• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Having Fun In Week #2…

    Of the Making Money Workshop… I just spent the last few hours recording the second week of Making Money with Your Fiction Writing Workshop. Oh, my, I think I was punchy. (grin) But for me it’s a fun topic and I was having fun. I also realized while showing off an issue of Smith’s Monthly that by the time #45 comes out, it will be 2021, and Issue #44 came out in summer of 2017. Wow, 3.5 years between issues. Sort of been a crazy time, that’s for sure. But I am so excited about bringing it back. I have about eight or nine novels done and waiting to go…

  • Challenge,  publishing,  Smiths Monthly

    Smith’s Monthly Covers

    Working On Four Issues at a Time… And making great progress. First new issue will be out in March, #45 in the series, and after that one per month. Each one will be between 60,000 and 70,000 words of fiction. In the next week or so I will have 4 issues done and in copyediting process. Tonight, besides putting issues together, I worked on the covers and such. So thought I would show you some of them. They are trim size 7 x 10 and the black bar with the spine wraps to both the front and the back side. First #45, both wrap and epub cover. Then #46, #47,…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Smith’s Monthly Issues

    Working on Three… Sort of at the same time. I have so many unpublished short stories and basically three books I want to include in issues, I figured I might as well put all three issues together at the same time. So, in other words, Smith’s Monthly is almost back!! But the problem is that some of these stories I wrote three years ago and I have no memory of them, so sort of have to put them back in my head, and that takes time glancing back at them. And putting a Marble Grant (one of my character’s in the Poker Boy universe) novel together because basically I wrote…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Even More Cover Fun

    Ramping Back Up Smith’s Monthly… So as I learned InDesign again, I not only had to do short story covers, but I had to also do the far more complex covers and interior of Smith’s Monthly, since that magazine is finally ready to return in a few months. So in Issue #1 of Smith’s Monthly, way back, I put a book that became a prequel in my Seeder’s Universe. It had a pretty bad cover on it and I used the same awful artwork for the first issue of Smith’s Monthly. So practicing now, I wanted to start working my way through all the back issues of the magazine, using…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Smiths Monthly

    New Issues of Smith’s Monthly

    Subscribers and Patreon Supporters Got Three Issues… That’s right, in the last week three issues of Smith’s Monthly went out. As many of you know, I’ve been working to catch up with the date on the issues. I was hoping to be caught up by the 50th issue, but not it might take a little longer. And coming shortly, meaning a few weeks, two more issues will go out. Issues #41-43 went out to subscribers and Patreon supporters over the last week. That’s a bunch of reading. (grin) And there was a new Thunder Mountain novel in the group. In the coming Pulphouse Fiction Magazine kickstarter drive starting Thursday, there…

  • On Writing,  publishing,  Recommended Reading

    Updates on All Sorts of Stuff

    Smith’s Monthly Issues Headed Out… Patreon supporters and Smith’s Monthly subscribers, you will be getting three issues of Smith’s Monthly, about one every other day, for the next week. Finally making a run at getting caught up. Paper subscribers won’t go out until the middle of August. Then in August everyone will get three or four more. Then in September three or four more issues. Then another one or two in October. Lots of reading headed your way. Thanks, everyone, for all the support. ————- I’m Slow Reading Challenge Stories… I will be reading some for the rest of the week, but will mostly get caught up in early August.…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    An Issue Turned In

    Finally Got Going Again with Smith’s Monthly… Took me a while to get going, but finally got the issue of Smith’s Monthly in to WMG. It has the novel I finished last night and four short stories and part of a nonfiction book. I will have the next issue turned in on Monday, since that has novel I wrote in January. Then to finish a book I started a long time back and get it turned in for another issue next week. Those of you who followed along in April know I started a new ghost of a chance series character called Marble Grant. That is the only story from that challenge in…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Smiths Monthly

    Now That’s a Series

    Smith’s Monthly Series Page on Amazon… It even impressed me. Wow. Shows what just dinging along every month can do. 37 titles up there, plus I will be doing 11 more in the next six months. Sorry I’m bragging a little, but if you want to see a series, even though some of the old covers are still on the titles shown, take a look at this. Got me excited to get these new ones done and in and out to Patreon supporters and subscribers. https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B00YO07JG0/ref=sr_bookseries_null_B00YO07JG0 Anyhow, wanted to brag about how cool that was. As for the rest of the day, I had a WMG meeting and then Kris and…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Smiths Monthly

    Decisions on Smith’s Monthly Issues

    Decisions: Smith’s Monthly… As I said yesterday, I will update the decisions and writing being done for putting together the next three issues of Smith’s Monthly. I will usually do this every other week on Friday, when very few people drop by here. The widget on the right will be updated as I finish stuff, even though I don’t talk about it in a blog post until a weekend. I talked with Allyson at WMG Publishing today about the serial in Smith’s Monthly and we came up with it being fun to put the non-fiction writing book Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing in three installments. Granted, the book is available…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  Smiths Monthly

    Putting Together Smith’s Monthly Issues

    Putting Together Smith’s Monthly… As I keep making changes to this site and get going on year four of my magazine, I thought it would be fun to sort of let you all follow along with putting these issues together. You have been watching me write stuff here for three years, so why not the next step for the next year? So over on the right side I have listed the next three issues of Smith’s Monthly and what I have ready for them now. The assigned stories are there at the moment, but might change out if I write some new ones. I like to lead off each issue…