• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Novel One: Day Six

    Almost Done… (As a reminder, the overall monthly challenge is to write four novels and gain distance every week on my step count, starting the first week at an average of 11,000 steps per day.) The Day Went Like This… Did about an hour of e-mail and then got out the door a little after 3 p.m. I did some business errands and then got to the WMG offices around 3:30. At a little after four, I headed out for a walk with Matt and didn’t end up getting back to the office until almost 5:30. And yes, I hit my 11,000 steps yet again today. I worked at the…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Novel One: Day Five

    A Fun Day… (As a reminder, the overall monthly challenge is to write four novels and gain distance every week on my step count, starting the first week at an average of 11,000 steps per day.) The Day Went Like This… Did about a half hour of e-mail and then Kris and I headed into the valley to just enjoy the day. (Yes, I am working to write four novels in a month and I will take time off as well. Shock, I know. (grin)) I ended up doing some picking and got some fun stuff. The best find of the day was an antique Athena Pitcher and Wash Basin.…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Novel One: Day Four

    A Solid Day… (As a reminder, the overall monthly challenge is to write four novels and gain distance every week on my step count, starting the first week at 11,000 steps per day.) The Day Went Like This… Just as yesterday, I got out the door around 3 p.m. today after a half hour of e-mail. I went down to the WMG offices and north store to cause chaos for a time as I have a want to do, then went out for a walk around 4 p.m. I had fun walking with my coat and stocking cap through all the freezing tourists in shorts and thin blouses and shirts…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Novel One: Day Three

    A Survival Day… (As a reminder, the overall monthly challenge is to write four novels, lose eight pounds, and gain distance every week on my step count, starting the first week at 11,000 steps per day.) The Day Went Like This… Got out the door around 3 p.m. today after a half hour of e-mail to run some business errands. Made it to the WMG offices at 4 p.m. and then went back out for a walk to get steps. Back to the office around 5 a.m. and worked there on workshop stuff until 6:30. Groceries and home to do a little more email and some workshop stuff for an…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Novel One: Day Two

    A Second Good Day… (As a reminder, the overall monthly challenge is to write four novels, lose eight pounds, and gain distance every week on my step count, starting the first week at 11,000 steps per day.) The Day Went Like This… Got out the door around 2 p.m. and made it up for the writer’s lunch at WMG offices. Hung around there until about 4 p.m. when Kris and I went out for a walk. I walked some extra and she was still working up at WMG when I got back. I worked for a time and then when she left I decided to walk home most of the…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Novel One: Day One

    A Good Start… The goal was three-fold today, plus other stuff. I wanted to get over 11,000 steps in exercise, do some reading for the challenges, and write 6,000 words at least on the first novel of the month. Hit them all plus some. (As a reminder, the overall monthly challenge is to write four novels, lose eight pounds, and gain distance every week on my step count, starting the first week at 11,000 steps.) The Day Went Like This… Got out the door around 3 p.m. after doing and hour of e-mail and walked to our south store. Now from our house to the south store is two miles,…

  • On Writing,  publishing

    Starting a Thunder Mountain Novel Tomorrow

    SO HERE IS A LOOK AT THE PREVIOUS TEN THUNDER MOUNTAIN NOVELS… I thought a look at the entire ten existing books plus a starter bundle of the Thunder Mountain series would be fun here tonight as tomorrow I start the 11th book in this series. All these books can be read as a stand-alone. But lots of character and detail stuff build if you read them in order. Since I was born and raised in Idaho and have been to these locations, Including Roosevelt, the town under water, I also thought this appropriate to show how a series could develop out of my love of science fiction, my love…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Just Getting Ready For July

    Clearing Decks and Ramping Up… Getting ready to write four novels in one month takes some thought. Not on the books. Haven’t thought about those at all. But on time and life. First off, I got 11,000 steps today, about 5.5 miles for me. Ramping up. My plan (if it works, a huge if) is doing 11,000 steps a day while writing book #1. Then do 12,000 steps a day while writing book #2. Then 13,000 steps a day while writing book #3, and 14,000 steps a day while writing book #4. So mostly I have been working on how the time is going to work out. Actually I have…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Meetings and a Day Off

    Did Both Meetings for WMG and a Day Off… Tough to have a day working and yet off, but Kris and I managed today. We headed into the valley after the WMG meeting and Kris spent time just sitting in a coffee shop reading while I went picking. Ended up getting 30 or so children’s books for a quarter each for the store, twenty hardbacks for the store at $2 each, some fun toys and things for the store at 99 cents a pound, and maybe one real collectable. A 1940s or early 1950s swing style woman’s wool coat, only tag said Union Made. I was looking through some bins…

  • Challenge,  Lecture Series,  On Writing,  publishing

    Some Movie Stuff

    Lecture on Movie and Television Negotiating… Kris and I have spent so much time with Hollywood projects, and always have Hollywood projects in one stage or another for our work, we can’t even keep track at times. Not kidding. We have made so much money from Hollywood over the decades in one way or another, I would be stunned if I even tried to add it up. If we are ever face-to-face over dinner or a drink, I’ll be glad to tell you some horror stories. Some of them are pretty funny. One thing we hear regularly is the stupidity of writers saying they need an agent to negotiate Hollywood…