• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Business Master Class Is Over

    Or It Will Be by 11:30 am… Wow, great fun, great information, great discussions, and seven of us even went zip-line flying tonight. Four of the instructors and three of the writers attending. The move to Las Vegas really seemed to work. And the massive amounts of information for five days was amazing. Wow, just wow. It will take everyone some time to sort it all out and figure out what to do first. Including me and Kris. But right now, as this comes to an end, Kris and I would like to thank not only all the wonderful writers who showed up, but most importantly the instructors who gave…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Nifty Writing Bundle Once Again

    NanoWriMo Writing Bundle… Right now here at the Master Business Class five of these authors are here who have books in this fantastic bundle of writing books through Storybundle.com. Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, Andrea Pearson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and me. I have read or looked at most of the books in this group, and I know a lot of the authors, and folks, this bundle is a real deal. Craig Martelle from the 20to50 conferences has a book in this bundle. Joanna Pen, Kevin McLaughline, Blaze Ward, Jamie j. Ferguson, and Simon Haynes to name just a few. You folks like to keep learning, this is the bundle for…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    November Workshops Available

    All Twelve Are There… And if you have a credit from the recent Kickstarter, just write me to get into the November workshops. Or you can use the credits at any time into the future. Sign up at Teachable.com  And there are lifetime subscriptions available on Teachable as well if you decide to get serious and really try to take as many as possible. Class #49… Nov 6th … Depth #3: Research Class #50… Nov 6th … Author Voice Class #51… Nov 6th … Dialog Class #52… Nov 6th … Writing into the Dark Class #53… Nov 6th … Writing Fiction Sales Copy Class #54… Nov 6th … Writing and Selling Short Stories Class #55……

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Comments Have Been Interesting

    My Best Advice I Can Give?… The comments over the past few days have been fun. Thanks, everyone who left a comment. I help a lot of writers learn in a lot of detail about specific areas of writing through the workshops. But if I had to boil it all down in some general way, here are my suggestions… 1… Read for pleasure. 2… Enjoy writing and telling a story. 3… Write only stories that you feel passionate about and that will entertain you. 4… Be passionate about wanting to keep learning. All the rest is a shrug. If you want my advice on the business of professional writing, that…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Last Call On October Workshops

    I Will Be Switching Them Out… And if you have a credit from the recent Kickstarter, just write me and I’ll get you into an October workshop if you want. Or you can use the credits at any time into the future. This month might be one of the best months of workshop choices we have ever offered. Sign up at Teachable.com  And there are lifetime subscriptions available on Teachable as well if you decide to get serious and really try to take as many as possible. Class #37… Oct 2nd … How to Study Writing Class #38… Oct 2nd … Endings Class #39… Oct 2nd … Point of View Class #40……

  • Challenge,  publishing

    B&N In Trouble

    The Sky Is Falling… Finally…And Again… Ever since the beginning of the ebook revolution, and then the collapse of the poorly run Borders, Chicken Little has been running around saying the sky is falling when it comes to Barnes&Noble. It wasn’t. For years B&N was fine, but clearly having issues and going the wrong way and not responding well at all to disruptive forces in publishing. (Huge understatement there.) But it was a sound business until one day this last year, it wasn’t. The bad management, too many losses, no direction, and too many CEOs finally caught up with it. Now some reports have B&N living on a $750 million…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    New Writing Bundle

    NanoWriMo Writing Bundle… Every year Kevin J. Anderson puts together a fantastic bundle of writing books through Storybundle.com. And this year, in my opinion, he outdid any other year. I have read or looked at most of the books in this group, and I know a lot of the authors, and folks, this bundle is a real deal. Craig Martelle from the 20to50 conferences has a book in here. Joanna Pen, Kevin McLaughline, Blaze Ward, Jamie j. Ferguson, Simon Haynes, and Andrea Pearson to name just a few. Plus Kris has a great book and Kevin and Rebecca teamed up to write one as well. And, of course, I got…

  • Challenge,  publishing

    Sad News About David Willoughby

    We Lost Another Great One in the Book Field… David Willoughby lost his battle with cancer. Now I did not know David that well at all. But I loved to see him coming toward me at a convention or a signing table. He was always cheerful and sometimes knew more about my books than I did. Actually most of the time. And this went on for decades. When he kept digging those books out of one of his bags for me to sign, it was always a joy. And he always felt bad that he had so many. I laughed at that and usually said it was because I wrote…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Glitch in the Negotiations Lectures

    We Goofed on One Timing Issue. We wrote down that the first webinar for the first negotiations lecture would be this Sunday, but it isn’t. It is Sunday October 14th. Second one is the 28th. Third one is November 4th. Sorry about that. It has been corrected on the lecture page on Teachable. The webinars for the other two lectures are accurate as far as we can tell now. (grin) Sorry for the confusion. Just a mind-glitch on my part. Still Time To Get In… And if you have a credit from the recent Kickstarter, just write me and I’ll get you into an October workshop if you want. Or…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Switching the Schedule To Daytime

    Started Today… To get to writing and making things possible for me to write enough hours to do this ten novel challenge, Kris and I decided I needed to switch my schedule to writing during the day. It just fit everything about living here in Vegas. Just as writing late into the night fit everything about living on the coast. So today I got up a little before 7 a.m. and Kris and I were going across the starting line of a 5k race at 8 a.m.  Now some of you know I have been trying to lose weight and I want to run a marathon in the middle of…