• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Had Fun Working in Our New Bookstore

    Fun Working in Our New Bookstore Yeah, that’s right, WMG Publishing will, in short order, be the owner of a brick and mortar bookstore. It’s a large area inside of the new Pop Culture Collectables store. Actually one third of the entire store is paperbacks, hardbacks, sf and mystery digests, and magazines. Another third of the store is a comic book store. Wait until you see the wall of comics. I’ll do pictures. And in the comic book room will be die cast cars as well. And larger cars. And the main room is toys, non-sports cards, cookie jars, sports collectables, jewelry, and collectable boxes and clocks. We also have in…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Writing in Public

    Workshops and Store

    Workshops and Store A focused day, since this is the end of the month and the May workshops are starting up on Monday, so lots of things to do. Also, we are aiming at having the new store open by the 25th, so I’m going to be spending some time there. ATTENTION! Anyone who is signed for a May online workshop should have gotten a letter from me. If you did not, write me. And there is still room in all the workshops. Remember they are limited to no more than five (except the two new ones), so these workshops now have become more focused on me trying to help each…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Writing in Public

    Setting Up New Writing Schedule

    Setting Up New Writing Schedule Still pretty tired from the sleep schedule getting screwed up, so spent the day doing workshop stuff and getting ready to really fire back up the writing. See Topic of the Night below. ——— The Day Once again nothing really much to talk about. Made it through some errands and then went for a walk with another professional writer to get some steps in. Then back to WMG offices to work on workshop stuff. Then I headed home around 8 p.m. to cook dinner, then back working on workshop stuff and my writing stuff for the rest of the night. ———- Workshops May Online workshops…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops,  Writing in Public

    Workshop Day

    Workshop Day Still pretty tired from the schedule getting screwed up yesterday with jury duty, so spent the day doing workshop stuff. ——— The Day Nothing really much to talk about. Introduced our cleaning person to the new cat, then headed to the WMG offices to work on workshop stuff. Had lunch with Kris, then more workshop stuff. Home for dinner around 7 p.m. and then I watched the Blazer game with the new cat on my lap. Then I took a nap, watched more television, worked on more workshop stuff, and am now going to call it a night. Got stuff accomplished, just nothing exciting. (grin) ———- Workshops May…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Thinking Differently

    Thinking Differently It’s been interesting how the long-term thinking topic has come up a lot this last week. So going to talk a little about that in the topic above. ——— The Day Made it up to WMG offices to work for a short time there before the 2 p.m. writer’s lunch. It was a good one, with a number of the writers from the romance workshop staying over. Then after a short run to the store for cat supplies, I worked in my office with the little new cat sleeping in Allyson’s office. Finally, around 6 p.m. I loaded all the cat stuff up in my van and then…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Clean Copy

    Clean Copy Tonight I was running through The Idanha Hotel to put in the corrections Kris had found on her read, at least the ones I agreed with. That was the book I wrote in seven days last week, remember? Well, this time through I agreed with all of her corrections, mostly just typos, and what was even more interesting, this was the cleanest manuscript I have had in a very long time. I normally do clean copy in my one draft, but this was noticeably cleaner. Kris only found about one typo every six or seven manuscript pages, and sometimes there would be no typos in numbers of chapters.…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Topic of the Night: The Blog That Destroyed An Art Form

    The Blog That Destroyed an Art Form I got a great comment from a guy this morning. I didn’t put it through because the guy called me some pretty good names. *ss*ole was only one of them. One word I had never been called before. Creative. But he said he had liked my writing. (I think the operative word there is “had.”) So why was he so angry? And why did I damn near fall out of my chair laughing at this angry post with a bunch of swear words aimed at me? (Not the reaction he was hoping for I am sure.) Because he said, basically, that with my…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Topic of the Night: Writing a Novel in Seven Days: Epilogue

    WRITING A NOVEL IN SEVEN DAYS Epilogue The Challenge Was Simple. Day One: 3,000 words. And then each day after that add 1,000 words to the amount needed. Seven days, if my math is right, I will have a 42,000 word novel. 3,000… 4,000… 5,000… 6,000… 7,000… 8,000… 9,000 words. 7 Days. Looking Back The Writing of The Idanha Hotel: A Thunder Mountain Novel Day 1… 3,700 words.   Total words so far… 3,700 words. Day 2… 5,100 words.  Total words so far… 8,800 words. Day 3… 5,600 words.   Total words so far… 14,400 words. Day 4… 6,050 words.  Total words so far… 20,450 words. Day 5… 7,500 words.  Total words so far……

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Topic of the Night: Writing a Novel in Seven Days: Chapter Ten

    WRITING A NOVEL IN SEVEN DAYS Chapter Ten: Day Seven The Challenge is Simple. Day One: 3,000 words. And then each day after that add 1,000 words to the amount needed. Seven days, if my math is right, I will have a 42,000 word novel. 3,000… 4,000… 5,000… 6,000… 7,000… 8,000… 9,000 words. 7 Days. Day Seven (9,000 word day) Got the book done!!!! The goal today was at 9,000 words and needed to be the focus of my day because I had no idea how many words I would actually need to end this book. I had 3,000 words in the bank, so that helped the worry some. Counting 3,000 words for…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Topic of the Night: Writing a Novel in Seven Days: Chapter Nine

    WRITING A NOVEL IN SEVEN DAYS Chapter Nine: Day Six The Challenge is Simple. Day One: 3,000 words. And then each day after that add 1,000 words to the amount needed. Seven days, if my math is right, I will have a 42,000 word novel. 3,000… 4,000… 5,000… 6,000… 7,000… 8,000… 9,000 words. 7 Days. Day Six (8,000 word day) Once again made my goal for the day. This goal today at 8,000 words was pretty much my focus for the day. I still worked up at WMG Publishing, but for not as long. (Yes, I still worked my day job, got my e-mail, and did these blogs while writing 8,000 words.) Counting…