New Smith’s Monthly Issues

Turned in Issues #31 and #32 and will turn in Issue #33, the June issue of Smith’s Monthly, when Kris finishes reading the novel I just wrote.

So almost caught up to the dates on the magazine.

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The Day

Roamed out to our original store, now called the south store and helped out there for a time with a rush of customers. Kind of fun.

Then headed to WMG offices to work on workshop stuff for a time. Then home to take a short nap and cook dinner.

Then, after a little e-mail, I sat and read for a while. (Some of you wondered if I read, of course I do. I’ll mention it when it takes up more than a few hours, all right? (grin) Otherwise, just assume I read regularly all sorts of stuff.)

Then I got in here and started working on putting the issues of Smith’s Monthly together. Got both of them sent off to WMG by 3 a.m. Then went and read some more before coming back in here to do this.

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July Workshop Schedule

All July workshops have room. All are limited to five writers max. And they all start up a week from Tuesday and Wednesday. Just over a week away.

All details at www.wmgpublishingworkshops.com

Class #1… July 5th … Author Voice
Class #2… July 5th … How to Write Thrillers
Class #3… July 5th … Adding Suspense to Your Writing
Class #4… July 5th … Plotting With Depth
Class #5… July 5th … Character Development
Class #6… July 6th … Depth in Writing
Class #7… July 6th … Advanced Character and Dialog
Class #8… July 6th … Cliffhangers
Class #9… July 6th … Pacing Your Novel
Class #10… July 6th … Teams in Fiction

Classic Workshops and Lectures are also available at any time.

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Nifty New Bundle (Just leaving this here one more day)

My Seeders Universe novel, Morning Song is in a new science fiction adventure bundle. Morning Song is about a massive ghost space ship inward bound to cause destruction in a galaxy. Massive science fiction adventure on a very large scale. If you haven’t read any of my Seeders Universe novels, this would be a good one to start with.

Adventure SF ad 2016

You can get the bundle at www.storybundle.com/scifi

And oh, yeah, you also get science fiction novels in this bundle by Kevin J. Anderson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Alan Dean Foster, Brian Herbert, Todd McCaffrey, Jean Rabe and Gene DeWeese and others. Plus two major sf anthologies and also Tales of Dune edited by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert.

14 books total plus a sneak peak of a new Dune book and a new major bestselling book by Kevin.

So buy it for my book and when you get a chance, read all the rest of them as well. (grin)

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Topic of the Night: I Have Raised Expectations

I found it kind of funny that I am so expected to write things quickly that writing a 40,000 word novel in ten days didn’t even get a mention by anyone. And I honestly wasn’t expecting it.

Of course, it took me three months this winter to write one as well. No one said I was doing it right then either. (grin)

——————

Totals For Year 3, Month 11, Day 25

Writing in Public blog streak… Day 1,011

— Daily Fiction: 00 original words. Fiction month-to-date: 66,600 words

— Nonfiction: 00 new words. Nonfiction month-to-date total: 00 words

— Blog Posts: 300 new words. Blog month-to-date word count: 15,400 words

— E-mail: 14 e-mails. Approx. 400 original words. E-mails month-to date: 389 e-mails. Approx. 25,500 words

— Covers Designed and Finished: 0. Covers finished month-to-date: 2 Covers

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You can support this ongoing blog at Patreon on a monthly basis. Not per post. Just click on the Patreon image. Extra stuff for different levels of support and I will be adding in more as time goes on. Thanks for your support.

Or you can just toss a tip into the tip jar with a single donation at PayPal. Either way, your support keeps me going at these crazy posts.

And thanks.

If you would like to leave a tip just hit Paypal.me/deanwesleysmith (Goes to WMG Publishing account, but I’ll get it just fine.)

6 Comments

Harvey Stanbrough

June 26, 2016 at 7:05 am

Dean, first, congratulations on continuing to catch up to Smith’s Monthly. It’s an incredible streak. As for finishing a 40,000 word novel in ten days, I applaud that as well. Although, as I learned from you (and took to heart), it isn’t finishing but starting that is the happier event.

Thanks to you and your influence over the years, I have become a writer. In much the same way as an auto mechanic works on cars pretty much every day (at the shop Monday through Friday and on his own or friends’ on weekends) I now “work” on writing stories (short and long) pretty much every day. When I am forced to take a day off, I get itchy and annoyed.

When I’m not writing, I’m observing, reading, and learning from you, Kris or others. I am both a professional writer and a sponge, and it’s all your fault. Perhaps the most important thing I’ve picked up directly from you over the years (other than Heinlein’s Rules) is to Keep Coming Back. That simple-minded, one-track philosophy has enabled me to reach pulp speed on several occasions. On many days that I thought might be non-writing days, thanks to KCB I turned out five or six thousand new, clean words of fiction.

Sometime in the past few months I flashed past a benchmark. I barely noticed it until I realized, one day, that I think like a writer now. I expected that someday writing stories (making shit up, as you put it) would become a habit. It didn’t. Sometime or other it became my life. In a way, I’m glad I didn’t notice “when” it happened. It wasn’t a turning point, a conscious moment. Rather, it was something I became.

I don’t take you for granted, nor would I ever. But often I don’t slow down to to say thank you. So thank you. I’m glad for your accomplishments, but even gladder (selfishly) for what I learn from them and for the aspirations they enable within me.

So start the next story already, please, long or short. (grin) Bend your fingers to the keyboard and get hot. Your students are waiting.

dwsmith

June 26, 2016 at 1:11 pm

Harvey, that’s so cool. And it is one of those things that sort of just happen over time and you wake up one morning and realize it had happened. So many people talk so much about wanting to be writers not knowing that the path to that is just writing and doing what you love with the writing on a regular basis. Do that, give it the focus, and it happens given time.

And yeah, being a writer isn’t just putting out words, it’s a way of life, a way of looking at life, a way of living.

And it’s great fun. Thanks for the great observation.

Suzan Harden

June 26, 2016 at 10:14 am

Dean, I didn’t comment on how fast or slow you wrote your novels because it really doesn’t matter any more than how fast or slow I write mine matters to you. Frankly, I don’t think writers should compare themselves to each other in that way. It’s a good way to mess up your head.

First, it was the whole “write slow” in trade publishing. Then it was the “Write as fast as you can, and OMG! So-and-so is putting out books faster than everybody, and she’s taking over the market!” crap with indie writers. Argh! Talk about people letting others mess up their pace.

Now, your advice over the years about letting the Subconscious take over from the Conscious and writing everyday did me a lot more good on increasing my writing speed unconsciously. Practice applies to writing as much as it does any other profession.

dwsmith

June 26, 2016 at 1:06 pm

Exactly, Susan. Exactly. Thanks!

D J Mills

June 26, 2016 at 2:17 pm

I had hoped to sort of keep pace with your writing speed for my current novel even though I only write 5 days a week. However, you finished before me. 🙂

I can see my ending happening in another 3 chapters or so, and yes, I am already over 45K, so in a way, I have kept pace, and hope to finish it this week.

Then, I will follow your output for your next story, while I work at keeping a steady pace somewhere below your writing pace. 🙂

dwsmith

June 26, 2016 at 10:09 pm

Sounds like a fun challenge to me, DJ. I would have done something similar if a professional long-term writer was doing what I am doing. Keep having fun.

Harvey Stanbrough

June 26, 2016 at 7:05 am

Dean, first, congratulations on continuing to catch up to Smith’s Monthly. It’s an incredible streak. As for finishing a 40,000 word novel in ten days, I applaud that as well. Although, as I learned from you (and took to heart), it isn’t finishing but starting that is the happier event.

Thanks to you and your influence over the years, I have become a writer. In much the same way as an auto mechanic works on cars pretty much every day (at the shop Monday through Friday and on his own or friends’ on weekends) I now “work” on writing stories (short and long) pretty much every day. When I am forced to take a day off, I get itchy and annoyed.

When I’m not writing, I’m observing, reading, and learning from you, Kris or others. I am both a professional writer and a sponge, and it’s all your fault. Perhaps the most important thing I’ve picked up directly from you over the years (other than Heinlein’s Rules) is to Keep Coming Back. That simple-minded, one-track philosophy has enabled me to reach pulp speed on several occasions. On many days that I thought might be non-writing days, thanks to KCB I turned out five or six thousand new, clean words of fiction.

Sometime in the past few months I flashed past a benchmark. I barely noticed it until I realized, one day, that I think like a writer now. I expected that someday writing stories (making shit up, as you put it) would become a habit. It didn’t. Sometime or other it became my life. In a way, I’m glad I didn’t notice “when” it happened. It wasn’t a turning point, a conscious moment. Rather, it was something I became.

I don’t take you for granted, nor would I ever. But often I don’t slow down to to say thank you. So thank you. I’m glad for your accomplishments, but even gladder (selfishly) for what I learn from them and for the aspirations they enable within me.

So start the next story already, please, long or short. (grin) Bend your fingers to the keyboard and get hot. Your students are waiting.
- dwsmith
  
  June 26, 2016 at 1:11 pm
  
  Harvey, that’s so cool. And it is one of those things that sort of just happen over time and you wake up one morning and realize it had happened. So many people talk so much about wanting to be writers not knowing that the path to that is just writing and doing what you love with the writing on a regular basis. Do that, give it the focus, and it happens given time.
  
  And yeah, being a writer isn’t just putting out words, it’s a way of life, a way of looking at life, a way of living.
  
  And it’s great fun. Thanks for the great observation.
Suzan Harden

June 26, 2016 at 10:14 am

Dean, I didn’t comment on how fast or slow you wrote your novels because it really doesn’t matter any more than how fast or slow I write mine matters to you. Frankly, I don’t think writers should compare themselves to each other in that way. It’s a good way to mess up your head.

First, it was the whole “write slow” in trade publishing. Then it was the “Write as fast as you can, and OMG! So-and-so is putting out books faster than everybody, and she’s taking over the market!” crap with indie writers. Argh! Talk about people letting others mess up their pace.

Now, your advice over the years about letting the Subconscious take over from the Conscious and writing everyday did me a lot more good on increasing my writing speed unconsciously. Practice applies to writing as much as it does any other profession.
- dwsmith
  
  June 26, 2016 at 1:06 pm
  
  Exactly, Susan. Exactly. Thanks!
D J Mills

June 26, 2016 at 2:17 pm

I had hoped to sort of keep pace with your writing speed for my current novel even though I only write 5 days a week. However, you finished before me. 🙂

I can see my ending happening in another 3 chapters or so, and yes, I am already over 45K, so in a way, I have kept pace, and hope to finish it this week.

Then, I will follow your output for your next story, while I work at keeping a steady pace somewhere below your writing pace. 🙂
- dwsmith
  
  June 26, 2016 at 10:09 pm
  
  Sounds like a fun challenge to me, DJ. I would have done something similar if a professional long-term writer was doing what I am doing. Keep having fun.