• Challenge,  On Writing

    Reaction to Failure

    Maybe One of the Best Quotes from The Voice Ever… On Tuesday, while talking to and encouraging a young woman who didn’t get a chair to turn, Adam Levine said to her out of nowhere, and I quote, “It’s your reaction to your failures that make your success.” As many things on The Voice, this applies directly to writing as well. Directly. Now this young girl just failed in front of millions of people, but she had the courage to try out and to walk up there on that stage and give it a shot. Total success. She got to sing in front of millions and that is a bunch…

  • Challenge

    Home Again

    This was a Very Quick Trip… And a very busy one. And fun. I will know in the morning how well my holding my eating and weight under control worked. Tonight, Kris and I walked around the block a few times right after I got in around 11:30 so I could keep my 10,000 step streak going. Did a bunch of writing in the Alaska Airline lounge at the Portland airport, but only a little on the plane because I got into a conversation with a very nice man who ran a major solar power plant outside of Vegas. Science fiction stuff in reality. My first novel on my challenge…

  • Challenge

    The Problem With a Streak…

    …Especially a blog streak… …that has now lasted years, is that some nights, like tonight, the brain is so tired, it just doesn’t care and I have nothing at all to say. Yet the power of the streak requires me to type stuff. So take this post as a lesson in how powerful a streak on anything can be given enough time.

  • Challenge

    Short Post Tonight to Keep My Streak Alive

    Just got back to the room from the poker room…. I managed to get my 10,000 steps, do almost 3,000 words on the novel, and play a bunch of poker. I will detail it all out to those who are following the challenge after I get back how I managed to do that. I got knocked out of the tournament about four spots out of the money (big tournament) so since my friend I was with was still in the tournament, I moved over and sat down in a 4/8 limit game. (I haven’t played limit poker on a live table in a decade or more, but it was the…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Just Words… I Can Write More

    Not a Clue Who Originally Said That… I am sure it was some professional writer somewhere. Or maybe I just said it. I don’t know and Google is of no help. But that saying was how I answered a couple questions today about how this novel got started. When I said the 1,900 word short story “Hot Springs Meadow” failed, I didn’t mean it failed because of some critical voice garbage I had going on. No, it failed because I had set up an alternate timeline problem and a time travel problem and had not solved the problem. I think I just didn’t want to write the novel back when…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Day One of the Pulp Speed Challenge

    This Is Not The First Chapter of the Book… Just wanted to do a quick update here on the first day. Well, I got started. I will do a more complete one when I write the first chapter of the book here. I also walked 11,000 steps, one mile of which was running. I recorded some workshop stuff and did other stuff as well. And got my writing computer set up. That took longer than expected. I decided to write a book called Hot Springs Meadow: A Thunder Mountain Novel. I had, up until I pulled my chair in front of my writing computer, thought I would logically start with…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Only One Day Until The Challenge Starts

    Follow Along Living at Pulp Speed Five. Still two spots left. This is limited to ten. Follow along with a letter from me every night for 100 days on my crazy challenge of writing ten novels in 100 days, plus I will write a book about it at the same time here on the blog. The basic details… — Cost $500. — Limited to first 10 paid. — A letter every day from me for 100 days about the process of writing novels starting September 9th. (even on my bad days.) — Questions about the process when you want. — Early read on every book I write. — Anything you…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Changing My New Office for the Challenge

    Part of Getting Ready… This living at Pulp Speed Five 10-novel challenge has me really thinking about my new office. I really, really love it, but it dawned on me a couple days ago it is not well-arranged for writing long projects. Oh, oh, I think 10 novels in 100 days is a long writing project. (grin) I am in a fairly small space, which I love. My past offices were way too big. And here I am surrounded by three large iMac computers with extra screens. Six screens in total. I flat love that. But my writing computer is not in the right spot for comfort for long hours…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Summary Of Everything Going On

    Four Major Things… So I thought I would try to sort them out and be clear on them, especially since a couple of these are ending soon or have limited space. 1… Novel and Short Story Challenge… Both the Novel Challenge and the Short Story Challenge have started. I have one spot open in both challenges still, so you can jump in any time between now and Tuesday, September 4th. Then it closes off. Costs $600 but you get two workshop credits for just giving either challenge a try. More information at Novel And Short Story Challenge. 2… Follow Along Living at Pulp Speed Five. I announced this last night…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  running

    Challenges Update… Novel, Short, and Exercise

    Novel And Short Story Challenge There are two challenges starting September 1st. A short story challenge and a novel challenge. I sent letters to those signed up in the challenges tonight since they start in a week. (Room open in both challenge if interested.) What I got as responses from three people so far were that they were surprised that I wanted them to check in every Sunday during the challenges. Of course I do. Over the space of two or three months, all of us have down times and get stuck or have something going slower than desired. I will be there for everyone in the challenges to report…