• Challenge,  Misc,  workshops

    Short Post Tonight

    First Off, Thanks for the Anniversary Wishes… Very much appreciated, both here on this blog and in letters and on Facebook. Kris and I are both kind of surprised it has been that long as well. (grin) Second, the code to get half off of the workshops or lectures or subscriptions is SummerLearning2020 A number of people today had trouble getting that in the right place. Basically you find a workshop or lecture or class you want to get half off for the next three days and hit “Purchase Course.” On the page that comes up, right at the top, it says, “Add Coupon.” Put in the code SummerLearning2020 at…

  • Challenge,  Misc

    May Workshops Starting

    Tuesday and Wednesday… All May regular workshops are starting up and there is still time to get into them. And June workshops are available as well to sign up for. And all of them are half price in (we hope) the last sale we are going to do to help writers through this time. (Details in yesterday’s blog. Every class, subscription, lecture, and workshop is half price until Friday.) This staying at home for all of us is lasting a lot longer than we all thought. But there are glimmerings of hope in the next few months. But life still goes on during this shutdown. Today was Kris and my…

  • Challenge,  running

    Goals…

    Setting Goals In an Uncertain Time… Many, many writers I know, me included, are goal focused. I can work to deadline when the deadline is real. I can set goals out a month, six months, a year, and longer, and once set, I can stick with them. But the times, at the moment, are uncertain. (Duh…) We are all (mostly) staying at home and in place to keep the virus from just flattening our hospitals and killing a ton more people than it needs to. And the reopening is going to be slow and painful for some time to come. I’m doing fine on the writing and the publishing because…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Letters Out For Historical Workshop and News

    Sent Letters to Everyone… So if you signed up for the Writing Historical Fiction special workshop in the Cave Creek Kickstarter and didn’t get a letter from me, after checking your spam filter, write me. In the letter you have the choice to sign up for either the May session or the June session. Totally up to each of you. But those will be the only two sessions. And all the surveys have gone out for the Writing Bundles Kickstarter which just closed, so get those surveys back quickly if you can. That way we can get out all the awards and books. Still Under Stay-At-Home Orders… Looks like most…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Catching Up and New Workshop

    A BUNCH OF DETAILS… First off, finally finishing the reading on the Messed Up stories for Pulphouse. Got just a few more. I’ve had to limit my screen time for my one eye, but getting back up to speed slowly. So those should be done in the next day or so and out to everyone. Secondly, setting up the June workshops. A couple of those are posted already. The rest to follow. Third, those of you who signed up for Writing Historical Fiction should get a letter from me this weekend with links to the May and June workshops. You can pick the one you would like to take. That…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Writing Bundles Kickstarter Almost Done…

    All Seventeen of Our Writing Books in Five Bundles And from the looks of it, we are about to hit our top stretch goal, where all backers will get a bundle of classic workshops worth $600.00. (That means everyone would get $1,000 in value in lectures and workshops, plus First Tee Panic and Kris’s Freelancer’s Survival Guide.) That’s right! Not kidding. But only just over a day left. So don’t miss backing this one. UPDATE!!! We hit the top stretch goal!!! And a great way to back it is to get all five bundles of writing books reward, then add on the Creative Nonfiction Special Workshop. Remember, through this Kickstarter…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    The Decade Ahead: Second Quarter

    Finally Some Posts In April… It took clear to the end of April before I could figure out how to approach this quarter. I want this Decade Ahead class to help writers for years to come on their Teachable dashboards. Help them get through regular times, regular years for the next decade. But at the same time, it is impossible to talk about how to get through April and May and June in this second quarter of 2020 without dealing with this pandemic. So I decided to do both. I am doing a series of videos that will be valuable in general and next April/May/June. Dealing with the Time of…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Card Sharp Silver

    Not Counting This As a Day of Writing… But I did work on Card Sharp Silver: A Cave Creek Novel, but just didn’t make enough forward progress to count it, either in time or words. But I did get back on it and cycled back to get it in my head again, got to where I had left off and went, “Damn, this is fun.” No clue where I am going from there, but I typed some and got moving forward again. Felt great! Not really stuck, it has just been a week or so to believe with all the business work. I have about five stories left to get…

  • Challenge,  Misc

    An Adventure

    Never Would Think I Would Be Doing This… Just two short months ago. But this morning, when I normally get out of bed at 10:30 in the morning, I was up and showered and out the door by 8 am. Gloves, mask, and a jar of spray disinfectant in hand. First stop, a Walmart. Not crowded, no lines at that time of the morning. I was on a hunt, stalking the wild paper products. I got a large package of paper towels, a massive package of napkins, tissues, and huge package of the good toilet paper. Plus some rice. Total win. The place was very, very well-stocked with everything. Felt…

  • Challenge,  publishing

    Refusing to Go to Bed Before Midnight…

    On a Friday Night… But it will be close. I’m tired from a day that I don’t much remember, and I’m getting up early tomorrow to go out into the wilds of Las Vegas grocery stores. I get in with all the old folks because the fact is that I am an old folk. Less crowded and old folks, for the most part, tend to be more careful. And they move slower so I can dodge them easier. And the store shelves are stocked. Just amazing seeing Las Vegas on a Friday night now. We used to be able to stand on our balcony and see downtown Vegas and hear…