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Ate the Elephant For a Time…
Had To Sit Down and Take Deep Breaths… You see, I have four big whiteboards on one wall of my office. They have the titles of the short stories that are in the first 50 issues of Smith’s Monthly. I stopped at Issue 50 because I ran out of room on the boards. There are 220 titles of stories written up there. 220 stories, covers an entire wall. I hope to do 365 stories this year. I happened to glance up at the wall of story titles and my mind went, “That is just 2/3rds of the number of stories you hope to write this year.” Wham!!! I went from…
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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…
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Golf, Kickstarter, and Story #30
Fun Day! It was a stunningly beautiful day and professional fiction writer Ron Collins and I walked down to the Strat to hit golf balls. Ron is a good player and I used to be. But now I am 20 pounds overweight and have a new Titanium shoulder, getting any kind of control of the ball is a challenge. And a lot of fun. A lot of laughs, actually. But toward the end of the hour I had worked out a few things and was managing to hit shots against the back fence. Without hitting either side fence. Then this afternoon I started writing before taking a nap and cooking…
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New Lifetime Subscription and Story #23
Yes, New Lifetime Subscription… On WMG Teachable we have lifetime subscriptions to the 90 plus workshops, to the 90 plus Pop-Ups, to lectures, and to Study Alongs. And we have the large Lifetime Everything (on Teachable) Subscription to all 400 plus classes and growing seemingly every week. We also have a Lifetime Subscription to In-Person classes. That was closed for eight years and we just opened it back up for a few, with one left. (Write me if interested in the last one before we close it again.) For one year or so, we have been doing some classes on the WMG Writers Store. It is a Shopify store and…
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Quick Workshop Update and Story #22
Story Challenge Still Going… First I want to update a few things on workshops. We have one Lifetime Subscription to All In-Person Workshops left available, then we are going to close it down again. Last time that was open was 2017. And there is only one left now. Cost is $3,000 and write me if interested. We have one mentorship open with me. It lasts for as long as you want it to last and I am here to answer question and be your supporter and cheerleader. I ask that you report to me regularly on how things are going and I will help with covers and sales copy and…
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Story 17 and Last Day of In-Person Workshop Sale…
UPDATES ON IN-PERSON CLASSES This is the last day of the In-Person Early Bird Sale. Here are the spots remaining in the In-Person classes coming up…. Gothic May 5-8th, 2025… 1 Spot Left Time Travel October 13-16th, 2025… 2 Spots Left Adventure January 12-15th, 2026… Waiting List World Building May 4-7th, 2026… 1 Spot Left Detectives. October 12-15th, 2026… 2 Spots Left So until late today (Saturday), as an early-bird discount, the normal workshop fee of $750 is $600. If you sign up and pay today. Save $150. Also, for the first…
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SERIES COLLIDES KICKSTARTER Ends Tonight
Ends at 7PM West Coast Time… There are two very special workshops only available in this campaign. How to Write Series Endings and also How to Write Cross-Genre Series. And the stories you write for both I will look at, if you want me to, for Pulphouse Fiction Magazine. These workshops will have sessions in February and are three weeks long. The tag line on this campaign is… 2 WRITERS, 36 SERIES, 100 STORIES Kris and I know how to write and teach series, so don’t miss these. Ends at 7PM tonight The Series Collide Kickstarter. It also has stretch goals that allows backers to submit stories to Pulphouse Magazine…
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SERIES COLLIDE Kickstarter Ends Tomorrow…
Two Fantastic Special Workshops Included… How to Write Series Endings and also How to Write Cross-Genre Series. And the stories you write for both I will look at, if you want me to, for Pulphouse Fiction Magazine. These workshops will have sessions in February and are three weeks long. Don’t miss the Series Collide Kickstarter. It also has stretch goals that allows backers to submit stories to Pulphouse Magazine in February, March, and maybe more. And all five of the Collides Series are available, over 520 stories, half from me, half from Kris. So help us pass the word. Take a look! This is a good one. Look at the…
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Space Opera Workshop Starting Here…
And Kickstarter Only Has Three Days Left… All kinds of stuff going on at the moment. Fun. Don’t miss the Series Collide Kickstarter. It has in it. couple of great workshops that will run in February, and also so far we have hit a stretch goal that allows backers to submit stories to Pulphouse Magazine in February. And we have a special stretch goal working right now to hit extra backers by late Monday. So help us pass the word. Take a look! This is a good one. UPDATES ON IN-PERSON CLASSES More signed up again today so after today here are the spots remaining in the In-Person classes…. Gothic …
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Story Eleven and Mentors
Talking About Mentors I did a one-shot class last year about what I learned from my mentors over 50 years of writing. It was fun to do, looking back like that. It is on Teachable and still available. No one gets successful in this publishing business alone, that’s for sure. And now Kris and I do our best to get our years of knowledge passed on to the next generations through workshops, blogs, and mentorships. Back when we were coming into the business, a mentorship was more of let’s talk when we are both at the same convention. Damon Knight and Kate Wilhelm were different, slightly. They taught at Clarion…