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Soaking Up Story
I Have No Idea What For… I know I will be really picking up speed with the writing over the next few days before the first of the year so that by the first I will be at full speed. (Doing the same with exercising and reducing food intake.) Watched most of two movies tonight and a good episode of The Rookie. Not a clue why I am watching and reading so much. Also finally finishing up the last stories from the challenge and will be getting everyone feedback once my notes are typed into an email. So story, story, story. No idea why more than normal right now, but…
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5 Days Left
Year Is Flashing to a Finish… I have about seven million things I want to do this week, which I feel is normal for this time of the year. Web site issues (now solved) and some other fun cost me most of the day today. But I wanted to make sure everyone knew about the second workshop in the Futures Series is starting on January 2nd. This one is called Opportunity: How to See and Evaluate Opportunities. Basically Create and Take Advantage of Opportunities. Two tag lines that fit the same workshop. The first Futures workshop is still available and you can take it at any point and turn in…
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A Great Christmas
Short Post Tonight With a Picture… The host is working on this site with a new security update, so no worries if you see it is not secure. Working on that tonight and tomorrow (26th). But in the meantime, here is a picture of Kris and I on our way out to Christmas dinner. And even with a fire-alarm in the middle that forced the evacuation of the entire Wyn Casino, it was a wonderful dinner. A lot of fun. Happy Holidays, everyone.
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Impression
By Sir Edmund William Gosse… On this Christmas Eve, I thought I would put a poem here about writing. Read it carefully and you will see he is talking about today, about what Kris and I often talk about. Over the years I have had the first two lines of the third stanza of this poem on my wall and office door. And the third line of the fourth stanza describes why so many people rewrite their work to death. An amazing poem for this evening. Merry Christmas. Impression Sir Edmund William Gosse IN these restrained and careful times Our knowledge petrifies our rhymes; Ah! for that reckless fire men…
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One Week Until The New Year
I Know, Another Holiday First… And I hope everyone has a happy holiday, no matter how you celebrate. But at the moment, I have been working on my goals and challenges for the new year. So I will show you here, out in the open, what I am now thinking. First off… Health. Can’t write if I am not healthy. My doc a few weeks back told me I could drop my blood pressure medication in half once I got under 190 pounds and could end it completely if I watched my pressure, was running almost every day, and was under 180 pounds, if not before if I started getting…
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Critical Voice Kills Take Two
I Wrote This As a Comment Response Yesterday… So thought it would be good to clean up my comment, expand a little and put here so more people see it. It is on the topic of critical voice shutting off your enjoyment of other author’s work. It is a matter of taste. Read the last post before reading this. When a book kicks you from the story, it is your taste, not the author’s fault. Always the case. What that author did is simply not to your taste, even if a craft thing. Why does that happen with craft? Because we writers have one way of writing something. When you…
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Critical Voice Kills Everything
Including Your Own Enjoyment of Reading (and Watching Movies)… For some reason, early on, writers think they must start being critical about all sorts of things. Books they don’t like because they are not to their taste, certain types of movies, the wrong use of one thing or another in a story by another author. This is the critical voice, the very thing that works to stop you from writing. And also makes you believe that everything you do must be perfect, therefore you must outline and rewrite and not put something out anywhere until it has been polished to a shine. The job of the critical voice is to…
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Been Reading and Watching Movies
We Writers Consume Story Everywhere… I’ve been doing that over the last few weeks in a number of places. First off, I have been reading challenge short stories and novels. Almost all done and will be sending out comments soon. Some really wonderful novels and stories, I must admit, from those who took the challenge starting in September. I am enjoying the reading a great deal. (And I might do it again for January. Haven’t decided yet.) And I have, when time allows, been watching Hallmark Christmas movies. Not for the plots, of course, but for the structure and the characters and the relaxing aspect of them. In other words,…
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List of Classic Workshops and Lectures
For Those Who Grabbed the Writer Gift Box… Anyone who got the writer gift box will not only get a bunch of writing books, but a Classic Workshop and a Lecture of your choice. Happy Holidays from WMG Publishing. Instructions and links to the books will go out tomorrow morning. Below is a list of the Classic Workshops now available. Five new ones have been moved over to classic now. How to Study, Edit Yourself, Secondary Plot Lines, Think Like a Publisher, and the Business of Publishing. Included in the list of lectures to pick from are the three quarters of Tip of the Week, plus the Advanced Business Lectures…
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Last Hours On Two Things.
And Some Fun Stuff… Very short time left on both of the Christmas Boxes from WMG. They end at NOON on Wednesday, the 19th, West Coast Standard Time. So if you get this after noon, never mind. (grin) Second, I have three in the Mentor Program for 2019, but I will take just one more. Kris and I have decided I can handle four without a problem and it will be more fun, actually. Write me if interested in the last spot. Details in a post a ways back. Do, if you get a chance, read that post from Steven Barnes I put up yesterday. Amazing. And if you want…