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

    Seven Day Novel Challenge Started

    SEVEN DAY NOVEL CHALLENGE HAS STARTED Novel challenge has started. See details of the day in the post above. And I also have managed to put up the reading order of all 36 Poker Boy stories. And where they can be found besides stand-alone. The full list is under the reading order tab above.  ———– Note Since I am writing a Thunder Mountain novel, I am putting up the books from the series as featured books of the day. They all stand alone, but there is a reading order above if interested in starting from the beginning. Tonight is book four in the reading order. ———– FEATURED BOOK OF THE DAY…

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

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

    WRITING A NOVEL IN SEVEN DAYS Chapter Three This is going to be fun. I want to repeat that often.  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. Ready to Go I’m going to start writing tomorrow. Honestly, I could have started today without much problem. But I scheduled starting tomorrow because of the work day outside of writing that I have on day three, where I will need to do 5,000 words. Day three…

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

    Day Before The Start

    DAY BEFORE THE START All work on Smith’s Monthly formatting. And went through Kris’s comments on my last finished novel and got all that in. Just need to write an introduction to get that issue of the magazine turned in.  ———– THE DAY Did errands and worked on formatting Smith’s Monthly, the issue that has a Thunder Mountain novel in it called Grapevine Springs. So got to go through a Thunder Mountain novel before the writing challenge starts tomorrow. That was lucky. Sort of put the series back solidly in my head. Once again I want to put here the nifty cover for the book I am going to do in…

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

    Frank Zappa Topic

    FRANK ZAPPA TOPIC All work on workshop stuff to help clear decks for the coming writing challenge. Patreon supporters, you should have gotten Heinlein’s Rules two days ago. If any problems, let me know. And THANK YOU! New issue of Smith’s Monthly coming to the Patreon supporters shortly as well.  ———– THE DAY Did errands, worked with Josh for two hours on the new store, getting the last of the cases and fixtures in place. We should be ready to start filling the fixtures with inventory in a week or so. Then worked on formatting Smith’s Monthly. Gaining on that. And Allyson did a nifty cover for the book I am going to…

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

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

    WRITING A NOVEL IN SEVEN DAYS Chapter One This is going to be fun. I want to repeat that often.  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. Why Does This Structure Work? Going to see if it will work, but pretty confident it will if life events leave me alone. And if you are reading this in a paper or electronic book instead of on my blog, you will know it did work.…

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

    Topic of the Night: Writing a Novel in Seven Days… Prologue

    WRITING A NOVEL IN SEVEN DAYS Prologue This is going to be fun. That’s how I am going at this new project and these chapters leading up to the challenge and the challenge itself. I will be doing a chapter a day here on my blog through the writing of the entire novel, so you can follow along with the time involved, the thinking behind the idea to do a novel in seven days, the preparation, and everything else. And I will detail out the writing sessions as well as I start up. Today is Tuesday night, and I plan on starting writing on Saturday night. So a decent amount…

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

    Business Shift In Thinking

      BUSINESS SHIFT IN THINKING Well, Kris did a great article about some of the issues facing long-term professional writers like her in this new world of publishing. The shift from old publishing thinking to new publishing is hard for everyone. Information below.  —— THE DAY Meetings from 2 p.m. until after 5 p.m. In three different locations. Then worked for an hour or so at WMG after taking a walk with Kris, then home to cook dinner, then in here to do e-mail before taking a long nap. Then downstairs to watch television, back in here to work on things on this site and do one session on the book of…

  • Challenge,  Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing,  On Writing,  publishing,  Topic of the Night,  Writing in Public

    Another Sacred Cow Treatment

      ANOTHER SACRED COW TREATMENT Well, read one too many articles about the stupidity of giving a traditional author an advance so they could be free to write their book. That myth had to be stabbed at with my little sword. Oh, and I got back to work on the novel.  —— THE DAY Did an interview for a podcast this afternoon. Great fun and I’ll link to it when it comes out. Then off to walk, then to the mail, the store, and back to WMG offices where I worked on different stuff until 7 p.m. including starting on the Sacred Cow chapter. Home to cook dinner, watch some television,…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Writing in Public

    Where Did the Day Go?

      WHERE DID THE DAY GO? Blink and the day is over and I have no idea what happened. Hate that.  —— THE DAY Let me see if I can make some sort of sense of the day. Made it to the WMG store by 2 p.m. to meet a nice guy with some marbles, then for an interview with a possible future employee. Got out of there by 3:30 p.m. Post office next, bank, grocery store for some lunch, but no time to eat it. Got back to WMG Publishing around 4:30, did some deposits and headed for another bank. Finally got back to my lunch around 5:15 p.m.…

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

    New Sacred Cow Reason

      NEW SACRED COW REASON I’ll talk about the reason below. But it has been a while since I wrote one. I have a few more waiting in the wings. (grin) But wanted to do this one before starting in on some posts about the no-time aspects of publishing these days.  —— LAST DAY!!! MARCH ONLINE WORKSHOPS All of the March online workshops below have openings. Last Day to sign up!!! Remember, each regular online workshop is six weeks long and takes about 3-4 hours per week to do at your own pace and your own time during the week. All workshops have openings. Class #21… Mar 7th … Pitches and Blurbs Class #22……