• Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  On Writing

    A Fun Teaser

    I Did a Podcast About Writing… With John Goodwin for the Writers of the Future Podcast. I always have a lot of fun talking with John and I think that comes across here. This is a very short teaser they put together on YouTube for the podcast I did with them, with a bunch of pictures of me and others at the event. One picture you can see me and my long-time good friends Keven J. Anderson and Rob Sawyer. Fun picture. So take a look. The topic of this teaser is a Hubbard essay on writing that even going on a hundred years after he wrote it is worth…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Too Much In One Day…

    I Managed A Ton of Stuff Today… But unless I get going now, going to miss the night’s story. Worked on Smith’s Monthly layout and recorded a bunch of the lectures from Kris’s class this coming week for the Study Along class online, Exercised some while Kris was using my computer to record videos for the Study Along class online. Cooked dinner, and then worked on the books for the challenge and more on Smith’s Monthly. I finally came up with a name for the entire series of books that will hold all the stories. Challenge Accepted Each book will have 33 stories in it, plus an introduction. If I…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  running

    May 1st Restart

    Some Months Make More Sense Than Others to Restart… For me, I am used May 1st to restart a number of things. First, I am restarting my minimum milage per day. I clock steps and for me 2,000 steps on my Fitbit is almost always exactly one mile. So starting May 1st I am going to hit 3 miles (6,000 steps) per day and then every week increase that by 500 steps. I need the exercise and why May 1st is a good time to do that is because as the weather warms up here in Vegas, I will be spending a lot of time daily at the gym, which…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Catching Up… To Do or Not To Do?

    A Great Question… I got that question from a writer just today and I had a pretty simple answer for him. But there is more to my answer than what I was able to give him at the spur of the moment. I said this: Try to catch up if doing so is possible and will be challenging. If impossible to catch up, then simply reset the challenge and start fresh. Sounds simple until you start figuring out if something is impossible or not. Sometimes you just know you have screwed the pooch. No catching up is possible. Reset and restart!!! But other times the added challenge makes it even…

  • Challenge,  On Writing

    Watched Bridgerton

    Yes, I Watched a Regency… For the second year in a row. Four episodes in the last two days. Kris had to explain a bunch of stuff to me, but some pretty good acting and the characters were likable, so I’ll watch the third season if there is one. Interesting difference in plotting from this show to others. These episodes were mostly an hour in length and if the characters had only talked, nothing would have happened, but as it was not a lot happens. Where, say, The Rookie fifty things happen, ten viewpoints, and a ton of stuff, and it is only 15 minutes into the episode. When Magnum…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Why All The Stretch Rewards?

    Why Give So Much Away? Got that question a lot this time, more than any other campaign we have done, although I must admit, that question is pretty normal for our campaigns. If a person does a $5 pledge to get an early copy of RESCUE TWO in electronic form, as I write this they get ten more books and nine workshops worth $1,350.00. But that is about to jump one more goal to eleven books and ten workshops. Why do this? Why give so much away? Two major reasons, actually. First, this is a campaign for my new Seeders novel RESCUE TWO. It stands alone, but gives a good…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  workshops

    Reading a Lot of Great Stories

    Study Along Workshop for Thriller/Humor I have been amazed at a number of things. First off, how many writers got stories in for this workshop. Writing thriller/humor short stories is a tough challenge and a lot of writers tried it. So that impressed me. Second thing that impressed me with the first assignment was how good they were overall. Some great mysteries and a bunch of writers actually hit thriller/humor short stories. Then with the story in 40 hours, a lot of writers made the deadline and again the stories were great. And the third story deadline of 24 hours had about three times as many stories as I expected,…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  workshops

    Internet Issues

    So One of These Blogs… Writing this  to load with the hot spot on my phone. Seems Tuesday night around midnight is a good time for the cable people to do work. Annoying. My eye is just about done with screen time for the day. Read a large number of great stories for the Thriller/Humor workshop, and did a lot of regular assignments for workshops and a ton of other stuff. So busy, but just about done. My eye is getting tired. So remember the Kickstarter has hit four stretch goals, which means three free Pop-Up classes on world building in science fiction. And more to come. And two really…

  • Challenge,  Kickstarter Campaign,  On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    RESCUE TWO KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN NOW LIVE!!!

    ALL KINDS OF GREAT STUFF!! Including a ton of different workshop stuff, and with every award you get a copy of my new Seeders novel RESCUE TWO. Rescue Two Kickstarter. The two special workshops are on science fiction. — WRITING IDEA FICTION Special Workshop. All the ins and outs of writing idea fiction and how to do it and how to come up with ideas. You can take it starting April 12 or May 3rd. And remember, this is the only place to get this workshop. — WRITING ABOUT TIME Special Workshop. All the ins and outs of writing about time while in space and how to do it and…

  • Challenge,  motivation,  On Writing,  publishing

    Challenges (Wrong Information Out There)

    Not Sure How This Information Got Spread… But I heard yesterday from a person who didn’t feel that spending $600 and then not being able to write on something a year in would be a good thing. And that they would lose their money like putting it in a slot machine. I wrote back and said that the challenges don’t cost anything. Yes, you spend the $600 to get into the mix. But if you miss, you get $600 in credits for anything on WMG Teachable except for another challenge. So in other words, you buy $600 in credits for any workshop or anything, and then get to have some…