• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Last Call for August Workshops

    They Will Vanish Monday Evening… September workshops will replace them. And yes, there is a new Pop-Up and the Pop-Up on Flash Fiction has one week left on the deadline to write a piece of flash fiction for Pulphouse Fiction Magazine. Best way to get those is in the bundles because we have a couple more really good ones planned over the next two weeks or so. But remember, to turn in a story, the deadlines come quickly. For #12 the story deadline is August 18 and for #13 (also a chance for Pulphouse) is August 25th. And now, for one more day only, the August Regular workshops… August Workshops…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Trademark for Fiction Writers… Chapter One

    CHAPTER ONE… (Please read the introduction to this book before reading this. You can find that at… Introduction.) The hardest part of writing a book on Trademark for Fiction Writers is where to start. I finally figured out that I do need to start with the fact that I am not an attorney, and nothing in this book is legal advice. I’m just trying to help other fiction writers understand this concept of Trademark in Intellectual Property. To do anything in this area, consult a real IP attorney. But my hope is after this book, the attorney won’t have to waste a lot of your money explaining basics to you.…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Myth Lectures

    The Sixth Lecture Is Up… It’s the first one in the Roadblocks bundle. The other four later this week in that bundle. So here, once again, is all the information about the myth lectures… Fiction Writing Myths Lecture Series… The first six lectures on the myths of fiction writing are now available on Teachable.com. There will be twenty lectures total, twenty different myths in four different lecture bundles. This first bundle of five lectures we are calling Creation. There will be three other bundles of five lectures each, totally twenty different lectures of nine or so videos each lecture. (They will appear as I get them recorded.) In other words,…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Writing Flash Fiction

    Pop-Up #12 Now Available… How to Write Successful Flash Fiction… We tried to come up with a way to make this into a full workshop, but just not enough. But it fit perfectly in a Pop-Up. And the fun story prompt on this one is to see if you can write a piece of flash fiction for Pulphouse Fiction Magazine. That’s right, I buy flash fiction at Pulphouse, but never much see it. So for this one Pop-Up, inside the deadline of the Pop-Up, if you write a piece of flash fiction that I think fits Pulphouse, I will make you an offer. Only one chance, one story per person,…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Flat Amazing Workshop

    Business Master Class in October 2019… I will talk more about it once everything is completely finalized, but wow I thought the last two years took indie business to a new level, this workshop in October will jump that up a long ways.  The more we finalize all the details, the more excited I get. If interested, still room to jump in. Just write me. And follow this space for details. Lifetime Subscription to Lectures… This subscription is now the second best thing we offer. Over forty-some lectures up there and now we are adding in another twenty lectures on myths of writing and publishing. Five new ones are up…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Before Something Fun Tomorrow

    I Wanted to Make Sure I Had Everything Announced… Not kidding, got a nifty new thing to announce tomorrow that I have mentioned a few times in passing. It is on myths. The lecture lifetime subscribers are going to be really happy. (grin) But first, I wanted to update a few other things. —– ASK KRIS ANYTHING still has spots open, but they will close off shortly. She was only going to do this for one year and she only has the six-month option left open on Teachable. So don’t miss getting a chance to sign up and ask Kris anything you like for a hour a month on a…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    New Pop-Up on Thinking Big

    Pop-Up #11 Available… This one is on how fiction writers need to learn how to think big, dream big, plan big. And how to do it. It’s a good one. And it has a really fun short story prompt with it. (Due date only just over a week or so off.) Get it on Teachable.com All the previous Pop-Ups, #1-10 are available still in the bundles of five or ten. (Normally each Pop-Up is $150 each, but in the bundles they are cheaper.) Each one is from 12-15 videos on the topic, plus a short story prompt. You can only turn in the #11 short story to me, since the…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Day Job Thinking

    DAY-JOB THINKING VS LONG-TERM THINKING (I first published this post back in 2015 or so. Had a couple of conversations that reminded me of it, so I went looking, updated it, and put it here on this fine Friday evening.) Day-Job Thinking goes like this: I need a certain amount of money to make my bills this month and a day job gives it to me in a “secure” fashion. Nothing at all wrong with that thinking. Nothing. We all have to live and make bills and eat and all those sorts of things. This is survival thinking, folks, plain and simple. So again, nothing wrong with that kind of…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Challenge Stories Headed Back to Writers

    Some of You Already Know This… Some of you will find out more in the next three or four days. But the reason I didn’t respond to stories in the challenge over the last three or four weeks was because I wanted to read three or four stories from the same author at the same time. I figured what that would do was give me a real sense of any strengths and weaknesses and I would be able to tell the writer if I saw anything. Plus there are few enough signed up and still going in the Great Challenge for me to be able to do this. (And yes,…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Bunch of Stuff

    But Nothing Finished… Worked on finding some art for a few projects, worked on some experiments on learning InDesign, worked on the next chapter of the Trademark For Fiction Writers book. (Have about three chapters done now, so will start posting soon.) Recorded another week of the Writing Westerns workshop. Will start recording the new Attitude Workshop soon. And I worked on this nifty thing on fiction writing myths that got triggered by a number of events. A couple of questions while in Colorado, a few letters the last few nights, and then me bringing back up Pulp Speed. All those and a few other things (I can’t remember right…