• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    A Bunch of Stuff Again…

    Call This A Rapid-Fire Round-Up… — The Emotions Workshop will be added into April Regular Workshop list. I will have the list available for sign-ups by Saturday. Don’t try to sign up yet. — All the Stretch Goal letters have been sent out for the Make 100 Paperbacks Kickstarter and I also did a Kickstarter update to just the backers with the same letter for the stretch goals to make sure no one got missed. — I have my new computer, new Adobe Suite, and will be starting on actual books in the Make 100 this weekend (assuming I don’t blow a brain fuse learning a new version of inDesign.)…

  • Challenge,  On Writing

    Old Dog New Tricks

    That Is What I Called This… I’m the “old dog.” I am moving from writing late at night for the first 40 years of my fiction writing career to now writing in the morning (with some sessions later in the day or evening) for the next forty years. My goal now is to walk out of the condo every morning, go to a buffet about a mile away (to get steps), and write at least a thousand words before leaving. I started a Cold Poker Gang novel with new characters and I have been managing (except for one morning) to get out and set the routine. Yesterday I got out,…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Too Much Time Researching/Playing

    Doing Research Is Play… At least it is for me and most other writers who get sucked down into researching fun stuff. Fun for us that is. (grin) The key is you can’t do it and not write. For me, tonight I was searching for information about the Hotel Nevada on Main Street in Las Vegas. It has been shuttered for a lot of years now and is owned by the Golden Nugget. (Tough search because of the name.) It sits right beside the Nugget parking garage for those who have been here. You never notice it because it has been painted to look like the Nugget. So I wasted…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Depth As Hearing

    Kris and I Had a Great Discussion About Depth Today… All because I was getting fitted with nifty, programmed hearing aides. Why that discussion? Because for the first time in a long time, maybe decades, I could hear certain things. Things I didn’t even know I wasn’t hearing. And that lead to the discussion about depth in writing in all its forms. Some writers had trouble with it in this last workshop and that was because they didn’t even know they were missing it. I didn’t know I was missing sounds. I just knew I had trouble hearing at times, not that a massive range of sounds were not available…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    I’m Back But Behind

    Well, Brain Isn’t Totally Back… I will be caught up over the next day or so on all email and stuff. Then on Friday and Saturday the workshop stuff will go out to the Kickstarter folks. I had hoped to have it out before the Anthology Workshop, but that didn’t happen with all the reading. And tomorrow I actually get to start hearing again. Picking up and getting trained on nifty, modern hearing aides. (Never had them before.) Loud sounds (mostly music in bars) killed a lot of my hearing (yes, I have gone through lots of tests) when I was younger. Luckily it was just that and age and…

  • Challenge,  workshops

    Slow On Email

    Normally I Keep Up Just Fine… But the last few days I have been a bad boy, staying out too late with all the writers and talking writing and having far, far too much fun. So I will be catching up on email tomorrow (Wednesday). Sorry for the delay on that. And wow has the Anthology Workshop been fun this year. First time here in Las Vegas and it went off without a hitch. I want to thank all the editors who ended up putting at least eight anthologies together. That’s right, eight, plus I bought twenty stories for the next year of Pulphouse Magazine. If interested in next year’s…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Last Day of the Anthology Workshop

    I Have Had a Blast… And for those who have been wondering, my novel-writing challenge will start for me on Thursday to write five novels in 100 days. That is the first leg of the challenge. Second leg is to write seven novels in 100 days. Third leg is the last 100 days of the year I will attempt to write 10 novels in 100 days. So the challenge ramp-up starts on Thursday. I am so looking forward to it and so ready. Not a clue what I will be writing, but got a hunch it will be a Cold Poker Gang since I have a title eating at me…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    March Is Here! What Happened?

    Where Did January and February Go? Wow, the anthology workshop is almost over and the March Regular Online workshops are starting up Tuesday and Wednesday. And the Future: Structure starts on Wednesday, the 6th. You can take the other two Futures Workshops at any point since they are both still there and available. Sign up for any of them including the regular March workshops listed below on Teachable here. Or if you have a workshop credit you would like to use, write me and tell me which one you want to be in. March Six-Week Regular Workshops… Class #21… Mar 5th … Depth #3: Research Class #22… Mar 5th … Author Voice…

  • Challenge,  workshops

    Running Tomorrow…

    That’s Right… Another 5K Fun Run… Only this one has about 14 or so professional writers taking part. And doughnuts afterwards in the convention suite before we start for the day on stories. Some of them vegan doughnuts. All wonderful. There will be pictures, so expect those. I will be near the back of the pack. And it will be great fun. We opened up the evening talking suite tonight, a penthouse suite with more than enough room for fifty professional writers to gather in groups and talk in the evening. The networking will be great fun on this workshop, just like the Master Business Class in October. So now,…

  • Challenge,  workshops

    Anthology Workshop Firing Up

    Starts Friday and Goes to Wednesday Morning… Going to be a blast, I can tell you that right now. About fifty writers, about forty-some stories per anthology for eight different anthologies, plus some surprises as we always do. Wonderful fun. And for the first year in years, I am done with my reading ahead of the workshop. I am shocked, I say, shocked… We have announced next year’s anthology workshop, but don’t wait too long to sign up. We limit this to 50 writers at most and each year it fills completely. And you start writing at the end of November for next year’s class. If interested in next year’s,…