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Fun Day
COLLECTING AND WORKSHOPS… I was out at our south store talking collecting, first with Shelly, then with a great guy who used to own a comic book store in Salem. Then, as I was about to leave to head out to do errands, a guy came in with some really neat stuff, one of which was a very strange CdV photo. CdV stands for Carte de visite, a form of photography out of France that was put on cards about the size of a playing card. This form became a fad for a time in the 1850s through 1870s. What was cool about this photo was it looked like a…
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Not Many Signed Up
AUGUST ONLINE WORKSHOPS STARTING… As is normal for August, very few people are signed up for the online workshops. They start on Tuesday and I think the list of workshops is a pretty good one, honestly. But summer seems to not allow people to spend the extra three hours a week or focus on the workshops. But that is normal. I see it every year. August is when a lot of writers wake up from the time of great forgetting to discover they have done little in the summer and are not behind on goals. If that is happening to you, just take a deep breath and reset the goals…
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Store and Auction
PLUS WORKSHOPS… I spent my entire afternoon and evening at the south store and at the auction that happens in the same small mall as our south store once a month. Wonderful fun and I got some stunning stuff. Stunning meaning I paid little and will be able to sell for a lot of money. (grin). Made it home by 9 p.m. to cook dinner and then do e-mail, some reading, some introductions I needed to do for a project, and then workshop stuff. And speaking of workshop stuff… If you are signed up for the August online workshops, you should have gotten a letter from me tonight. And if…
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Smith’s Monthly Issues
Two Issues Out… Those of you who have been hanging around here for a time might remember the novel I did in five days while traveling. The novel is called Ace High: A Cold Poker Gang Novel. I also wrote a book (basically my blogs) about how I wrote that novel in five days. Well, in the issue of Smith’s Monthly that just went out to subscribers and Patreon supporters, both the novel and the book about writing the novel are in there. Another issue will go out on Monday. And then later in the month another string of them as I work to get back on date. Means nothing…
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Read All Night
Workshops and Reading All Day… Now I have to admit, not a bad way to spend a day. I finished Kris’s new Diving Universe novel just a short time ago (sun is coming up). It is stunning and is going to make every Diving fan happy, trust me. Made me happy. (grin) I also worked on workshops at WMG and tonight here. And read some challenge stories and novels earlier in the evening. No writing. I will be back writing solidly on the new novel on Monday or Tuesday. But I did get the steps back up over 10,000 steps and the weight is coming off, those last pesky 15…
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Slow and Fun Day
DOING LOTS OF READING… I spent a lot of today either working on corporation taxes at the WMG offices or reading. Mostly reading. I am not only reading the stories and novels for the summer challenge, but Kris has a new Diving Universe novel that has been sitting near my reading chair for a week. I have been dying to read it. So I do some novel reading on the challenge, then Kris gives me this incredible mystery story to read. Actually a novella. So I ended up reading that, then taking a break, then reading some of the Diving Universe novel, which is stunningly good. It was everything I…
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A New Day
THANK YOU FOR THE KIND COMMENTS… I got a lot of wonderful comments, both on last night’s post about finishing four books in one month, and privately. Thank you all. I forgot to mention one thing in last night’s post. All four of the books were final draft. I will not rewrite them. I did not write sloppy. Three books have been read by Kris so far and she loves them. All four will be going into WMG Publishing over the next week as I put together the issues of Smith’s Monthly they go into. And tonight I started a new novel called The End of Time: A Seeders Universe…
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Novel Four: Finished. Challenge Made!
FOUR NOVELS IN ONE MONTH… Burn Card: A Cold Poker Gang Novel is printed and sitting on Kris’s spot for her to read when she gets time. I wrote four novels in one month while working a day job, getting rest, having a life, and so on. The only reason I could do this was because I have all the myths of writing that were jammed down my throat by non-writers out of my mind. I have always admired the old pulp writers, so over the years I have studied what they did, how they did it, and slowly incorporated what I learned into my own writing. I try to…
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Novel Four: Day Five
ONE DAY LEFT… (As a reminder, the overall monthly challenge is to write four novels. I also had an exercise goal that lasted for three quarters of the month and dropped away this last week.) One more day to finish this last book. Baring unforeseen crap, I think it will happen. We shall see. I can see the end now. The Day Went Like This… Got up at 1:30 p.m., did just a slight bit of e-mail and made it to the writer’s meeting only about forty-five minutes late. Stayed there in the meeting and then in my office doing workshop stuff until 7:30 p.m. Then the grocery store and…
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Novel Four: Day Four
TWO DAYS LEFT… (As a reminder, the overall monthly challenge is to write four novels. I also had an exercise goal that lasted for three quarters of the month and dropped away this last week.) Two more days after today to finish this last book. As I have saying all along, all I have to do is give this one the hours and I will be fine. So tonight I listened to myself and gave it the hours, from 11 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. Got some progress. (grin) And even more frightening, the book fits the cover. Yow, just noticed that. I love the subconscious. The Day Went Like This……