am Now Writing At Pulp Speeds Again…

    Just For Fun… I wanted to bring this Pulp Speed post back again just for fun for me to read again as I am firing along now for almost two months at Pulp Speeds. I figured I could use it again as well. (grin) (And yes, tomorrow I will list the story I wrote today and the one I will write tomorrow… Challenge still going fine.) (I wrote this post around 2014, then brought it forward to 2016, then 2017, and just about every year or so since, skipping 2022. Last time here was October. And this month March… I made the Pulp Speed class a regular workshop again so…

  • Challenge,  publishing,  workshops

    Always a Battle On Monday…

    Lot of Email and Workshop Stuff On Mondays… So getting a daily story done is a battle, carving out the time. Every Monday is a victory when a story gets done and tonight it was a Marble Grant story called “A Window for No Time.” Love that title. Got kind of snarky with the story, which was also fun. I am so looking forward to starting the next stage of this, which is ramping up the publishing part. I will feel a lot better if Kris has read a month’s worth of stories before I fire into that.  So not far off. Shortest story so far is 1,600 words and…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Last Day to Get Craft Class on Early Bird Discount…

    And Challenge Going Onward… So first off, today is the last day to get the CRAFT IN THE 21ST CENTURY done by Kris for $200 for the 9 weeks.  It will switch to $250 late Monday night. This class on WMG Teachable is something Kris really wanted to do. She will be recording videos every week and they will come out on Monday some time. The first week’s videos are now up. No assignments, just learning about how some craft things have changed in the 21st century. 9 Weeks of Mondays. Early bird price is $200 until Monday night late, then it goes to $250. Here is the video of…

  • Challenge,  publishing

    Coaching… Getting Your Stuff Out…

    So I Finally Decided To Do This… I have been talking a lot, in a lot of places, with fiction writers who have for one reason or another trouble getting their work out to readers. And often when this builds up, it causes a slowdown in the writing itself. A form of writer’s block. Kris and I have had many discussions about this problem. It turns out, every writer seems to be stuck at a very different place. And the topic is so huge, it just can’t be covered in a few workshops or classes. Some writers are stuck right at the start, facing the seemingly massive task of learning…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    January Challenge Stories

    Managed A Story Per Day For 31 Days… I have some adjustments to make, such as starting earlier in the day. But very happy with going from zero to full speed on fiction. 101,280 consumable words. That’s on pace for about 1.2 million words this year. Not up to my average yet, but close and a lot of things in January cut into that word count, so we shall see how it works in February and March. Working to get back above 1.3 million words. Here are the story titles for January… List of JANUARY Challenge Stories The Notes She Left Behind… Thunder Mountain A Lost Darkness… Marble Grant Death…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Story #29…

    Two More Stories to Complete January… Considering I jumped from zero to full speed overnight, I will take it. I will do an inventory of the stories and word counts from January in a few days. On the publishing side, Kris has read 12 of them and I will be putting the first collection of ten together as soon as I work out an issue with doing the covers. The idea is for me to do a collection every two weeks once I start them. I will also be putting some of the stories in issues of Smith’s Monthly. Thinking the restart of that now March. I will also be…

  • Challenge,  publishing

    Story #27…

    Just Kind of Stumbling Along… Got some adjustments to make, but about to drop this challenge into the publishing part. That’s going to make it even more interesting. Story tonight was a Bryant Street story and I started it with a play off of Serling’s old Twilight Zone episode starts. Kind of fun. Also I think I got it finally why writers have trouble with valuation of their own property. Here is the analogy. If you built say a theater complex with all kinds of extras involved. And you opened it for business and the first night it made $500, if you were a writer you would think that theater…