• Cave Creek,  Challenge,  On Writing,  workshops

    A Second Shared World Class

    SHARED WORLDS: Part One and Now Part Two What Are Shared Worlds, How to Do Them, and Why?  Part Two… More Information and Advanced! For years now, Kris and I have tried to figure out how to teach shared worlds as a topic to writers to get the most benefit for writers. Both of us have written in so many shared worlds, we couldn’t begin to count. From the major shared worlds of Star Trek and Star Wars, to the more subtle shared worlds of say the WMG Holiday Spectacular. And everything in between. There are thousands of reasons indie writers and publishers would want to set up one form…

  • Challenge,  On Writing

    Don’t Panic Or Give Up…

    Just Because the Year is Starting Off Slow… Sometimes, this time after the first of the year can be rough. Job issues, family, travel, and a ton of other stuff. And even though you wanted to get off to a fast start, you didn’t. I sure didn’t this year. Annoying for sure. But no big deal. Let me show you some math on why it isn’t a big deal. Say your goal for 2024 is to write a half million words.  An average of 1,370 words per day. If you write 1,000 finished words per hour, about 1.3 hours a day or 9 hours a week on your writing. (That’s…

  • Challenge,  Cover Fun,  On Writing

    Slow Start With The Writing…

    Typical For Me… I usually start slow and then just gain speed. Clearly going to be the case this time as well. First off, I just didn’t clear the decks fast enough to get to my writing computer early enough each night. And when I did, tired of being at any computer, so time there did not last that long. Second, starting a book in a series that I had not even thought about in years, so had to take some time to put it back in my head and create some notes. Not for the plot, just what the characters look like and so on. Third, I am still…

  • Challenge,  workshops

    Workshops Starting…

    Today Last Day To Join Challenges… A bunch of workshops started today that seemed to have gotten lost in the shuffle of the challenges. And a couple will start next Tuesday. Shopify Part Two and the Kickstarter Special Workshop will start next week. Those in the Kickstarter special class, expect a letter from me this weekend. The January Regular Workshops just started today. #4… Jan 2nd… Writing into the Dark #5… Jan 2nd… Teams in Fiction #6…Jan 3rd… Writing with Depth (start with this one) #8…Jan 3rd… Killing the Critical Voice #10…Jan 3rd… Advanced Depth The two nine-week Advanced Craft classes just started. Advanced Dialog Advanced Pacing The two 52…

  • Challenge,  motivation,  On Writing

    Nifty Mug and T-Shirt

    2024 Challenge Challenge yourself to average 2,024 words per day for the entire year of 2024.  Here is the mug and t-shirt you get for signing up… Full instructions below the pictures. Nifty, huh? And you get both if you join the challenge. Only open until the 5th… Sign up on Teachable. Here are the basic rules… No genre limitations. Rules of Turn-In 1… Every month (or more often if it helps you) you must send me an email giving me your word count. I do not want to know what you are writing, just how much. End of the year we figure it all out. The cost is $600.…

  • Challenge,  On Writing

    Two More Days to Sign Up For Challenges…

    Jump In For the New Year! These four challenges will shut off on the 5th. 2,024 Words Per Day in 2024 (Mug and t-shirt included) Kris’s Fresh Start Challenge Dean’s Challenge Full Dean’s Challenge Half Lots of details on these in the last four blog posts. All available on Teachable. As for the regular challenges of a short story per week, a novella a month, a novel every two month, or the publishing challenge, they can be signed up for and started at any time. If you were in Kris’s sprint challenge or my two challenges from April, please send me your total word counts in the next two days.…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  workshops

    Yes, A T-Shirt and a Mug…

    To Everyone In the Challenge Yourself… Challenge Yourself to write 2,024 words per day for 2024.  Get a mug with the cool saying on it and a t-shirt (Lifetime Everything folks can buy the mug and t-shirt.) just for signing up. See the previous post for more details on the challenges. LAST DAY FOR THE TARGETED SALE… All lifetime subscription and a few other bundles are half price only through the 1st.  Check out the details here… Also the bundle for the new 52 week class CREATIVE SURVIVAL is in that sale and also the bundle for the new MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY. Advanced Craft Classes 2024 Starting Up These are nine-week…

  • Challenge,  On Writing

    2,024 Words Per Day in 2024…

    2024 Challenge Challenge yourself to average 2,024 words per day for the entire year of 2024. These would need to be consumable words. What are “consumable” words? — Any fiction of any type (no requirement to publish during the challenge time) — Any nonfiction that others will consume such as blogs, introductions to collections things like that. — emails and comments on Facebook or blogs do NOT count. No genre limitations. Rules of Turn-In 1… Every month (or more often if it helps you) you must send me an email giving me your word count. I do not want to know what you are writing, just how much. The cost…

  • Challenge,  On Writing

    The Fresh Start Challenge With Kris…

    A Challenge with Kris for the Month of January… The challenge is to write as many consumable words from Monday, January 1st through Wednesday, January 31st 2024 as Kris writes. The goal is to get writing and focused on the writing for the month of January. What are “consumable” words? — Any fiction of any type (no requirement to publish during the challenge time) — Any nonfiction that others will consume such as blogs, introductions to collections things like that. You can NOT count emails and comments on Facebook and other social media or comments on blogs. They do NOT count. No genre limitations. Rules 1… Every day Kris will…

  • Challenge,  On Writing

    Step Three… Clean Up and Plan…

    Two Things to Get Ready to Go… Cleaning Up… Stunning how much just basic stuff gets forgotten or left behind as a year goes on. Some of my most brilliant organization plans at the start of any year are often in tatters by the end. For me, this year was no exception. For some reason, while I was in a sling, my writing computer just decided to alphabetize all my files. Yeah, that was a shock. So the last two nights I have been cleaning up my writing space, putting notes in order, and getting files back with their series. Oh, joy, but by the 1st I will be rolling…