• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Story Twelve and a Wonderful Dinner

    DAY TWELVE… Got a twelfth story for the challenge and also tonight had a wonderful dinner with friends to celebrate. First to the dinner. My friend writer J. Steven York has been in the hospital for most of the last month and had major open heart surgery one week ago today. It was a very stressful day but he made it through wonderfully. Tonight, one week after major open heart surgery, he walked through the door of a restaurant to have dinner with us and other friends from around town. It was a moment I will never forget. He really is superman, how he came though this and is now…

  • On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    NEW ONLINE WORKSHOP: How to Edit Your Own Work

    New Online Workshop Starting in May… Kris and I get the most questions, all good questions, about the process of editing your own work. And honestly, there is no easy or completely right answer for everyone. But there are hundreds of ways, one of which will be right for you. Between writing into the dark and following Heinlein’s Rules, how do you make sure your work is what you want, clean enough for readers to not notice any problems? How can you edit without the deadly rewriting that kills voice and all originality? Those are just a couple of the questions we get in one form or another, including how to…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Story Eleven and Workshop Stuff Again

    DAY ELEVEN… Pretty much did workshops all day including a couple of covers. I had to redo one cover, the “Blind Date” cover because the title vanished. Below is the new cover. I worked on the Strengths workshop and also Kris and I finalized a workshop we have talked about for a while but didn’t want to do. However, we get so many questions about the topic, we figured it was time. The full description of the new online workshop is above. It will be a good one. A ton of tricks, things long-term professionals do, and helpful hints. I got the writing around 2 a.m. and with two short…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Story Ten and a Bunch of Workshop Stuff

    DAY TEN… Pretty much did workshops all day except I also had the wonderful pleasure of helping a friend get back into his house after being in the hospital for a month. Sort of made my day, actually, that he is home. But otherwise, it was workshops, most assignments since March is finishing up and April is getting started. Plus answered more questions about The Great Bundle workshop which has people intrigued, to say the least. (grin) Also, for those thinking of either trying to come to the Master Business Class or the Anthology Workshop, both Coast workshops, both are almost full. I did manage a few minutes to get…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Two More Stories in Two Days

    Yesterday Was All The Great Bundle Workshop and May Online Workshops. But I still managed to finish a story yesterday and another tonight. Seven stories in seven days. Go figure. A good number of people jumped into The Great Bundle workshop in just the first day after we announced it. Wow, is that going to be a fun week. On Sunday or Monday and into next week I will have more chapters of the Magic Bakery book as well as write more short stories. I am getting a ton of novel ideas out of this month of short fiction. Started a number of things that were instantly novels over the last…

  • On Writing,  publishing,  The Great Bundle,  workshops

    THE GREAT BUNDLE Workshop. Brand New Coast Workshop

    THE GREAT BUNDLE workshop May 5th – May 12th, 2018 Announcing a new and innovative and fun writing workshop on the Oregon Coast. The Great Bundle workshop. So what is The Great Bundle? — A major writing workshop — A series of short story bundles curated by writers. — A promotion web site — A branding of a series of books. First off to the Workshop Structure –Limit of 50 writers. (Same size as the anthology and master class workshops) — Writers attending who want to be curators turn in bundle ideas ahead of time. — For the six weeks ahead of time, five bundle ideas will be sent out per…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Third Story Finished and April Workshops Starting

    ANOTHER GOOD DAY… Got the short story challenge going strong. Finished a third short story tonight and finished up another chapter on the Magic Bakery book. A good solid day and a lot of fun. ———- The Day… Got up to WMG by 2 p.m. and worked on covers for a couple of my collections and a bunch of workshop stuff. Also took a long walk to get steps. Then home to cook dinner and do the assignments for the workshops. Then off to watch The Voice. Back here around 2 a.m. and I wrote the chapter of the Magic Bakery. Then around 3 a.m., I went for half-titles to get…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Second Story Finished

    OFF TO A DECENT START… Got the short story challenge going strong. Finished a second short story tonight. Also today went to the writer’s lunch and worked a bunch on workshop stuff. A good solid day and a lot of fun. ———- The Day… Got up to WMG by 2 p.m. for the writer’s lunch. Then around 4 Kris and I went for a walk. I only managed four miles today, which is fine as I ramp this back up. I got back to my office around 5:30 and worked there until almost eight on workshop stuff. Store and then home to cook dinner. Did some e-mail and more workshop…

  • On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    A Workshop Night

    April Online Workshops… Everyone who is signed up should have gotten a letter from me tonight. If you are signed up and didn’t get the letter, write me. The April Online Workshops start on Tuesday and Wednesday and still lots of room to jump into any of them. It’s a good list this month. Any questions, feel free to write me. Information on each workshop under the Online Workshops tab at the top. And if you are confused as to which workshop to take first, we have a full curriculum posted on its own page. Class #31… Apr 4th … Writing Thrillers Class #32… Apr 4th … Point of View Class #33… Apr 4th…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Collections and Workshops

    Short post tonight to keep my blogging streak alive on this Saturday night. Turned in two collections tonight, plus worked on the Strength workshops this afternoon and evening. I will try to remember to let you know when the collections are live. We will be another few weeks before we get the sixth Strengths workshop up. We are enjoying working on them and answering assignments. So far so good. If you want to take three you get the fourth one free and if you take all six you get a monthly online workshop free as well. Information about the Strength Workshops is at Strength Workshops