New Stuff
New Stuff
As I said yesterday, I drove to Salt Lake and spent a few fun days at a great romance writers conference there. Well run, lots of great writers. It was an honor to be invited.
I ended up teaching two classes, one about indie and one about business. Of course, both topics are so large an hour didn’t begin to start to cover either topic. But tried to cover some basics and then opened it up for questions. Got some great questions.
What I noticed the most and that was the most fun for me was being around so many writers hungry to learn. That hunger is infectious.
So again, thanks to the wonderful team that invited me and to Kelli Ann Morgan in particular. You are wonderful and I love my blanket. Thank you!
New Series of Blogs Equal a New Book
About halfway through the second day of the conference I called Kris and said, “Write done the words ‘Self Sabotage’ for me.” I had been listening to a group of professional writers talking about how they sabotage their writing. Suddenly dawned on me that would be a good topic here.
And on the drive back I realized that the topic would be a hell of a writing book.
So over the next few days I will be writing the book, one chapter at a time right here. My working title is: Fiction Writers and the Art of Self Sabotage.
Stay tuned. (But be warned, it might hurt. (grin))
The Day
Worked on workshops all day. Worked on the coming Master Class here at the coast, then on the last week of the September workshops and the first week of the October workshops.
The first time for the Speed Online Workshop finished up tonight. I think it turned out to be a great workshop, one of the better ones, actually. Our Productivity workshop helps you get to the writing chair. The Speed workshop is about how to pick up speed while at the computer. And how fast are you really writing clean-draft fiction.
Also watched the Voice. Wow, is it good this year. Just stunning talent. And when you get Bette Midler helping as one of the coaches, it gets really amazing.
Also did not get time to send out the Smith’s Monthly to Patreon supporters today. Will try to do so tomorrow.
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November Online Workshops
Click the workshop tab above for description and sign-up or go to www.wmgpublishingworkshops.com.
Questions about any of the workshops, feel free to write me. Almost no one is signed up yet. I will be writing all the Kickstarter people who got the workshops that way later this week. At that point, some of these might fill up.
Class #41… Nov 1st … Author Voice
Class #42… Nov 1st … Point of View
Class #43… Nov 1st … Adding Suspense to Your Writing
Class #44… Nov 1st … Ideas
Class #45… Nov 1st … Character Development
Class #46… Nov 2nd … Depth in Writing
Class #47… Nov 2nd … Advanced Character and Dialog
Class #48… Nov 2nd … Cliffhangers
Class #49… Nov 2nd … Pacing Your Novel
Class #50… Nov 2nd …Expectations (Writing on the Rails)
Classic Workshops and Lectures are also available at any time.
If you are wondering what order would be best to take some of these workshops, we have done a curriculum for the workshops. You can see that at https://deanwesleysmith.com/workshop-curriculum/
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Totals For Year 4, Month 3, Day 10
Writing in Public blog streak… Day 1,117
Total Miles This Month… 51 miles
— Daily Fiction: 00 original words. Fiction month-to-date: 00 words
— Nonfiction: 00 new words. Nonfiction month-to-date total: 00 words
— Blog Posts: 400 new words. Blog month-to-date word count: 3,100 words
— E-mail: 52 e-mails. Approx. 3,700 original words. E-mails month-to date: 174 e-mails. Approx. 10,200 words
— Covers Designed and Finished: 0. Covers finished month-to-date: 0 Covers
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— Year of Short Fiction Goal: 120 stories (July 1st to June 30th). Stories finished to date: 8 stories.
— Yearly Novel Goal: 12 Novels. Novels finished to date: 2 novels.
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6 Comments
Isabo Kelly
Great discussion topic, Dean! Can’t wait. This is a topic I’ve grappled with in the past and find myself still dealing with occasionally. Really looking forward to these posts.
David Anthony Brown
So very difficult to see when you’re hurting your career, regardless of what career path you’re on. I look forward to reading your self-sabotage series.
Sean Monaghan
I simply cannot wait for that book. I feel like I’ve been practising self-sabotage since year zero. Including, some time back, getting myself a Masters in creative writing. Sheesh. Some days I think those few years set me back by a decade or more (grin).
Jo
I had some self sabotage. It took the form of some long term ‘writer’s block’.
Rewriting the first chapter over and over, hating it, feeling like a fraud. Before I sold any books I was writing for fun…then I sold a couple thousand…HOLY CRAP GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! I’m a ‘real writer’ now, so, like…that’s like different and stuff and now I should totally do things different and…FREEEEEEAK OOOOUUUUT. 🙂
So that’s how it took me 6 weeks to start and publish my 2nd book, have the series sell, and then take 6 gotdamn months for my 3rd book. 6 months, for a short novel? BAH! I was a 2-4k a day guy…:-(
I quit having fun. Was about to quit. Then an email or three from Dean and I realized my stupidity. 🙂
I’m back to having fun and will finish 4 (maybe 5) books on the year, but it should have been 6-8.
Live. Learn. Fun. Hell, today I wrote a sword fight with a lady’s abusive father that ends with an elopement after a gun fight. Come on! Awesome times!
TY Dean!
dwsmith
Jo, no more looking back. You made it through and got books done. Now forward, focus on the time ahead and having fun. That’s the key. Success is never a straight line. Three forward, two back, step sideways, and forward again. Just nature of the beast.
Sheila
Goodness knows, I’m walking about as crooked a path to success as it gets. But I somehow keep forging on, little by little.
Looking forward to the new blog series, Dean.