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Reading and Going to Get Some Sleep
Running Tomorrow Morning… We will be up and out very early tomorrow morning so Kris can run a 5k and I can run some and walk some the same distance. Still not down enough pounds to run the entire way. Too afraid of hurting my knees, to be honest. But the pounds are dropping, so maybe soon. Otherwise I am reading challenge stories. Not going to finish them all tonight, so don’t panic if I haven’t gotten back to you on week #3 just yet. You folks are making me read all the way through and my one eye only has so much computer time. Besides, it’s Friday night. Pictures…
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Week Three Great Challenge
Happy To Say Everyone Hit It… Everyone who is writing a weekly short story got a story in. And a new person started and a couple others have not yet started, which is fine. In fact, perfectly fine to sign up at any point still. The Great Challenge is not filled and I am enjoying reading the stories. (Remember, you get workshop credit when you miss.) I won’t talk much about this challenge going forward, since life will cause writers to miss from this point onward. That will just happen. My hope is that a number of them make it all the way. That would be so cool! But that…
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Saturday Night Post
Fun Day Today… I worked on my website stuff and some workshop recording while Kris worked this morning on writing and a video, then we headed out for a great lunch at a brand new place. Then I shopped while Kris did some running, then deserts and home to watch a fun movie, have pizza for dinner, and I did a bunch of walking to get my steps while Kris read. In other words, a pretty normal day for most people, totally relaxing anniversary for us. Felt weird to just relax and go slow for a day. Just not used to that. (grin) And this blog keeps the blogging streak…
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Week Two Great Challenge Update
Sometimes I Will Give Updates… Mostly I will give these updates because I think it’s fun and good information and I will never, ever use any names in these updates. Just general stuff. I am impressed that every person who started on the first week got in a second story. And a couple people started on Week #2 and there is still a couple people who haven’t started yet. But no misses so far. Better than I had expected since I know how hard challenges are. Some people sign up for a challenge like this only to discover that challenges are just not their thing. That’s why even if you…
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Great Challenge Revisited
Reposting This… Because there are still spots open in both this short story challenge and the novel challenge. You can sign up for either on Teachable. —— For the last few years I have done quarterly challenges that many people have enjoyed. And a lot of novels or stories have come out of those challenges that I enjoyed reading. So a new challenge, with a brand new form. One a little saner and a little crazier in the same breath. And again, the fee goes toward two workshop fees. Kris and I have been talking about this one for a while. Here are the basics… Every week, on Teachable, a…
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Challenges Both Started
And Both Still Have Some Room… You can start any time with either the novel challenge or the short story challenge. On the novel challenge, you have to tell me when to start the clock ticking for the two months. (No writing ahead, finish your current project and when you are ready to start the next book, let me know if you are in the novel challenge.) For the short story challenge, the streak starts when you turn in the first story. There are prompts on the short story challenge each week and some stuff about novel writing on the novel challenge each week. And yes, you can move from…
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Early Night
A Good Reason… Tomorrow morning, or actually in just over 7 hours, I will be crossing the starting line of a half marathon. Kris is teaching the mystery workshop, so I am going it alone. (She wouldn’t go that far anyway, even though she easily could if she wanted.) I will be run/walking. Last half marathon I did was in November the day after a nasty fall. I hope to improve my time on this one by at least thirty minutes from that one, even though I am still too heavy for real running. But got to start somewhere. Might as well start with 13 miles. (grin) See why Kris…
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Challenge Questions
As I Normally Do… I am getting questions on these new challenges. So here are some answers. — When can I start? With the short story challenge, you start when you turn in a story to me. That starts the clock ticking and each week you need to turn in a story following the instructions. Any time in the next month or so. With the novel challenge, you write me and tell me you are starting. Two months later from that date is the deadline, so you can make sure you are ready to start before you tell me, just don’t have any words written. This can be any time…
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The Great Novel Challenge
Because I Got So Many Questions… The Great Novel Challenge Starting Up For the last few years I have done quarterly challenges that many people have enjoyed. And a lot of novels or short stories have come out of those challenges that I enjoyed reading. So when we started The Great Challenge for short stories, I got a ton of questions about why not do a novel challenge as well for the novel writers. Kris and I have been talking about this one for a while. So we decided to just move it up and start it at the same point. — And yes, if you are signed up and paid…
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Old Dog New Tricks
That Is What I Called This… I’m the “old dog.” I am moving from writing late at night for the first 40 years of my fiction writing career to now writing in the morning (with some sessions later in the day or evening) for the next forty years. My goal now is to walk out of the condo every morning, go to a buffet about a mile away (to get steps), and write at least a thousand words before leaving. I started a Cold Poker Gang novel with new characters and I have been managing (except for one morning) to get out and set the routine. Yesterday I got out,…