• On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Reminder About the Strengths Workshops

    THE FULL SERIES IS RECORDED AND AVAILABLE… All six of the Strengths Workshops now exist. And they are still available for a short time. If you ever wished a major professional writer would tell you what you are doing right and where you need work, now is your chance. And not just one, but two of us. Kris and I have been making our living in fiction and publishing now for over thirty years each. We have also started two mid-sized publishing companies over the years. And both of us have over twenty million copies of our books in print and have been on every major bestseller list. Kris and I…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    A Novel Challenge

    A CHALLENGE… Over the last week or so since I announced the short story challenge, I have gotten numbers of questions about doing something similar for novels. Being a first reader for novels in a workshop challenge format. Now honestly, at first I just laughed. I flat didn’t do that sort of thing for anyone. But I got a few more requests and got thinking about it and talked with Kris. She is really enjoying reading my new short story every day and thinks if I structured reading novels for the summer in a workshop challenge, I might enjoy it. And if I limited it. Really, really limited it. After…

  • Fun Stuff,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Major New Writing Bundle!

    Fantastic Writing Books and Discounts… Wow, Kris has put together one of the most amazing bundles to help writers I have ever had the pleasure to be a part of.  And AbleGamers is the charity on this bundle, which is one of the best causes I have ever seen. So instead of me going on here about this, let me use Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s words to explain it all and her thinking on how this all went together. Take it away, Kris… ————– The Write Stuff 2017 After a long day at work, consumers want one of two things: they want entertainment or they want escape. Entertaining fiction provides a great escape,…

  • On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Strengths Workshops Available

    THE FULL SERIES IS RECORDED AND AVAILABLE… All six of the Strengths Workshops now exist. If you ever wished a major professional writer would tell you what you are doing right and where you need work, now is your chance. And not just one, but two of us. Kris and I have been making our living in fiction and publishing now for over thirty years each. We have also started to mid-sized publishing companies over the years. And both of us have over twenty million copies of our books in print and have been on every major bestseller list. Kris and I will help you in personal responses to the five…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Story Fourteen and Other Stuff

    DAY FOURTEEN… And story fourteen on the April challenge. I missed doing a cover today for the story from yesterday, so will try to do two today. Tonight I was tired, so took a long nap and watched a bunch of television. By the time I got to the writing computer, it was 3 a.m. Saw a half-title on my title sheets and just went with the half title. “Always a Way” and then put A Marble Grant Story under it. So third Marble Grant story. She was a superhero in the Poker Boy universe, a friend of Poker Boy’s girlfriend, Patty. She got killed and became a ghost agent…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Story Number Thirteen and an Answer

    DAY THIRTEEN… First off, got the fifth Strengths workshop now available. It is the Strengths Business Two workshop. The last of the six workshops will be done and available by Monday. Everyone who has signed up for all of the workshops should have gotten the code from me tonight. If you did not, write me. Remember, if you want to take all six (over as long a period as you want) you can sign up for all of them and get one free, plus one online workshop for free as well. So for $1,500, you get all six strengths workshops to go through at your own speed and one online workshop…

  • On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    We’re Going For the “How To Edit…” Workshop

    FULL STEAM AHEAD… After some dithering around because of almost no initial response, we had people today tell us they wanted the How To Edit Your Own Work workshop, but were planning on taking it later. And that is enough to make us realize the workshop is worth our time in trying to help writers not kill their own work. So the workshop is a go. We will take sign-ups for any point that it is on the schedule through August and it will join the regular workshop rotation after that. Thanks for the feedback everyone. Appreciated.

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Story Twelve and a Wonderful Dinner

    DAY TWELVE… Got a twelfth story for the challenge and also tonight had a wonderful dinner with friends to celebrate. First to the dinner. My friend writer J. Steven York has been in the hospital for most of the last month and had major open heart surgery one week ago today. It was a very stressful day but he made it through wonderfully. Tonight, one week after major open heart surgery, he walked through the door of a restaurant to have dinner with us and other friends from around town. It was a moment I will never forget. He really is superman, how he came though this and is now…

  • On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    NEW ONLINE WORKSHOP: How to Edit Your Own Work

    New Online Workshop Starting in May… Kris and I get the most questions, all good questions, about the process of editing your own work. And honestly, there is no easy or completely right answer for everyone. But there are hundreds of ways, one of which will be right for you. Between writing into the dark and following Heinlein’s Rules, how do you make sure your work is what you want, clean enough for readers to not notice any problems? How can you edit without the deadly rewriting that kills voice and all originality? Those are just a couple of the questions we get in one form or another, including how to…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Story Eleven and Workshop Stuff Again

    DAY ELEVEN… Pretty much did workshops all day including a couple of covers. I had to redo one cover, the “Blind Date” cover because the title vanished. Below is the new cover. I worked on the Strengths workshop and also Kris and I finalized a workshop we have talked about for a while but didn’t want to do. However, we get so many questions about the topic, we figured it was time. The full description of the new online workshop is above. It will be a good one. A ton of tricks, things long-term professionals do, and helpful hints. I got the writing around 2 a.m. and with two short…