• Challenge,  Misc,  The Kris and Dean Show,  workshops

    Our Holiday Traditions…

    I Like This Time of Year… Over the years here in Las Vegas, Kris and I have developed some really fun holiday traditions. We start off the holiday season with the Glittering Run 5K charity event, walking and running 5K through a billion holiday lights. That is always before Thanksgiving, but a great start. This year I walked it while enjoying all the families around me, but also an amazing cup of hot chocolate. Then around the first of December we go to storage and dig out all the holiday decorations. We did that last night and we now have stunning holiday pillows and a holiday blanket from the HOLIDAY…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    A BUNCH OF STUFF…

    Trying Something Old/New Tomorrow, if the schedule allows, I am headed with a friend to hit a few golf balls. Now understand, way back in time I used to be a PGA professional and I could play pretty well for the time. But for the last number of years, I have not hit a golf ball and am not sure if I can. Why? Lost a lot of my vision two years back. Last year I smashed up my shoulder and it is now titanium. Plus with the injury I gained about twenty pounds around my middle that I have not been able to shed yet. Plus I am 74.…

  • Branding,  Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  The Kris and Dean Show,  workshops

    FOCUSING FORWARD…

    Watching the Old Magnum Television Series… It was filmed in the eighties. We are watching it not to study anything, but to shut down and enjoy the entertainment, even though sometimes dated. Still fun. The one we watched tonight was about the internment camps of Japanese Americans on the islands. It happened 40 years before the show was aired and they kept talking about those 40 years. The show aired 40 years ago now. So interesting to think about the 80 years. 40 years ago Kris and I had not met yet (a couple of years from meeting, actually). We were both writing like crazy, but both of us were…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    HISTORY BROUGHT FORWARD…

    Back in the Day… And I do mean “back in the day” when Kris and I were going to a lot of science fiction conventions (1990-1998 or so), we got asked to do a live talk on publishing. Sounded fine, even though were were two new writers, we decided to talk about what we knew about the publishing business (which was a ton because I was the publisher of Pulphouse Publishing and she was not only the senior editor, but also the editor of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.) We were also selling novels like crazy and were in and out of of New York publishing offices all…

  • Challenge,  workshops

    New Year and the Holiday…

    Wrapped Up In The New Year… As we bump into December of this year, I am really focused on ramping up my writing for the new year. Just doing all kinds of plans and ideas and possible challenges that will really get me going. Plus making some changes in my office and possible schedule. Enjoying the process a lot, actually. Not at all stressed on it or time pressured. I think that might be because I have two really good ideas, both would be challenging and fun and actually crazy to even attempt. So now just trying to think of other things along those same lines. You know, like trying…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    The Old House…

    PUTTING TOGETHER ISSUES… Spent a few days putting together an issue of Pulphouse Fiction Magazine. Problem is that I glance at a story I want to include and end up getting sucked into the story and reading again. So it takes me way longer than it should to write an introduction to the issue, do author introductions, and get it all ready. But I love the process. And I am finishing up a little bit of misc story reading and then diving full force back into the stories that have been sent for the Pulphouse Kickstarter stretch rewards. Just a tad farther behind than I wanted to be with the…

  • Challenge,  running,  workshops

    Getting Ready for January 1st…

    Spending Time Getting Ready… Almost December 1st and I am doing a ton of focusing and planning for January 1st. And doing a ton of getting ready. As I said, I am loading my old traditional published books and stories into boxes to take to storage. Finding a ton of stuff I had forgotten about. For example, I knew I had been in a few Twilight Zone anthologies, but turns out Carol invited me into three of them. And wow did I achieve my goal of wanting to be a “paperback” writer. I’m filling box after box with paperbacks that I either wrote or have my story in them. Mass…

  • Fun Stuff,  workshops

    Fun Day!

    US Thanksgiving Holiday… We had intended to head out a 6:30 am to a park to the north of Las Vegas for a charity 5k run that started at 8 am. Intended was the operative word, but due to events the day before with business and other stuff, Kris and I both managed to stumble to be round 2 am. (I was a little later.) So the towel was tossed and we got extra sleep. Then I cooked (with a ton of help from Kris) a turkey dinner and we were were joined by four great friends and we had a blast. Kris had baked a bunch of fantastic pumpkin…

  • Challenge,  Misc,  workshops

    Knowing How Lucky You Are…

    I Know For a Fact I Am Stunningly Lucky… Just to be alive and well. My old-time friends all say that all the time and I can’t argue with them. I have been lucky to have friends for thirty, forty, and fifty years that I treasure and they are there when something happens and I hope I am there for them in return. I have been stunningly lucky to have been with Kris the last 38 years. I was lucky to be a free-style professional skier, a PGA Professional, get a masters degree in architecture, and do three years of law school. I was lucky enough to write a lot…

  • Challenge,  The Kris and Dean Show,  workshops

    Cleaning Up!

    My Traditional Publishing Brag Shelves… It is all getting boxed up and hauled to storage. Nine shelves filling about 12 filing boxes full of books and magazines that I published stuff in during my traditional publishing days. Sadly over the years, I didn’t keep it up very well, and would take a book out of it for one reason or another and not replace it or get the book back in the right spot. And unlike Kris’s brag shelves where she kept everything in perfect order and also has one copy of all editions. Her brag shelves fill an entire room and her office. We have another brag shelf downstairs…