• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Writing in Public

    Some of My History

    Some of My History Today, while working on a new project for this web site (see the topic of the night below), I came across a video of what it was like when I was skiing. Now, I was never as good as the guys they are showing here, but I skied with some of them regularly. And a number of others who were in the early days of the hotdogging, as we called it. I was into snow skiing and the fun of the early days of hotdogging from 1969 to the spring of 1972. Crazy fun. In person, I can tell you some wild stories. But watching this…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Had Fun Working in Our New Bookstore

    Fun Working in Our New Bookstore Yeah, that’s right, WMG Publishing will, in short order, be the owner of a brick and mortar bookstore. It’s a large area inside of the new Pop Culture Collectables store. Actually one third of the entire store is paperbacks, hardbacks, sf and mystery digests, and magazines. Another third of the store is a comic book store. Wait until you see the wall of comics. I’ll do pictures. And in the comic book room will be die cast cars as well. And larger cars. And the main room is toys, non-sports cards, cookie jars, sports collectables, jewelry, and collectable boxes and clocks. We also have in…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Writing in Public

    Workshops and Store

    Workshops and Store A focused day, since this is the end of the month and the May workshops are starting up on Monday, so lots of things to do. Also, we are aiming at having the new store open by the 25th, so I’m going to be spending some time there. ATTENTION! Anyone who is signed for a May online workshop should have gotten a letter from me. If you did not, write me. And there is still room in all the workshops. Remember they are limited to no more than five (except the two new ones), so these workshops now have become more focused on me trying to help each…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Writing in Public

    Setting Up New Writing Schedule

    Setting Up New Writing Schedule Still pretty tired from the sleep schedule getting screwed up, so spent the day doing workshop stuff and getting ready to really fire back up the writing. See Topic of the Night below. ——— The Day Once again nothing really much to talk about. Made it through some errands and then went for a walk with another professional writer to get some steps in. Then back to WMG offices to work on workshop stuff. Then I headed home around 8 p.m. to cook dinner, then back working on workshop stuff and my writing stuff for the rest of the night. ———- Workshops May Online workshops…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Clean Copy

    Clean Copy Tonight I was running through The Idanha Hotel to put in the corrections Kris had found on her read, at least the ones I agreed with. That was the book I wrote in seven days last week, remember? Well, this time through I agreed with all of her corrections, mostly just typos, and what was even more interesting, this was the cleanest manuscript I have had in a very long time. I normally do clean copy in my one draft, but this was noticeably cleaner. Kris only found about one typo every six or seven manuscript pages, and sometimes there would be no typos in numbers of chapters.…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Topic of the Night: Writing a Novel in Seven Days: Epilogue

    WRITING A NOVEL IN SEVEN DAYS Epilogue The Challenge Was Simple. Day One: 3,000 words. And then each day after that add 1,000 words to the amount needed. Seven days, if my math is right, I will have a 42,000 word novel. 3,000… 4,000… 5,000… 6,000… 7,000… 8,000… 9,000 words. 7 Days. Looking Back The Writing of The Idanha Hotel: A Thunder Mountain Novel Day 1… 3,700 words.   Total words so far… 3,700 words. Day 2… 5,100 words.  Total words so far… 8,800 words. Day 3… 5,600 words.   Total words so far… 14,400 words. Day 4… 6,050 words.  Total words so far… 20,450 words. Day 5… 7,500 words.  Total words so far……

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Topic of the Night: Writing a Novel in Seven Days: Chapter Ten

    WRITING A NOVEL IN SEVEN DAYS Chapter Ten: Day Seven The Challenge is Simple. Day One: 3,000 words. And then each day after that add 1,000 words to the amount needed. Seven days, if my math is right, I will have a 42,000 word novel. 3,000… 4,000… 5,000… 6,000… 7,000… 8,000… 9,000 words. 7 Days. Day Seven (9,000 word day) Got the book done!!!! The goal today was at 9,000 words and needed to be the focus of my day because I had no idea how many words I would actually need to end this book. I had 3,000 words in the bank, so that helped the worry some. Counting 3,000 words for…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Topic of the Night: Writing a Novel in Seven Days: Chapter Nine

    WRITING A NOVEL IN SEVEN DAYS Chapter Nine: Day Six The Challenge is Simple. Day One: 3,000 words. And then each day after that add 1,000 words to the amount needed. Seven days, if my math is right, I will have a 42,000 word novel. 3,000… 4,000… 5,000… 6,000… 7,000… 8,000… 9,000 words. 7 Days. Day Six (8,000 word day) Once again made my goal for the day. This goal today at 8,000 words was pretty much my focus for the day. I still worked up at WMG Publishing, but for not as long. (Yes, I still worked my day job, got my e-mail, and did these blogs while writing 8,000 words.) Counting…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Topic of the Night: Writing a Novel in Seven Days: Chapter Eight

    WRITING A NOVEL IN SEVEN DAYS Chapter Eight: Day Five The Challenge is Simple. Day One: 3,000 words. And then each day after that add 1,000 words to the amount needed. Seven days, if my math is right, I will have a 42,000 word novel. 3,000… 4,000… 5,000… 6,000… 7,000… 8,000… 9,000 words. 7 Days. Day Five (7,000 word day) Once again made my goal for the night. I paid a ton more attention to the challenge today than I did yesterday. Seven thousand words is a serious number of words in one day and I gave the writing of that much the respect it needed to make it happen. Counting 3,000 words for Day…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    More on the Time of Great Forgetting

    More on the Time of Great Forgetting Last night I mentioned the Time of Great Forgetting for writers and a number of writers wrote me privately wanting to know more about what I meant. Well, basically, the Time of Great Forgetting is when a part-time writer’s attention is taken by life in general and all New Year’s Resolutions and streaks and challenges are forgotten. This normally each year starts around the first to middle of May and runs until the last of July when writers suddenly remember their writing and then fight to restart. Why May? Sunshine, gardens, kids graduations, golf, spring sports, and on and on and on. For some…