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I Wrote Romance
I Always Use Romance Team Structure… At least for the last 30 or 40 plus novels or so. I love the structure. But I seldom commit actual romance. The character focus is on other things, like solving mysteries in my mystery novels, or time-travel in my sf series or fighting aliens in my Seeders Universe. The one key element of a romance is that the focus must be on the relationship the entire way. The other plot stuff is just why they can’t be together instantly. So today it dawned on me that the new Thunder Mountain novella (Warm Springs Meadow) that I just finished is a complete romance. The focus…
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A Trip to the Past
All We Did Was Walk Into a Store… As we climbed out of the car this evening, Kris asked me, “Are you ready for a trip to the 1990s?” And wow was she right. The Barnes&Noble bookstore was in a late 1990’s strip mall. Modern, but still dated in architecture. And when we walked through the door, we really did step back in time. Decorations, layout, everything. 1990s. And even more frightening, the authors on the front fiction display table were the same authors that would have been there in the late 1990s. So we roamed around for a time and honestly it was fun to explore in shelves of…
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Writing Challenge
My Personal Writing Challenge is Still Going On… Just not very well. The restart was the first of November and that so far hasn’t worked well for basically the same reasons it didn’t work back in September. When I do get it back up and running, I will do the second chapter of the book here, including all the problems and the answers, when I find them. And when that happens, the real challenge will start. So in the meantime, here are some reminders of a few things going on right now with workshops and such. Fun stuff. — Pop-Up #1 is now live and available. Basically a talk about…
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Happy Holiday
For Those in the States… I will be cooking a turkey tomorrow for just me and Kris and doing some writing and early in the morning I will be doing another 5k run/walk. And Kris made some wonderful pies tonight. So should be a fun day. I hope everyone else in the States has a fun day and gets some writing done as well. And my biggest hope tomorrow is to stay on my feet for the entire 5K. (grin) …UPDATE… I stayed on my feet and even with all the injuries managed to run about half of the run. Good holiday everyone.
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A Happy Holidays Gift From WMG Publishing
Actually, Two Gifts… WMG Publishing this year, for the very first time in the almost ten year history of the company, is doing two special holiday reading mystery boxes. Both have over $250 in value of books for $50.00. (Yup, I said that.) The Writer Gift Box has a lecture, a classic workshop, and 12 different writing books in it. All for $50.00 (just the lecture and the classic workshop are worth $200 alone. Person who gets the box gets to pick the choice of classic workshop or lecture.) The Holiday Gift Box includes 40 ebooks (novels, novellas, short-story collections, magazines, boxed sets, bundles, and a sampling of something from each…
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All Kinds of Fun Stuff, So A Summary
Before A Lot of It Goes Away… — Last Day to Buy Workshop Credits for the discounted rate of $250 each. Contact me if interested. Closes today. — Pop-Up #1 is now live and available. Basically a talk about Julie Schwartz, Len Wein, and Stan Lee, three of the great writer/editors in comic books. We were friends with Julie and Len, so these videos are stories about the people, as well as a few lessons involved. Plus you can write a short story to an assignment and Kris and I will read it and give you comments. This will only be up for under two weeks. Cost is $150.00. Get…
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Recovered Enough
For a 5K Fun Run… Some of you may have missed that last Saturday during a 5K run at the Rock&Roll even here in Las Vegas, I had a really bad fall in the dark while moving fairly fast. Turned out I cracked a couple ribs and a shoulder and bruised a hip when I hit the concrete and rolled. I finished the 5K, blood and all. So what did I do then? I ran/walked a half marathon the next day (13.1 miles). I had been aiming at that run along The Strip for a long time and wasn’t going to miss it, no matter how injured. And I finished…
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Pop-Up Series Is Great Fun
The First One Goes Up Sunday Evening… Kris and I put together a bunch of stories about our friends Julius Schwartz and Len Wein, and some thoughts about Stan Lee. That is the first Pop-Up. Second one is about bookstores and the third about short romance fiction. We’re going to have a blast with the format because it allows us to do all kinds of things that don’t fit into a regular workshop or lecture format. Plus we get to read a bunch of short stories, which will be fun. Interested, details in the previous post and you can sign up on Teachable. We have deals that if you buy…
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Pop-Up Topics Now Available
First One Launches Later Today!… The Pop-Up. Over the last number of years, topics and fun things had come up that Kris and I wanted to talk about, but we had had no structure to do so. But now we do with these Pop-Ups. These Pop-Up topics will just appear when something strikes us. No regular order or timing, but we hope to do more than one per month at least. In fact, the first three will all appear one per week every Saturday, with the first one in a few hours today. Each Pop-Up will consist of from 10 to 20 videos on the topic. Maybe some extra stuff…
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Workshop Special Credit Sale Ending
Workshop Credit Sale Ends Monday. Every year we do this for a week or so, giving those who did not get part of the Kickstarter in Setpember a chance to buy workshop credits for $250. (Same price as in the Kickstarter.) Normally $300. You can buy as many as you want and the credits never expire. You can use them when you want for any regular workshop or two classic workshops. To buy the credits, just write me directly and I will tell you how to go through Paypal. To use a purchased credit, you write me and tell me which workshop and I simply send you a code to…