-
1st Post… 9th Year
Going to Keep Going… Daily… See no reason to stop the blog streak now. But since my focus is changing some this year because of my upcoming 70th birthday this fall, I think I will add in the exercise part of things here at times. And maybe a little more on the writing updates. For example, I have a story to do tomorrow, two introductions to different book projects, and then two more stories to write. Then I will fire back on the Cave Creek novel and finish it. So writing is fun and jammed at the moment. The exercise, on my schedule, was to really ramp up today, August…
-
Got to Have Help
Especially with Streaks… It is flat impossible to not have help with long streaks, either writing, exercising, or blogging as I talked about last night. For example, I help Kris with her streak of steps by asking at times, especially on days when she is tired or distracted, if she has her steps. Not nagging, just being a support. Tonight, because she knows I am still off-the-charts exhausted, she reminded me three different times about doing this blog. Not nagging, just helping out. And it means a great deal to me. I know a couple writers who had weekly story streaks going that had family asking if the story was…
-
Rejections From The Past
Makes Me Realize Why I Am Here… Today, towards the end of the 16 hour day of packing and moving, I was sorting through boxes of old filing and stuff that needs to come to Vegas and I came across a banker’s box completely full. It had five of those massive photo albums in it, all bursting with too much stuff. Each album contained an entire year of rejection slips. I used to put all my rejections in these big photo albums before I learned that the rejection slips need to be filed with a copy of the story and so on. So I opened up one of the big…
-
Decade Ahead
A Crazy Thing… Right now, one of the main conversations I am having with writers is how is this year going to turn out? No one has a clue. And we are all afraid to try to forecast anything in 2020, since this year started here in the States with an impeachment that didn’t hold and then gave free run for the same president to really screw us with this pandemic. So at the moment the States are a dangerous place to be as almost a thousand people a day are dying from this virus. That’s right… Every day. So it was a great, great idea in January of 2020…
-
Kickstarter Full Workshop
Finally Going to Do It! Kris and I have been talking about this for some time, but it just never seemed like a right time to launch it. And we have the Best Practices on Teachable already that is free, but without a workshop structure, that can only cover so many details. But today, as we were talking about different aspects of what Brandon is doing and why over the years more writers don’t use Kickstarter and other sites like it, the reason became clear. The details. Writers are overwhelmed by the details. What do you do first, what do you do next, how do you set stuff up, how…
-
Changes In Publishing
A Glimpse of a Future As many of you know, I have been around and working in publishing and fiction writing professionally since 1987. Sold my first two short stories in 1974. Over the years, I have watched publishing change numbers of times. I knew the distribution collapse of the 1990s, caused by Safeway and invoicing, would alter publishing forever. And it did. And I watched as the Kindle changed everything in publishing and created the indie movement which is now the major part of publishing (even though traditional writers and publishers don’t want to think so.) And I have watched and wondered how this pandemic was going to change…
-
Author’s Copies
They Become a Necessary Problem… After collecting author’s copies for 35 or more years now, they tend to build up in volume. And when you have two prolific authors, they really can build up in numbers. So one of the large collections I will be bringing to Vegas is all of Kris and my author’s copies. (Our brag shelves are already here. I am talking about extra copies.) The reason is that the new offices in Lincoln City just doesn’t have the room for all the back stock of WMG books and all of Kris and my author’s copies. So one collection is moving to the new Vegas office and…
-
Just Eight Hours Left!!
Cold Poker Gang Kickstarter Campaign… Almost to the fourth stretch goal. If we manage to hit that, everyone will get 5 extra books, plus $35o in lectures, Pop-Ups, and Classic Workshops. Plus, remember that the only place to get into the special Writing Mystery Series workshop is in this campaign. It is a three week workshop and the reward level is $150. You have your choice of taking it in July or August. And there are discounts on lectures and regular workshops as well. Ends at 6 PM tonight, West Coast Time, so not much time left. Here is the link to the campaign… Cold Poker Gang Kickstarter
-
Losing An Art Form In Book Sales
Just Was Brought to My Attention… That publishing is losing an art form. Television still has it, so do movies, so do gaming and other licensing areas. But books are losing this art form completely. Tag Lines. That’s right, writing a tag line to catch a reader’s attention used to be an art form on book covers and helped sell millions of copies of books. But now, due to simple lack of knowledge, the art form is vanishing. So what is happening? Well, in traditional publishing, massive budget cuts have taken out most of the sales force, leaving a few for only the bestsellers. Where the sales force used to…
-
Why Am I So Against Traditional Publishing?
I Published 106 Novels Traditionally. But that was a different time, different companies, different contracts, different level of respect for authors. I would be a distant and faint memory in writing now if not for indie publishing. Never would have continued to work in the current traditional publishing environment. Never. So let me list a few reasons why I try to keep writers with dreams away from traditional publishers. THE SHORT VIEW… TRADITIONAL Most early-stage writers have a very, very short view of being a writer. They think that just selling a few short stories and then getting a novel sold to a major publisher will make their career. Nope.…