• On Writing,  publishing

    Fun New Kickstarter!!

    The Year of the Cat… That’s right, Kristine Kathryn Rusch and I are editing a huge new project called The Year of the Cat, with 100 cat stories spread over 12 monthly anthologies. Lots of writers will have stories in these volumes, the first one of which is coming out in May. Here is the video to show you what we are doing. Here is the link to the Kickstarter… And below are the first few covers of the monthly anthologies. This Kickstarter has some really fun stuff. And for writers, a bunch cool things as well, including a special How to Write a Cat Story workshop like we did…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    New Videos Up

    On A Bunch of Stuff… I have posted new videos on the Shared World Class and the first quarter of the Decade Ahead Class. In the next few days I will do more videos for the Licensing Transition Class as well. I also put up another weekly video on the Great Publishing Challenge and on the Great Novel Challenge. On the publishing challenge, I am doing a weekly video about my publishing progress. There are very few signed up for that challenge, but even if you sign up later on, my videos will be there. I will be doing the videos all year since the challenge to myself is to…

  • Challenge,  publishing

    Playing with Branding

    My Cold Poker Gang Branding… Combined with Smith’s Monthly. Kind of fun how the branding goes across with the art, yet is very different. Just thought I would show how we are doing this. Allyson Longueira, the publisher at WMG Publishing, does the covers for my Cold Poker Gang series. It has a very distinctive look and she won’t let me mess with it. (grin) Besides, they sell and I really like them. But I do all the covers for my Smith’s Monthly issues, and Allyson and I need to find art that fits both brands when I am publishing a Cold Poker Gang novel in Smith’s Monthly. So here…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    February Workshops Take Two

    Early in the Morning… I have been at this computer now mostly for going on 17 hours, with a few breaks and a nap along the way, so I am going to just repost the February regular workshops being offered and starting on the 4th. You will see in a couple days why I spent so much time here today. Fun stuff, I can promise, he said, vaguely about a nifty Kickstarter project featuring cats. (grin) So the post about the workshops again… Now Available… Here is the list of the February 6-week workshops and descriptions about each class. And a link to each one. A really good group of…

  • Uncategorized

    Short Story Workshop

    Here in Las Vegas… I was stunned when I discovered that there are still three spots open in the Short Story Craft Workshop here in Las Vegas, April 17th through the 21st. The workshop is taught by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, possibly the best working short story writer in the business. I was surprised there were still spots open for two reasons. First, in this workshop Kris is going to teach the craft of writing short fiction across all areas of fiction. And in our modern world of indie publishing and discoverability, short fiction is critical in every genre. Short fiction can not only can make you some nice money, but…

  • Challenge,  running

    Not A Run For Me

    I Took It Easy… This morning was a true fun run. No timing, the course was less than 5K and no one cared. It was for a great cause. And I am still slowly nursing along a sore hip. Getting better, doing stretches, but I decided to go another week or so without a push. This week I will be at the gym doing stretches and getting some milage, building back up my milage as the weight slowly drops. And haven’t missed being over 10,000 steps a day for two weeks now. Nice streak started there. And in two weeks we have a double run. Same run, actually, but 5…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  workshops

    Up Early

    Two Days In A Row… I’ve spent almost all the evening tonight working on a project that will be announced early next week. A really, really fun one. And this morning I got up early for me and walked Kris to the workshop, then sat in the buffet and wrote and did more organizing for a few hours while not eating much. Tomorrow morning off to do a fun run. Not up super early, but still early enough that I will get under six hours for the second day in a row. Naps after the run will be in order. Yesterday I recorded a video about my writing for the…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  workshops

    Study Along Workshop

    Science Fiction Craft Workshop Starting Up… And online, on Teachable, the Science Fiction Craft Workshop Study Along is starting as well. First stories are due on Friday evening. A ton of videos, more story assignments, a bunch of videos about sf books over the five days. Basically, the study along patterns what Kris is teaching here in Las Vegas. Of course, since it takes a couple months to read for the study along workshops, the science fiction one is well closed. And going to be a blast. I don’t have much to do, but I still have fun seeing people. Kris and the writers, however, are jamming. (grin) However, there…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    February Regular Workshops

    Now Available… Here is the list of the February 6-week workshops and descriptions about each class. And a link to each one. A really good group of workshops this month. And the Floating Viewpoint workshop has been postponed. Starting two workshops in three months is enough to start the year. Starting in March is “Making a Living” workshop. All workshops are on Teachable. February Regular Workshops Class #11… Feb 4th … Endings in Fiction Class #12… Feb 4th … Attitude in Fiction Class #13… Feb 4th … Writing Romance Class #14… Feb 4th … Writing with Speed Class #15… Feb 4th … Teams in Fiction Class #16… Feb 5th ……

  • Challenge,  On Writing

    Controlling Critical Voice

    After Yesterday’s Post… I got a couple of questions about how I control my critical voice when I do so much teaching, which is automatically generated from critical voice. A couple things first. If I ever stopped writing for anything past a short life roll, I would stop teaching at that same moment. Sadly, a couple of my mentors became nothing but teachers and never really wrote again. I lost respect for them, to be honest. Second, I do the teaching to keep learning. When a workshop becomes boring to me, and I can’t learn from it, it goes to classic status or vanishes. Why Kris and I are always…