• Challenge,  Cover Fun,  Smiths Monthly

    Short Story Covers In #46

    Laying Out the February Issue of Smith’s Monthly And I need short story covers. There are five short stories in Smith’s Monthly #46, so I started about 11:30 tonight after Allyson saved me earlier in the evening from my own stupidity with DepositPhotos. So from 11:30 until 1 am, I did five short story covers. Four are in my Smith’s Stories branding look, and Poker Boy stories have their own branding. But I had templates for both, so the longest time it took was for me to find the art that would fit the story. And in the Poker Boy story, the branding. The hardest story was the story titled…

  • Challenge,  On Writing

    Formatting Meets Craft

    Something So Basic… A little bit back I mentioned a bunch of workshops Kris and I were thinking of offering, and almost everyone said they would like to try “Advanced Pacing.” Now, that would be really fun for me to try to explain. I knew that, but then I got a bunch of stories in that I needed to read for a workshop. And half of them didn’t know basic fiction manuscript format, even though the rules said the stories had to be sent to me in that form. All of the problem ones had put extra lines between paragraphs, making it just damn near impossible for someone like me…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  On Writing,  publishing

    Only Hours Left in Colliding Worlds Kickstarter!

    Ends Today (Thursday) at 5 pm West Coast Time! This Colliding Worlds Kickstarter campaign hit all five stretch goals, so wow are all backers going to get a lot of cool stuff. Including a sixth volume of Colliding Worlds. The extras above the reward you pick includes six books of science fiction, two Classic Workshops and two Pop-Up classes. Also this is the last few hours to get the two special science fiction writing workshops. They are only offered through this campaign. How to Write Science Fiction Short Stories.  How to Write About the Vastness of Space. Both workshops are three weeks long, each cost $150, and you can write…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign

    There Will Be A Sixth Book!

    …Of Science Fiction Short Stories… That’s right, we hit the 5th stretch reward in Colliding Worlds Kickstarter Campaign, so Kris and I are now putting together the sixth book of science fiction short stories. 120 stories now in a six volume set. Everyone will get the sixth volume in electronic form, but if you want the first five, you need to pick that reward or add them to another reward. And if you are getting the original five in trade paper, we will send you a sixth trade paper without any extra cost and if your reward is the signed/limited hardbacks, we will send you a sixth signed/limited hardback without…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  On Writing,  publishing

    Colliding Worlds Kickstarter… Only About 60 Hours Left…

    Don’t Miss This One… A great deal of science fiction reading from me and Kris, special workshops (two of them you can only get through this campaign,) and a bunch of other nifty things. And if we hit the next stretch reward, the five volume set becomes six volumes of our science fiction short stories. Check it out at Colliding Worlds Kickstarter Campaign. And only a few hours left to watch the video with me and Kris talking about collaborating. We had fun. About 60 Hours Left… The old fiction technique of a ticking clock is real with this campaign. Measured now in hours left.

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    How I Did In January… My Challenge

    I Learned and Did Fine… In my opinion. Here is what I said I wanted to do in 2021 on January 1st. (You remember, before the insurrection.) “So my challenge for 2021 is to write a story per day for the year, plus write a novel per month, plus publish over 70 major books.” Well, so far, so interesting. I managed 6 short stories in January, right up to January 6th, then got distracted for a few days. Then as I went back to it, I realized that my tracking systems for short stories sucked beyond words and I couldn’t even remember much about the six I wrote a few…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign

    Hit 4th Stretch Reward

    Getting Closer to Sixth Book!! That’s right, we hit the four stretch reward, so now everyone who backs Colliding Worlds Kickstarter gets a bunch of books, plus a couple of classic workshops and a pop-up class. That’s over $450 in classes along already. Iif we get to that 5th stretch reward in the Colliding Worlds Kickstarter campaign in the next four days, Kris and I will put together a sixth volume of our science fiction short stories. (Yes, we do have enough. We even have enough for a seventh.) COLLIDING WORLDS Volume #6. So that means there will be 120 science fiction stories in the set of six books if…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  On Writing,  publishing

    March Workshops are Available

    April Workshops Tomorrow… It is Friday, so I decided to get some chores done. So I managed to post and get live all the March regular workshops. List Below. And tomorrow I will post and get live all the regular April workshops as well. I am leaving two spots open in April for new workshops and one open in March. So thanks everyone, on the feedback yesterday. And going to give some thought to writing a short book on the Stages of Publishing as a series of blog posts, then put the entire book in Smith’s Monthly before I publish it stand alone. And do the workshop as well in…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Ideas On My Lists for Pop-Up and Workshops…

    I Have A List… Actually two lists, tacked on my computer with thoughts of “That would make an interesting Pop-Up” and the second list is possible workshops. Thought I might share a few of the residents of those lists here. Comments are welcome, but be nice. Remember, it is only your opinion and someone else may really love the idea or hate it. And saying you like it does not commit you to taking anything. Kris and I are always looking for more ideas if you got something that you think would be a good idea for writers to study or learn or that you want to study or learn.…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  On Writing

    A Sixth Volume in Colliding Worlds

    That is the New 5th Stretch Reward!!! That’s right, if we get to that 5th stretch reward in the Colliding Worlds Kickstarter campaign in the next seven days (we are getting close to the 4th), Kris and I will put together a sixth volume of our science fiction short stories. (Yes, we do have enough. We even have enough for a seventh.) COLLIDING WORLDS Volume #6. So that means there will be 120 science fiction stories in the set of six books if we hit that level. We will not do that extra book if we don’t make the stretch reward. But if we do, everyone who has backed the…