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Quick Blog
Web Site Acting Whacky… So going to post this quick to keep my streak alive in case something goes wrong. Plus I am late tonight. I got late because I finished a short story after all the assignments from the workshops. Then I spent a couple hours on the Cave Creek novel. So good progress on writing today, and I spent a bunch of hours down in our office working on getting stuff in order down there while we had cleaners up here. And a couple hours out looking for supplies to use for my marble collection display and sorting. Found some. Busy day. Productive. And Kris and I watched…
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Some Updates
On Different Streaks, Challenges, and Exercise… — Today is 3,084 straight days I have done a blog a day here without missing. Yup, that’s nuts. — I am slowly ramping back up my exercise, gaining a little bit more a week on a walking streak. I let myself relax and not push after the marathon because I wanted to just not think about it over the holidays. So going to take me another month or so to get the steps back up to pre-marathon levels. And maybe two months to drop the weight down to marathon level and then keep it going down. So all fine there. — I’m a…
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That’s Annoying
Just One of Those Things… As last night, another annoyance caused by epic disorganization. And I do mean epic. Fixable, but annoying. This today comes from my inability to get organized in a meaningful and long-term fashion with my writing and publishing. And this concerns Smith’s Monthly. Today, I really dug into the layout of Smith’s Monthly Issue #45. Now understand, Issue #44 came out in the summer of 2017. I have a ton of ads and promotions about a lot of my books in each issue. You know… filler. Since the magazine is all mine, might as well promote some of the other stories and series and such I…
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Stay Organized…
In Other Words, Do As I Say, Not As I Have Done… Spent more hours tonight than I care to think about getting organized from at least three or more years of not being organized, just writing. Yes, I am reverting to a spread sheet for some stuff, and file folders to gather up story files. But trust me, when you get upward of a hundred short stories that are not tracked or in any kind of order, and you are writing as much as I am, it is time to organize. Don’t wait until then. Too stupid for words. And even more annoying, I found at least five, maybe…
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My Novel…
Never Sure What That Means… I do know that if a writer is constantly referring to their novel in those terms, the chances are they have made that book so important, it will take a very, very long time to finish, if ever. You never hear a professional writer talking like that, in those terms. They might say my current project, or my current book, or something along that way. But “my novel,” never hear it. And when I do hear some beginning writer say that, my first response is to ask, “Which one?” But alas, that would be rude because EVERYONE around them should know about THEIR NOVEL, don’t…
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The Problem of a Writing Rut…
Especially with Short Stories… I am not talking about writing short stories themselves. I am talking about a topic rut. Honestly, never noticed this before now. I can get writing on novels and stay in the same topic for one or two novels before needing to break free and write something else. No issue. With novels could always tell when I was burning out on a topic or series. I come back to topics and subjects all the time over years of time. No issue there either. But had an interesting, if not short-term thing happen tonight. I didn’t want to write another cat story. I was burnt out on…
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Slight Bump In Challenge
As Expected… Which is why I talked about how I can do two and three and even once four full short stories in one day. I expect to get behind. And my focus is to hit 31 stories in January to start with. My bet is the reason I am behind a story or so is the same reason many of you are behind. Major election which flipped the Senate… Up most of the night watching that. Got up today, did some shopping as planned and had riots in Washington by the time I got home Since that is history and stunning beyond words, had to watch that, and then…
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Sale Ends Thursday at 5PM…
So Almost Over… I sent this letter out to everyone who has signed up on the WMG Publishing Teachable web site for workshops if they did not block email. The half-price sale on WMG Publishing Teachable is almost over. Everything half price including the new Collection series of classes. Any questions, feel free to write me. And please, as I say at the end, stay safe over the next number of months. ——– WMG Publishing wants to help you all once again get through this, so until 5 pm on Thursday, January 7th… Every WMG Publishing Workshop, Lecture, Pop-Up, Class, or Subscription on Teachable will be HALF PRICE! That’s right, on…
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January Regular Workshops Starting…
January Workshops Starting Tuesday and Wednesday… Also, the first new Collections Class (Portals) is starting on Tuesday. And also the second Holiday Crime class from the Holiday Kickstarter is started if you are signed up for that. So lots going on and the sale has three more days. For half price of anything on Teachable, just use the code Resolution. And if you have any questions, feel free to write me. Also, all the February workshops are there and able to sign up for. Below is the list of both January regular workshops starting Tuesday and Wednesday and the February list of workshops. Class #1… Jan 5th … Covers 101…
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Four Days Left On Workshop Sale
Ends on Thursday at 5pm West Coast Time… Everything on WMG Publishing Teachable site is half price. Just put in the code Resolution. In case you missed it, here is the full first post about the sale and why we are doing this… Covid in Getting Worse… I honestly never would have predicted this last spring. Not in a million years. But at least now we have some hope on the horizon with the vaccines going out. But they won’t do much good especially over the coming months. Back when WMG Publishing did what we all thought here would be the last workshop sale in May, we had an expectation…