• Challenge,  workshops

    Special Workshop Links All Sent Out

    Holiday Spectacular Also Starts This Week!! I have been sending out codes to everyone signed up on the special workshops from the Holiday Spectacular Kickstarter. (The Stretch Goal workshops will go out shortly,) So if you did not get a letter from me and you think you are signed up, please first check your spam filters. There are links in the letters. If not there, email me. My reading of stories is picking back up speed as I am getting through some eye issues. I should be caught up with all the stories I have been holding by the holiday. Sorry for the delay on all that. And on Thursday…

  • Challenge,  workshops

    Flash Sale On December Regular Workshops

    FOR ONE DAY ONLY!!!! I have all six of the December Regular workshops up, so for all of Sunday (until I get up and turn off the codes on Monday morning), the December Regular Workshops only are 30% off. Nothing else, so please don’t ask. I will just ignore your letter and attempt to forget you asked. Here are the six December regular workshops. Class #54… Dec 6th … Writing into the Dark Class #55… Dec 6th … Teams in Fiction Class #56… Dec 7th … Depth in Writing Class #58…Dec 7th … Applied Depth Class #59… Dec 7th … Advanced Depth Class #60… Dec 7th … Killing Critical Voice…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Rebecca Moesta’s Birthday Dinner

    GREAT DINNERS ALL FIVE NIGHTS THIS WEEK! As Kevin said in his Facebook post with this picture: “Rebecca’s birthday dinner with Kris Rusch, Dean Wesley Smith, Todd McCaffrey, Mark Leslie Lefebvre, and the Winner Twins. Much fun (and sushi) was had by all.” I agree completely. Here is the picture so I can get away from this computer for the night and actually get some sleep.

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  Licensing,  publishing

    Lots of Learning

    Amazing Week of Conversations and Learning.. Pretty exhausted after four days of getting up very early. But wow was it worth it. Major areas I have learned stuff about… Kickstarter… I will be sharing a bunch of this over time as we test some of it out, and also sometime this winter I will be updating the free Kickstarter class with a bunch of new suggestions. I will alert you here and over that class when we get it done. AI in Publishing. So, so many ways AI change indie publishing and our lives over the next five years. Art, audio, and text. Just amazing. I will do updates regularly…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Another Fun Day

    I Hope My Two Lectures and One Panel Went Well… I just got going and was my normal blunt self. Huge numbers of people in the two lectures, which was surprising to me, but they must have known that would happen since they put me in that big room. And fun being on the Kickstarter panel. Then I headed home in the late afternoon and an hour later walked down to the Arts District and met Kevin Anderson and the entire crew from D2D for pizza and a pub crawl. Fantastic fun, and Kevin and I got telling stories over beers about some of the old-timers in the field of…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Lectures and A Panel Today

    AT 20BOOKS CONFERENCE… At 10 am I do a talk about Writing into the Dark. That should be fun and will leave time for questions since the topic sort of begs to allow them. Then after lunch I am doing a talk about how to stay productive over a long period of time. So, so, so many writers burn out in a couple years or five years, or more likely they are gone in ten. How am I still here after selling my first short story in 1974? Yeah, that’s going to fit in 40 minutes. (grin) Sadly, most writers are so short-sighted, I will be stunned that anyone attends…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    20 Books Convention Starting

    Yes, I Am Presenting… Two different talks on Wednesday and then a panel in the afternoon with the director of publishing of Kickstarter. Going to be fun. Looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends the next few days. Had a wonderful pizza dinner with Kevin Anderson and Rebecca Moesta this evening to start it all off. So Kris is giving a presentation tomorrow morning, then I have the three things on Wednesday, then Kris has another on Thursday. So I you will see us around the convention. And speaking of in-person conferences, there is now three openings in the January craft workshop Kris is teaching on Fantasy Caper.…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    A Magical Evening

    GLITTERING LIGHTS AT THE SPEEDWAY… Every year since we moved to Vegas, Kris and I go out and do a 5K (run… mostly walk) for charity. They want everyone dressed in their PJs, and kids and dogs are welcome. Seeing entire families dressed in matching pajamas and having fun is wonderful to watch. This year I am guessing over three thousand people showed up. What makes this so special is that sponsors from all over the city decorate under the grandstands, around the back of the track and back up, about 2 miles of nothing but Christmas lights. And the normal way to see the lights is by car, but…

  • Challenge,  workshops

    In-Person Workshops

    Firing Up!!! Sent out all the reading list and hotel information for the Fantasy Caper In-Person Workshop starting on January 9th and ending on January 12th. Everything is on the Study Along class on Teachable. So if you are thinking of doing the Study Along, the reading list is there. If you are attending in person, the hotel information is there as well. First assignment will be sent out two weeks ahead of the start date of the workshop. And there are two spots open in the Fantasy Caper In-Person class. Write me directly if interested or have questions. If you are attending and did not get my letter today,…

  • Challenge,  workshops

    Another Fun Day

    Saw Alan Cumming’s Show Tonight… Amazingly fun. Do not take children to it. He talked about aging, death, body parts, sex, and love, among other things. Great stories and funny as all get out. Plus the music and songs were stunning. Really tough life living here in Vegas. Plus today I got six miles of exercise, kept my calories to 1,100 calories so far. And burned 2,800 calories of energy. Tomorrow my goal is to empty a storage unit of about 40 boxes of books and move them into a different storage unit. Plus five miles exercise and low calories intake. A bit of business… Those in the January in-person…