• Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  workshops

    WMG Holiday Spectacular 2023 Kickstarter

    Kris and I Worked on Workshops Today… Actually, we ended up spending a lot of time on them, with Allyson on the phone as well. And during that call Steph got in the sample blankets and a mug and the coasters. Oh, my, are they nifty. (All offered on the campaign.) Kris wanted to make sure that we were getting the workshops in the best shape we could so the writers will write great stories for the Holiday Spectacular next year. We are offering THREE special three-week workshops this year. And each will have a third week short story assignment that Kris will read as a possible for the 2024…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Aces Game Two of the Finals…

    A Superteam in Action… The Liberty are a great team, zero doubt, but the Aces are one of those once-in-a-generation teams and wow are they fun to watch in THE HOUSE. That’s what they call their stadium and it was packed, full sell-out, and more screaming and shouting and cheering than I have ever heard. Game started at 6 pm and at one point in the first quarter the Aces were up by 30 points. First quarter… That was fantastic fun with the crowd. Maybe the best quarter of basketball I have ever watched in my lifetime. Liberty made a show of a run in the second quarter and then…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  publishing

    Eleven New Kickstarter Writer Campaigns…

    The Most Ever in a Week!! I think October brings out the fun of Kickstarters. Wonder if Kickstarter has data on that. All of these are by members of the Kickstarter Best Practices class on Teachable. It is free and I have sent this blog to all 1,500 plus members as well as posted them on the class itself. I talk about the good parts of each campaign and if I see a problem, I say that as well. The idea is to learn and keep going. So these campaigns are great to study if you are thinking of trying one yourself. And even more important, back the ones you…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  On Writing,  publishing

    Nora Roberts Had 204 Books Stolen…

    By ChatGPT… Without permission, without payment, just 204 novels stolen whole cloth and used to train the AI stuff so lazy-ass writers can use her work to pretend to make their own crap better. Nora just discovered this and is not happy, to say the least. I stopped counting when I got to 28 of my novels stolen without permission or payment. What is bringing this up tonight is that tomorrow I will be pushing a bunch of Kickstarters by writers that are going now. I will put them on the Kickstarter free class and send out a letter to all of the writer’s signed up in that class, all…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Las Vegas Aces

    Championship WMBA Team… The Aces are trying to repeat as champions and played today against the New York Liberty in the first game of the championship series. They are the leagues two super teams. Game started at noon and for the first half it might have been the best basketball I have ever watched between two great teams. Just stunning. Aces down at one point by eight points. Then in the second half the Aces hit full afterburners and came from five points down to at one time being over twenty points ahead. It went from stunning basketball to “Are you kidding me?” fantastic levels on the Aces side. Blocked…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Learning Copyright…

    What Does “Learn Copyright” Mean? I’m talking about one tiny area of this on the Bite-Sized Copyright class this week. But much deeper than I will do here. When I tell a writer to learn copyright, I not only mean the Copyright Handbook, which is a great place to start, but I also mean following and understanding what is happening now in the culture when it comes to copyright. Everything from reading the recent copyright suits to reading the WGA settlement agreement. All kinds of copyright stuff. But I also mean learn the history of copyright because most writers have gotten stuck in time at one point or another with…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign

    Speaking of Kickstarters…

    2023 WMG Holiday Spectacular… It will start on the 17th, over a week away, but since I was writing fiction tonight and don’t have much time for a blog to keep the blog streak going, I thought I would mention the new campaign so you can follow it and get notified when we do launch. It is going to be amazing. Click here for the promotion page. And how about this nifty logo for the Holiday Spectacular, done by the fantastic Stephanie Writt at WMG. How cool is that going to look on mugs and things with the fantastic holiday art? Don’t miss this fifth year of getting an original…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign

    Why Kickstarter Class Is Free to Writers…

    Started in October 2019… Master Business Class was happening and Loren L. Coleman and I were sitting on the suite’s balcony looking out over Las Vegas with about fifteen other writers in a large circle just talking publishing business. And then Loren asked if anyone had done a Kickstarter for a book. Loren knew I had done more than ten and he had done a number for his gaming company and a book. One writer raised their hand and said, “I did one, only made five thousand, so haven’t done another yet.” I think I rolled out of my chair onto the ground and Loren almost tipped over backwards. “Only…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    I Have Built 33 Kickstarter Campaigns…

    Working on #34 Now… It is for the upcoming 2023 Holiday Spectacular. (Details to come soon.) Way back when I first started, Kickstarter was a fairly new platform and we used it first for our Fiction River volumes and then to test if there was any interest in restarting Pulphouse Fiction Magazine. There was intrest and we are still going, coming back from a hiatus caused by my eyes going bad for a time. Of the 33 campaigns, five have been for Pulphouse subscription drives and five for Fiction River projects. Back in the first twenty-five or so campaigns, I built and wrote every detail. Last year or so I…

  • Challenge,  workshops

    All October Workshops Have Started

    I Have Writing To Do… So this is a quick post tonight letting everyone know that all the October regular workshops have now started. The special workshops from the Ivory Trees kickstarter will start next week and I will be writing everyone signed up later in the week with the details on those. But now the October classes are firing up. #32… Oct 3rd… Depth in Action (Last month as Regular class.) #33… Oct 3rd… Writing into the Dark #34… Oct 3rd… Magic Bakery #35… Oct 3rd… Teams in Fiction #36…Oct 4th… Writing with Depth (Start with this one.) #37…Oct 4th… Plotting with Depth (Last month as Regular class.) #39…Oct…