-
When Writers Face the Deadly Saying… “What’s the Point?”
Tonight’s Topic: When Writers Face the Deadly Saying… “What’s the Point?” This topic is the reason why I have been talking about the addiction to results and the other topics last week. This is how it manifests. Read those from last week and then read below. (Tomorrow I will go back over ROI and how it works with tracking money without numbers.) —— THE DAY Made it up to WMG Publishing around 1:30 to open up for the regular Sunday writer’s lunch. The restaurant we met in is moving, so until they reopen, we’re meeting at WMG in the kitchen and bringing our own lunches. Then I stayed around until almost…
-
What Numbers You Need To Know
What Numbers You Need To Know A couple nights ago I did a blog about results addiction, the career-killing problem of watching numbers too much and other aspects of that addiction. I got a number of questions about what numbers are needed in an indie career, so below I’ll give you my opinion on a way to be a good business person without being addicted to numbers and taking those numbers into your writing. —— The New Workshops I was not clear on one thing last night about the workshops. The new workshop Plotting with Depth is now on the schedule through March. The older workshop we are bringing back,…
-
Plotting With Depth Online Workshop Announced.
PLOTTING WITH DEPTH Online Workshop Announced Starting in December, two new online workshops. First, Plotting with Depth is now on the schedule. You must have taken the basic Depth workshop to take Plotting with Depth. Plotting with Depth is about the structure of all the openings throughout your novel, when to go deep with an opening, when to stay light, and how to hold a reader through a book by using Depth. One major area in this workshop is how chapter and scene openings differ from genre to genre. Critical to know how to hold your reader in your book. The Depth Online Workshop teaches how to get a reader down into your…
-
Results Addiction
Results As An Addiction Over the decades I have watched a certain problem stop writer after writer from having a career. The problem is a focus on results. See below. —— THE DAY Made it to the WMG meeting by a little after 2 p.m., then spent an hour or so up at the WMG offices, leaving around 5 p.m. to combine grocery shopping with getting my 10,000 steps for the day. Since all the stuff over the last few days, I didn’t expect to get much writing done and I didn’t. I cooked dinner, took a very long nap, watched some television, then watched more television. Then made it…
-
Learning in 25 Books
LEARNING IN 25 BOOKS That’s right, here comes the NaNoWriMo challenge starting up in November. And last year I was lucky enough to be a part of a bundle of how-to-write books. This year, I am lucky enough to be a part of that bundle again with the How To Write Fiction Sales Copy book. 13 books this year, plus the 12 from last year are all being offered together. You can get the new bunch, or for $25.00 you can get all 25 writing books from both years. And the new group includes Writing the Blockbuster Novel by Albert Zuckerman and also the impossible-to-find Writing to the Point by Algis Budrys.…
-
Learning (A Newsletter-Like Post)
LEARNING Did some learning today that was darned cool. I’ll talk about it below in topics. —— THE DAY Running around the entire day, from an early meeting around 1:30 p.m. to two more meetings and then Kris and I headed down the coast to Newport to get some supplies and have dinner down there. Left the house around 1 p.m. and didn’t get back in here and done running around until almost ten p.m. That’s silly. Then did e-mail and took a very short nap before going to watch some television. Back in here around 1 a.m. to write. I sat down and off I went and I’ll be…
-
The Dream is Not Going to Just Come to Me
“The Dream is Not Going to Just Come to Me” Maybe one of the smartest things ever said by any artist on The Voice. And yet I run into writers all the time who think if they just do some writing for a few years, if they put up a few books, the dream of being a professional writer will just magically come to them. And those people quickly get discouraged and vanish into What-Ever-Happened-To? land. I admire the writers who just keep going, just keep learning, just keep doing their best to get better and find out how to chase the dream, especially in this new world where the…
-
Sales Numbers: Part Three
Sales Numbers: Part Three That’s the topic of the night below. —— November Workshops Now Listed Spent some time today working on getting the November workshops all set on the different sites. I think the November list is the best list of workshops we have ever offered. Each regular workshop is six weeks long and takes about 3-4 hours per week to do at your own pace and your own time. The new workshop starting in November is titled: ADVANCED DIALOG. All workshops have openings. Class #41… Nov 2nd … Pitches and Blurbs Class #42… Nov 2nd … How to Write Thrillers Class #43… Nov 2nd … Adding Suspense to Your Writing Class #44… Nov 2nd … Advanced…
-
Sales Numbers: Part Two
Sales Numbers: Part Two More on sales numbers below in the topic section. — It is now last call for October Online Workshops. Still room and time to sign up. Remember, the workshop only take about 3-4 hours of your time each week at your own pace. And even if the workshop started on Monday, you can still sign up. Not behind at all. Class #31… Oct 5th … Advanced Depth Class #32… Oct 5th … Character Voice/Setting Class #33… Oct 5th … Pacing Your Novel Class #34… Oct 5th … Ideas into Stories Class #35… Oct 6th … Character Development Class #36… Oct 6th … Depth in Writing Class #37… Oct 6th … Making a Career…
-
Sales Numbers
Sales Numbers Kris is doing much better. Learning how to get around the house in her knee brace and crutches. So great there. She thanks everyone for the well-wishes. And her attitude about this is great. — It is now last call for October Online Workshops. Still room and time to sign up. Remember, the workshop only take about 3-4 hours of your time each week at your own pace. And even if the workshop started on Monday, you can still sign up. Not behind at all. Class #31… Oct 5th … Advanced Depth Class #32… Oct 5th … Character Voice/Setting Class #33… Oct 5th … Pacing Your Novel Class #34… Oct 5th ……