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Fun Lunch Discussions and Other Stuff
Really Fun Stuff… I have been having some wonderful lunch discussions with professional writers all week long. Got a number of topics from the discussions I’ll be giving opinions on here as soon as the dust clears a little next week. Great fun for me. Stay tuned. ————— March Workshops Start Tuesday and Wednesday!! Below is the list of online workshops for March and all have spots open. In fact, only the business workshop is close to filling. So for information on how to sign up, go to… www.wmgpublishingworkshops.com Any questions at all, feel free to write me. And if you are confused as to which workshop to take first, we…
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The Voice Started Tonight
Here we go again… One of the best learning experiences for writers is starting up again. Over the coming weeks I’ll talk about things the coaches say about the art and craft. It all applies to writing in so many ways and on so many levels. But one thing that started to shine through tonight is the work ethic of those trying to get on the show. I only got to watch the first half of the first night. But already great stuff. Also, how the artists have to put themselves into the work. In an hour that was said over and over. Free learning about art and craft and…
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March Online Workshops
Great Workshops This Coming Month… Stunning March is almost here. Wow, just wow. Below is the list of online workshops for March and all have spots open. In fact, only the business workshop is close to filling. So for information on how to sign up, go to… www.wmgpublishingworkshops.com Any questions at all, feel free to write me. And if you are confused as to which workshop to take first, we have a full curriculum posted on its own page. Class #21… Mar 7th … Author Voice Class #22… Mar 7th … Business Class #23… Mar 7th … Endings Class #24… Mar 7th … Ideas Class #25… Mar 7th … Writing and Selling Short Stories Class #26……
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Saturday Night Reading
Still finishing up some reading… Just about done. Which, actually, is kind of sad. I haven’t enjoyed reading this many great stories in a long time. I will be back reporting page counts, stories done, novels done, and all that shortly, including the exercise routine. (grin) Plus I have a few more rants/blogs/questions for this coming week that might be fun to talk about. We shall see. Don’t forget… just over a week until the March online workshops fire up. Openings in all of them at the moment.
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Looking at the Writing Advice
Very Seldom Do You Get a Stage Four Writer Being Honest… Most either play into the myths for fear of hurting their own writing sales or they say nothing. Some figure their way of doing things is just their way and would never work for anyone else. But Joe Lansdale, in a very simple article, sort of carefully told the truth about his writing. If you haven’t read it yet either from an original source or my earlier post, do so now. The Rules of Being a Professional Writer He started off by giving only two simple rules that I completely agree with. One, you must read. Second, you must write.…
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Writing Advice and Fun List
The Rules of Being a Professional Writer Also fun, Dayton Ward who is an amazing Star Trek writer and collector did a list of the top ten Star Trek books he wish he would have written. My Captan Proton book made his list. Fun! http://www.startrek.com/article/ten-for-ward-trek-books-i-wish-id-written
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Fantastic New Bundle… Escapist
We All Need to Escape… Especially in these times and in this bundle is some fantastic escape fiction. Not only does it have a Fiction River anthology in it with a bunch of stories (including one from me) but it also has my origin Poker Boy novel called The Slots of Saturn. And it has an amazing collection of Kris’s stories, plus novels and stories by some amazing writers. This bundle really, really will help you escape, I promise you. Just Poker Boy and Front Desk Girl fighting Ghost Slots will do that, I promise. (grin) The full official write-up and all information is below. Get it for a limited time at…
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The Years Go By
A Great Picture… Not sure where it was taken recently. At one convention or another, but it came across Facebook and I was stunned at what a great picture it was of four of the greatest writers in science fiction. And how we had all aged. (We all used to look young, honest.) David Brin (on the right) is almost exactly my age. Greg Bear (on the left) is a year younger. Vernor Vinge in the blue jacket is six years older than me and Gregory Benford is nine years older than I am. And they all started publishing in the middle to late 1960s except for David who started…
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Another Scam Firing Up
This Scam Starts in Traditional Publishing… It’s brand new, but I fear it will spread. Writers are that afraid. So what is this new scam? Sensitivity Readers. Not kidding you. Traditional publishers are hiring “sensitivity readers” to read books before they are bought or published. Wow, the amount of stupidity has just hit a new level in publishing, far higher than my cyclical belief thought it could. You can find the article and read it yourself if you want to be disgusted. http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/books/ct-publishers-hiring-book-readers-to-flag-sensitivity-20170215-story.html Sadly, some people will hire themselves out to do this and new writers are going to buy into this scam just as they bought into the scam of needing…
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Just Reading…
Nothing to see here… Just piles and piles and piles of manuscripts. Kris and I are old-time editors and we read everything in paper manuscript format. Great fun and our cats are too old to care about the strange manuscript piles to cause issues. Clearly we need kittens. Now back to the pile… night.