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The Magic Bakery: Last Chapter
Chapter Ten… Maintenance. This book, at its heart, has been about the business of fiction. And selling fiction. And the copyright associated with fiction. Fact: So many writers ignore copyright and eventually go away. Long-term writers know copyright and know how to get every bit of money we can from copyright. That might be the most important element to why a long-term writers is a long-term writer and not a “what-ever-happened-to” writer. Fact: So many writers equate the hours it took to write something with the value of the story. A short story can’t have much value because it only took four hours to write it. That is the thinking.…
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Domain Collecting
Might Be Called Hoarding… By nature, I am a collector. Actually, by nature, I am a picker. I buy things to resell and have a wonderful time in the search. Finding something for a buck and selling it for a hundred has a real thrill attached. I actually collect and hold very few things. I sort of collect marbles (although we sell many) and very old paperback books. Old meaning the first 500 or so of each publisher back in the late 1930s up through 1960. That’s it. Everything else I buy to resell. Except for one small exception: Domains. Now I don’t go out and try to grab domains…
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New Lecture Available
Advanced Business Lecture: Taxes for Writers… This is the second lecture in the Advanced Business Lecture series. The first one was on corporations for writers. This one is about taxes for writers. It is not tax advice, but more of an awareness of the concepts of how writers can save vast amounts of money if they understand taxes in their states, countries, and around the world. Those who bought the full series on the subscription, I sent codes to earlier. If you didn’t get a code, write me. If anyone is interested in just taking the lecture, the cost is $50 and you can find it at: http://wmg-publishing-workshops-and-lectures.teachable.com/ ——————– A…
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A Couple of Fun Things
Anyone Want to Listen to Me Talk About Writing? Kevin Tumlison, on his Wordslinger Podcast, talked to me about my book Writing into the Dark. And about writing in general. Fun conversation since Kevin and I think very much alike in this area. You can listen to it at: http://kevintumlinson.com/podcast-rss/2017/6/9/wpc-116-writing-into-the-dark-with-dean-wesley-smith Thanks, Kevin!!! Second… A study has come out about creative types. You can find it at… http://bit.ly/2t6KUfb Why I am pointing this out is because the conclusions (after 40 years of study) are that no writer knows their own work and the more you write, the better chance you have at success. Go figure. Here is a quote from the…
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Writing a Novel In Five Days While Traveling Turned In
Yup, Finally Put It Together… I’ve been meaning to since January. Turned out to be just under 10,000 words. It will be in the issue of Smith’s Monthly I am turning in tomorrow. And Ace High: A Cold Poker Gang Novel I wrote in those five days will be in the same issue. You want to read the novel and then read how I wrote it in five days, Smith’s Monthly #39 will be the place. Actually, you can sort of read both books right now. Ace High is already out for sale. And the chapters of the nonfiction book are all still here as blog posts. They start with…
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An Issue Turned In
Finally Got Going Again with Smith’s Monthly… Took me a while to get going, but finally got the issue of Smith’s Monthly in to WMG. It has the novel I finished last night and four short stories and part of a nonfiction book. I will have the next issue turned in on Monday, since that has novel I wrote in January. Then to finish a book I started a long time back and get it turned in for another issue next week. Those of you who followed along in April know I started a new ghost of a chance series character called Marble Grant. That is the only story from that challenge in…
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How Long Does It Take Me to Write A Novel?
I Get That Question… Honestly, most professional writers do all the time. Of course, the question comes from people who never read this blog. And without lying, I often tell them what they want to hear. (I never tell them I have written a full novel in five days while traveling.) For example, this book I just finished tonight I started back in late December. So to make those who believe in myths, I can safely say it takes me about six months to write a short novel. Let’s not mention that I did a novel in five days while in a hotel room in Las Vegas in January. Or have…
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A Bunch of Things
All Workshops Switched Over… July online workshop list is now up. But a warning, the workshops that have no one signed up might get either pushed back or switched to classic. We will be announcing two new online workshop starting in July. We will only replace workshops with the two new ones that have no one signed up. And right now, that’s most of them. (Editing, Endings, and Depth are safe.) Stay tuned for the announcement of the two new online workshops very shortly, plus I will put up the online workshop schedule for September through December.. ————- Cover Workshop is going great! All but one has their cover template…
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A Fun Series
Ghost of a Chance Series… I am just finishing up a book called The Deep Sunset: A Ghost of a Chance Novel. The original titles on these things and complete lack of branding made these almost impossible to sell. So I renamed all the books and Allyson did a nifty series branding on these, sort of a take-off on the new Poker Boy covers, but not really. I will go back at some point and redo the covers on Smith’s Monthly with these novels in them. I love this new branding and it really gave me a boost to finish the novel I’ve been puttering along on and tonight I…
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The Power of a Streak
THE ONLY REASON FOR THIS BLOG… …is because I have a streak going. That’s right, for 1,353 nights in a row, I have put a blog up here. That’s every day for 3.7 years. Without a miss, even when I was sick or traveling. I am sure the count is off a day or more one way or another, but close enough. I know I haven’t missed a day in all that time. This very well might be the dumbest streak in all of time. Today I took today away from this computer and writer’s meetings and all that other stuff and went and saw Wonder Woman, had some great…