• Challenge,  workshops

    Four More Pop-Ups Now Up!

    Four of the Eight Fantasy Series Now Out!!! Those of you got these for stretch rewards in the Fantasy Collides Kickstarter, you should have gotten an update for backers with the codes to the four classes to get into them. I will post the next four later in the week. Better to do four at a time. There were eight total Pop-Ups in this writing fantasy series. They will all be on on Teachable. First four are there now. Also, for those of you with a lifetime subscription to the Pop-Ups, they are posted in there as well. The four new Pop-Ups are: Pop-Up #84… Writing Weird Fantasy Pop-Up #85……

  • Challenge,  workshops

    Half Way…

    The Year Will Be Half Over on Saturday… Seems impossible, but yet it is. I got back to writing completely on April 1st after vision issues had stopped me and I learned this month that my vision now is what it will be going forward. As the doc said, “Your eyes look like a war zone.” So now, after three months of ramping up, learning how to write with the new vision, I feel like I am back to full writing speed again this week for the first time since last November. That bodes well for the second half of the year. I will be posting the July workshops tomorrow.…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Keith Urban

    Amazing Show! Kris and I fought our way down to the Planet Hollywood Casino tonight through all the construction around the Formula One site. Luckily we gave ourselves plenty of time. Yikes. Friday night in Vegas and construction do not mix. We had tried to see Keith Urban for three years. First cancelled by the pandemic. Rescheduled during Cowboy Christmas when most attending would be without shots, so we cancelled on that. This was our third attempt. Neither of us had ever been in Planet Hollywood or the Miracle Mile Shops, let alone a very strange parking garage not built for far too many large pick-up trucks with big wheels.…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  Smiths Monthly

    Smith’s Monthly

    Ten Years Ago… Yes, one fine day in 2013 right about this time of the year, Kris and I were headed into Salem, OR from the coast to have dinner and see a movie. I had been noodling on ideas to get myself back really writing after spending most of the year before dealing with my friend’s estate, and then not really writing that much in the last half of 2012 and the early part of 2013. I needed something to get me focused. Earlier that day, while in my office, I had been sorting out my digest fiction magazine collection and came across some Mike Shayne issues. It was…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    In The News…

    Las Vegas News Is Like No Other… Sure, we get all the political stuff, and last week almost every page of the paper and news channels were covered by pictures and articles about the Golden Nights. Of course. But the CBS station has an investigative news unit working all the time on Area 51 stories and alien stories, among other strange things like bodies being found in Lake Mead as the water went down. We watch the news of that channel every night for not only the weather, but head-shaking stories like aliens spotted in a backyard. Not kidding. And now tonight, the NBC major channel ran a wild story.…

  • Challenge,  workshops

    Four New Pop-Up Classes Available

    Pop-Ups #80, 81, 82,& 83 All Live! And yes, they have been added to the Lifetime Pop-Up Subscription which is also in the Everything Subscription. These were the four stretch goal workshops for the Pulphouse Fiction Magazine Kickstarter. I hoped to have them out in April as we promised, but got behind because of my eye. So they went out to all the supporters tonight. If you did not get the update in the mail, check the Update #13 in the campaign. The Pop-Ups that were stretch goals for the Fantasy Collides Kickstarter will be following in a number of days. I will announce those here as well. Here are…

  • Challenge,  Recommended Reading

    We Have a Ghost.. Movie

    On Netflix… Kris and I watched it and not only is it funny as hell, but actually has good family stuff and emotion and a great ending. The movie is based on a short story called “Ernest” by Geoff Manaugh who is a well-known writer of architecture articles and articles on cities and such, mostly for the New York Times Magazine, among other places. He is also a. major blogger in that field. The story was first published in Vice in 2017 and optioned almost at once for a movie, but not by Netflix. I have no idea how it ended up in Netflix. And the story is not at…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    New Business Computer…

    Oh, Joy… This computer was giving me signs it was on its last legs. So I got a brand new iMac and a brand new second screen. Both still in their boxes. Wow are they cheaper than MacPlus laptops. Wow! Now comes that hard part… cleaning up my office. One old computer that I actually have not turned on in a year is already out of the office and staged to go to storage along with an empty file cabinet I just don’t see myself using. I am finding sticky notes that I am sure I wrote in the last century, but that is not possible since I have only…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    I Was Bad…

    Went Out for a Long Walk… To get my exercise, my five miles per day (which I did thank you very much). Very busy Saturday night with a big parade on the Strip for the Golden Knights. What a party. But downtown was pumping as well and as I was trying to go around the Fremont Street Experience, what did I happen across but an evil place with a large round door. The brand new PinkBox Doughnut Shop on Main Street, right where the Fremont Experience ends. Oh, oh… Now this chain has five or six stores here in Las Vegas and plans for others in towns in the West.…

  • Challenge,  Licensing

    Comments and Questions Here…

    Using This Blog For Comments and Questions… On the class called Attend the 2023 Licensing Expo with Dean. I will try to answer any question here so that those who didn’t take the class (but still have interest in licensing) can understand. It is still possible to sign up for the class. And in a couple of weeks I will add this class into the Licensing Transition class from a few years back as the last thing to be added in there. But not for two or three weeks. So did I learn anything this year? Yes, a ton. Am I going to make changes because of what I learned…