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Automatic Confidence
Topic of the Night: Automatic Confidence Lots and lots of writers get lost in the process of publishing between the moment they finish their story or novel and the moment it gets into print in one fashion or another. Getting lost in this area often comes from a lack of confidence. And fear. Massive fear. Not sure what writers are afraid of, but sometimes releasing a work for a writer is like walking into nests of spiders. Or worse. This lack of confidence and fear leads to either not publishing or rewriting, which is a form of not publishing. So here tonight is an idea for you, something I call Automatic Confidence. A…
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Regaining Focus
Topic of the Night: Regaining Focus Last night I talked about focus, how times and outside events sometimes cause us to lose focus in our writing. How do you get the focus back on writing besides the simple answer “Slowly?” That answer helps no one, really. So let me give a few ideas on how to regain focus, or at least how I have done it at times. How I have brought back up writing on my priority list over the years when the world is tossing in far too many things. Look at Overall Goals Sometimes losing focus can be not only caused by other things in life taking…
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Focus
Focus It has been sort of a very strange period for me with my writing over the last few weeks or so. And I got a hunch this sort of things happens to everyone at times. Not the first for me, but one of the first times since I started this blog streak three plus years ago. Let me see if I can describe this. It takes, at least for most of us, a level of focus at fiction writing. I am not talking about planning ahead or outlining or anything silly like that. And I am not talking about all the problems that stop us from getting to the…
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Workshop Finished Here On The Coast
Workshop Finished Here Today was the last day of the Historical, Time Travel, and Alternate History workshop here at the coast, taught by Kris. What a fantastic group of writers who attended from all over the world. Kris was the instructor on this one, so I played behind-the-scenes support, but last night I got to read a group of stories from them because Kris wanted me to be reader feedback. I was impressed and got to give them my feedback today. Some of the most innovative ideas came out of there and I got a hunch I’m going to be seeing a lot of those stories as parts of new…
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Running Breakthrough
Running Breakthrough As I have talked about since the first of this month, I am in training to try to finish a marathon in November. I started this over twenty pounds heavier on July 1st and have been slowly and carefully working my way toward that goal of starting that race. Very, very carefully since I was overweight and have bad knees. My goal is to run/walk the marathon. I want to say that right from the start. Actually my goal is starting. Finishing is sort of a distant dream. I respect that distance. But after today it feels a little closer. I had planned on upping my daily milage…
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A Workshop Day
Workshop Day I spent most of today, in one fashion or another, on workshops. For those of you who missed it, the workshops now have a curriculum, or at least a suggested order to take them. That is under the Workshop Curriculum tab at the top of the page. The entire things is broken down into core workshops, business workshops, craft workshops, and genre workshops to make them easier to find. I also in two areas suggest order and what you should take first. And for those of you who signed up for workshops through our Kickstarter drive, the first week of October I’ll send out a survey through Kickstarter…
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Got Sidetracked
Got Sidetracked I had all sorts of things I was going to do tonight, including writing, and didn’t get many of them done. Got a few, but got sidetracked on setting up some forms to help with both writing organization and running organization and workshop stuff. And hours just went away. Amazing how that happens, isn’t it? ——————— What Was I Thinking Update #2 I have a video update on my race progress as part of the series What Was I Thinking. It’s only a couple minutes. ———————- I want to push these two bundles again!!! I am in two great bundles at the moment and so is Kris. You…
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Back To Regular Fun
Back to Regular Fun We hit the final hours of the Kickstarter this afternoon and it finished strong. Wow, just wow. Thank you, everyone. And through Kickstarter, when everything is done on their side, I will send out to everyone a survey for the information we need to fulfill the rewards, including the workshop and lecture stuff. That will happen in the first week of October. So now I want to get my focus back on three things. First, I am doing my best to ramp up my running. Second, I want to talk about the two fantastic bundles I have books in. And third, back to the novel and some…
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Just Hours Left!!
Just Hours Left! The only has eleven hours left as I write this around 4 a.m. Pacific Time. What is in the subscription drive? Discounted subscriptions, of course, on Fiction River and Fiction River Presents. Both electronic and paper. We are also offering a package of writing books. And discounted lectures and discounted online workshops. And since we have hit the fourth stretch goal, even if you sign up for a workshop you get four free books as well as a Fiction River subscription. That’s right… FOUR FREE BOOKS for the support. Discounts on Workshops! Numbers of people have taken advantage of either the single workshop or the three workshop package.…
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One Day Left
One Day Left! The only has one day left. What is in the subscription drive? Discounted subscriptions, of course, on Fiction River and Fiction River Presents. Both electronic and paper. We are also offering a package of writing books. And discounted lectures and discounted online workshops. And since we have hit the fourth stretch goal, even if you sign up for a workshop you get four free books as well as a Fiction River subscription. That seems to be very popular, getting workshops at a discount. I have just put up a curriculum for the workshops to help writers focus on what to take first and so on, since so many have taken…