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Been Reading and Watching Movies
We Writers Consume Story Everywhere… I’ve been doing that over the last few weeks in a number of places. First off, I have been reading challenge short stories and novels. Almost all done and will be sending out comments soon. Some really wonderful novels and stories, I must admit, from those who took the challenge starting in September. I am enjoying the reading a great deal. (And I might do it again for January. Haven’t decided yet.) And I have, when time allows, been watching Hallmark Christmas movies. Not for the plots, of course, but for the structure and the characters and the relaxing aspect of them. In other words,…
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Another Fun Run
Last One Before the Big Weekend… Every week Kris and I have been going out and doing these early-morning fun-runs for different causes. This morning was something to do with the Marines. A platoon of clearly recruits (very young, meaning college age) or something were running at cadence and I fell in behind them and stayed with them for over a mile. Not bad for an 67-year-old guy. I ran the last part with a 71-year-old Navy guy who served on submarines during the Vietnam War. That was interesting and he left me in the dust near the finish. I have dropped about 22 pounds since the first one of…
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Poker Tournament Update
The Practice Went Well… A decent small tournament that started with four tables (about forty people). It took me a couple of rounds to get settled in and some routines back in place. Felt like I was learning how to walk again. Very weird feeling. But after about an hour, I had a lot of chips and was getting the routines back. And doing a few new ones that are better for the long run. Enough people had been knocked out that we broke to three tables after two hours and then two tables left after three hours. At that point it becomes the middle part of a tournament and…
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Another Quick Trip…
Headed for Vegas With My Computers… Where I will stay for a longer time this trip before having to head back to the coast in July to do a final clean-out of the big house. Right now I am sitting, after a long day of getting ready and packing and then driving, in a casino hotel in eastern Oregon. Going to play another practice poker tournament tomorrow evening here before moving on toward Las Vegas and home. I have gone through the first seven videos in the poker master class I am taking to refresh myself. Fun to have my focus there for a few short hours again. Learning, even…
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A Picture of Me Typing
On My Little iPad… Since my office in the condo in Las Vegas is not set up yet, I was sitting at the table in our condo dining room working on something when Kris got this picture as I was paying no attention. Since today I spent all day shuttling cars around here on the Oregon Coast (returning rental car, having our Cadillac tuned up), and in meetings at WMG and stores and cleaning up stuff, I figured I would just do something easy here tonight. So here comes the picture. You can see the mountains to the west of Vegas through the shades. And I had a fun dinner…
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A FUN CHRISTMAS PRESENT
A GUEST ESSAY…SOME FUN FOR EVERYONE… Those of you following this blog know I never do anything with guests and don’t ask me to because I will always say no. Always. But in this case, I read Judge Bubba’s most recent Christmastime Essay/Letter and got such a kick out of it, as I have with all his letters, that I asked Judge Bubba if I could do this and he graciously said, “Sure, why not?” Some background. When I am in Boise visiting friends, I tend to hang around with lawyers and judges. I am not sure why they let me tag along at times. I only have three years…
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Cat Picture That Has Nothing to Do With Anything
Two of our three cats sitting in windows enjoying the fresh coastal air. Galley is the old orange guy, Sir Duke is the new kitten. This is for you, Kris. (grin)
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Full Year of Smith’s Monthly
I thought this looked kind of cool. Who knew I could actually get all of the first year out and on time? (#12 shipping later this month.) And I’m still going strong. Fun! It’s in grayscale because it’s an ad in Smith’s Monthly interior.
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The New World of Publishing: Having Fun… Again
(Note: I wrote this in July 2013 and am posting it here again up front (without a word changed) because, to be honest, I’m getting a lot of certain types of questions from writers. This works as an answer to those questions. So here it is again. You might want to read it again, even if you remember it from July.) Having Fun Yeah, I know. A weird topic for a blog: Having Fun. Over the last week or so I had the fantastic pleasure of being in a large room for a week with thirty-five very-well-published professional writers, all excited about writing and publishing and having fun. That’s right. In…
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Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing: #9… Writing is Hard
Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing will be out later this winter with an introduction. And then it will be followed by a book called Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing. But first I wanted to put each myth or “Sacred Cow” up here again as I promised. The Myth: “To be Good, Writing Must Be Hard.” —- This myth comes in many forms and has many faces, but let me put it as plainly as I can to start. Myth: To be Good, Fiction Writing Must Be Hard. (And it can’t be fun.) Total hogwash, of course, yet it is stunning how many new…