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WMG Holiday Spectacular 2020 Hit First Stretch Goal
In Just Three Days… Thank you, everyone. So cool. And this project is so much fun. Getting an original holiday story, like an advent calendar, every day from November 26th through January 1st, and edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Or you can get a Valentines calendar edited by Annie Reed or a Halloween calendar edited by Mark Leslie. Or all of it in books, plus a ton of other stuff. Remember, if you want more than one thing, just pick a reward and then add the cost of the second award you want to your original choice and we work it out in the survey when it is all over.…
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A Lesson…
But Few Will Listen… The advice: Never let anyone tell you to not write something because it won’t sell. Never decide to not write something because it has been done to death before. Why I say no one will listen is because so many indie writers are wrapped up in writing to market, writing what they think will sell, or what some unknown person on the internet thinks will sell. And every indie writer thinks they have to be original with ideas and plotting when nothing is every original in either one. Tonight I read a story by an author. A really old idea, one I had seen a hundred…
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Making Writing Important
Deadly Issue… I talk about this problem writers have in many different workshops and in many different ways, hoping that I am heard. Most of the time my words go right by, or the writer nods and says, “That makes sense.” Then a week later has built up a project to be important without really thinking about it, and then wonder why critical voice has stopped them cold. I have had a couple people lately ask me why I can’t remember my own stories, or why I miss on Rule #4 and not the first three. I usually just laugh and say I am old and have a bad memory,…
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November Workshops Now Up
All On Teachable… December workshops will be also up and able to sign up in a few days. And last call to jump into the October workshops this weekend. They will vanish on Monday or so. I initially was going to push back the start date of the November workshops until the 10th, but then decided that the 3rd is fine because most people don’t start workshops for a few days anyway. And the first weeks are normally the easiest. For those who have been living in isolation, the 3rd is the US election. So here is the list of the November and December workshops. I am pretty sure that…
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Writing Update
Some Stories and Progress on Card Sharp Silver novel… I’ve been kind of dinging along on the Cave Creek novel, doing a couple thousand words per night. Also doing some cat stories with my new series character Pahket Jones. She’s in the Poker Boy universe and so far he has appeared in one of her stories and she has appeared in a new Poker Boy story. I’m having fun. Hard not to in the Poker Boy Universe. The Cave Creek novel, Card Sharp Silver, will not only be in a future issue of Smith’s Monthly, but will be sent to everyone for the Shared World Class, along with some bible…
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Money and Kickstarter Workshops Starting
How To Make Money With Your Fiction Writing… Yup, that workshop starts on Wednesday this coming week. Should be a very interesting one, but don’t take it if you want to learn about advertising on places like Facebook and so on. That is not how to make money past a moment in time, maybe, if you are lucky. We’re not even hardly mentioning that. This workshop is how to make money over the long haul and build the income. If you first thought is that you know how to do that, you really need this workshop. If you first thought is you can’t imagine what we will talk about besides…
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If I Owe You A Letter
In the Last Three Days, Hold On… I will get caught up today. No problem, I’m just taking some breaks and doing other things. Also about to do some videos in the Decade Ahead class and more cat videos. So next week check those out if you are in them. Again, the Decades Ahead will go through all of 2021 now. No chance in hell any of us can plan while swirling in this mess. The key with all this is just get your head down and keep writing. And make sure you vote. Horror and Historical-focused Science Fiction special workshops are starting on Tuesday. And Making Money with Your…
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Dare To Be Bad
A Great Catch Phrase… Following is a post I wrote almost exactly ten years ago. Very little has remained the same in publishing in ten years, and especially through this pandemic, but I figured it would be a good time to bring this forward, touch it up a little bit. Many of you have heard me talk about this concept, and it is an amazingly freeing thing when applied. And my gut sense is that this would be a good Pop-Up topic to really dig into it for those who might need this. Anyway, here is the original post from ten years ago. Dare To Be Bad Kevin J. Anderson…
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Last Day for Horror Workshop
Less Than 24 Hours Before You Miss the Chance… Kris and I are excited to be doing this special How to Write Horror (or Obsession or Dark Fantasy) Story workshop. But the only place you can sign up for this special three week workshop is through a Kickstarter campaign that is about to end. It is an Kickstarter campaign called Feed the Obsession by Mark Leslie that has just 24 hours left and is doing great. It hit it’s first stretch goal where everyone gets yet another major collection of stories. Kris and I both have stories in the book, as well as a lot of other professional writers. It…
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Deadlines
Got to Love Them… I wrote four short stories in the last week or so, got two more to do I found out today. Actually thought I only had one, but had missed one. And in a wonderful meeting (wonderful because everyone at WMG Publishing is healthy and our offices are still there), I got a number of other deadlines set. When focused, I work great to deadlines, and at the moment I am focused on writing and exercise. So I should be fine. My writing deadlines for the next month. (Yes, I do mean one month.) — Two new original short stories. — Introductions and author intros for Cat…