• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    I’m Back But Behind

    Well, Brain Isn’t Totally Back… I will be caught up over the next day or so on all email and stuff. Then on Friday and Saturday the workshop stuff will go out to the Kickstarter folks. I had hoped to have it out before the Anthology Workshop, but that didn’t happen with all the reading. And tomorrow I actually get to start hearing again. Picking up and getting trained on nifty, modern hearing aides. (Never had them before.) Loud sounds (mostly music in bars) killed a lot of my hearing (yes, I have gone through lots of tests) when I was younger. Luckily it was just that and age and…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Last Day of the Anthology Workshop

    I Have Had a Blast… And for those who have been wondering, my novel-writing challenge will start for me on Thursday to write five novels in 100 days. That is the first leg of the challenge. Second leg is to write seven novels in 100 days. Third leg is the last 100 days of the year I will attempt to write 10 novels in 100 days. So the challenge ramp-up starts on Thursday. I am so looking forward to it and so ready. Not a clue what I will be writing, but got a hunch it will be a Cold Poker Gang since I have a title eating at me…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    March Is Here! What Happened?

    Where Did January and February Go? Wow, the anthology workshop is almost over and the March Regular Online workshops are starting up Tuesday and Wednesday. And the Future: Structure starts on Wednesday, the 6th. You can take the other two Futures Workshops at any point since they are both still there and available. Sign up for any of them including the regular March workshops listed below on Teachable here. Or if you have a workshop credit you would like to use, write me and tell me which one you want to be in. March Six-Week Regular Workshops… Class #21… Mar 5th … Depth #3: Research Class #22… Mar 5th … Author Voice…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Kris’s Blog On Writing With Chronic Sickness

    Actually, It Will Be An Entire Book… But on her blog right now you can read one chapter of the book that will be out in April. I have read the entire book, all the different parts, and I think it will do more than help writers, but help anyone who is struggling with trying to find a way through life with chronic illness, as Kris has done. And she gives you a little bit of a hint of what it was like for her and how frightening it was last year at this point. A lot of us were not sure she would make it through last winter. Yet…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Future’s Series of Workshops

    Recording the Start of the Third One… That’s right, done one futures workshop on keeping your inventory selling, another on opportunities, and this third one is on having a structure that will maintain into the future. There will be one more futures workshop coming. Kris and I think these might be the most important workshops we have done, trying to fill them with all the stuff we wished someone would have told us thirty years ago. Future: Structure starts on Wednesday, the 6th. You can take the other two at any point since they are both still there and available. Sign up for any of them including the regular March…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    The Voice Started

    A Great Writer Show… I have said this for years, and I will say it again. You want to learn about what it takes to be a fiction writer, a long-term professional fiction writer, watch The Voice. It will not only have some great artist advice, but you will understand the amount of drive and sacrifice you have to give to make it in an international art. Listen to the stories, listen as the season goes on what it is taking for the artists to be there. Ask yourself if you could give up that much, push that hard, take the risks. There is also great music and fun humor.…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Exercise and Writing

    Exercise and Health… One thing I have noticed with some pleasure is that many of you have told me you are not only writing, but focusing on getting some exercise each day. That is critical in my opinion to long-term writing. So a few things about movement to think about. Get up every hour from your computer, stare off into the distance, stretch. Even before that, make sure your computer set-up is good, meaning feet flat on the floor, arms supported, eyes looking directly at the screen. Yeah, I know, laptops on couches are your thing. And spending time in doctor’s offices will be as well if you keep that…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Got Reading To Do

    So I Am Posting March Workshops… To remind everyone and let me get back to reading on this fine Friday night. (grin) They start on the 5th and 6th, thankfully for me after the Anthology Workshop here in Vegas. Also the new Futures Workshop: Structure will be starting on March 6th. Sign up for any of them on Teachable here. Or if you have a workshop credit you would like to use, write me and tell me which one you want to be in. March Six-Week Regular Workshops Now Available… Class #21… Mar 5th … Depth #3: Research Class #22… Mar 5th … Author Voice Class #23… Mar 5th … Dialog Class…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    A Glimpse Back Almost Nine Years

    Right Here On This Blog… I wrote this in August of 2010. Eighteen months after I got pulled into the indie movement. It is an introduction to a series of blogs I did called The New World of Publishing, but now it sort of serves as a reminder. Thought it would be fun here tonight to look back eight years and and six months. (This has been edited only slightly.) Enjoy… ———————– WRITTEN AUGUST 2010… Over the last two years, publishing has been starting into a radical shift, a move that for the first few months I just ignored. Michael Stackpole, a friend of mine, had been shouting at a…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Kickstarter Update

    Books and Stuff… Over the next few days WMG Publishing will be sending out my collections that are now available to the supporters of my crazy Make 100 Paperbacks Project. Both stretch goals had collections involved. So everyone should be getting an email with those links to get the four collections. (Stories from July and three shorter collections.) Give us some time to get those out to everyone. The three collections that everyone will get of the Make 100 Books won’t be done until the fall, of course. Also, over the next few days you will be getting a letter from me on how to get into the first five…