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A Novel Happens
Not Intended, but Creative Voice Won… As it should. Tonight got to the writing computer around 12:30 am. Typed in a title that had caught my eye. A STAR-FILLED NIGHT Started typing about a guy who met a woman outside the Titanic Exhibit at the Luxor here in Vegas. Story could have gone anywhere, but suddenly I found it solidly in the Thunder Mountain world. And at 1,300 words or so I wrote Chapter Two and said, “Shit!” Thankfully I didn’t wake Kris up clear off into the bedroom. My creative voice said, “This is the best idea for a Thunder Mountain Story, set on the Titanic, about the three…
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Story Tonight Was Novella
Seven Stories plus Transitions and Fillers… I spent all evening doing this, making sure information was not repeated too badly from story to story, lining it all up as 19 chapters, adding transition to keep the main story line moving through it all. Seven stories are the core. I wrote almost 3,000 new words tonight, more than equal to a short story. So counting this novella called BIG EYES as my story for the night. It will be the lead story in Smith’s Monthly #58 which will be on Patreon and out to subscribers in a week or so. Plus next week it will be part of a cat bundle.…
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Tried Something New For Me…
Flipped Viewpoints in a Story… Now, this would have been so much easier to just write a new story completely, but since I am doing this challenge, and I was in a spot that it made sense to do this stunt, I thought I would try it. My suggestion… Don’t. I had a Poker Boy story called “Mystery Cat” that also had in it Pakhet Jones. But it was a Poker Boy story, and Poker Boy is first person. I wrote it about two years ago or so and published it in Smith’s Monthly back about a year ago. Pakhat Jones stories are also first person. But in the Poker…
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Finished a Short Novel
Might Only Be a Novella Tonight I finished another Pakhet Jones story. Now basically I have written an entire larger story in six or seven short stories over the last month and a half. The one last night that I didn’t think stood up that well as a short story, only Kris said it did. Go figure, I’m only the author. I don’t know anything. And I mean that honestly when it comes to my own work. So tomorrow I am going to take all those stories and do the connecting tissue and a bunch more depth and see if it climbs solidly into novella length and maybe short novel…
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Another Bryant Street Story Tonight
Both Upbeat… Sort of… Kris read the Bryant Street story from last night and said, “Wow, an upbeat Bryant Street story. I actually hadn’t noticed that it was. It was just twisted like all Bryant Street stories are. And in fact, last night’s story you could just see Rod Serling standing off to one side of the garage saying… For your consideration, a man in a house he hates, a marriage that broke years ago, trying desperately to find a way out. Blocking his exit, an old car, left abandoned for years in a field, now full of the twisted hopes and dreams that can only be found on Bryant…
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Last Day of the Workshop Sale
Ends Late Tonight… Tuesday Night Everything on WMG Teachable is half price. Just hit purchase on what you want, then put in the code: YearEnd And you can get it for half price. Starting right now are the Regular January Workshops. February Regular Workshops are also available for the sale, but the January ones are starting right now. They are normally $300, but for the sale they are $150 with the code. They last six weeks and take about three hours a week at your own time. The dates are the starting dates. Start with Depth in Writing if you have not taken one before. Class #1… Jan 4th ……
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MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY
We Finally Pulled the Trigger… Motivational Mondays have been launched on Teachable and our now live. Kris and I have been talking and planning this for some time and we think it’s going to be great fun and very valuable for those getting it. Here is how it works: Every Monday on Teachable (actually Sunday night late so you can view them on Monday morning), Kris and I will put up at least three videos on some motivational topic or another concerning writing, publishing, and all the stuff around writing and publishing. See the partial list below of topics. The idea is to help writers stay on track, get unstuck,…
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More On Challenges For 2022
A Goal vs A Challenge… Right about now, here on the 6th of December, it is a great time to start looking at the year ahead. For many writers, setting a challenge is not a good idea. But in any business or art, setting a goal can really help. So tonight I thought I would talk about the difference between a goal and a challenge. I believe both are good. And by setting a challenge, you are also setting a goal. But often goals are not challenges. Last night I listed four things that I thought were important when deciding on a challenge. They are: 1… It actually has to…
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Some Clean Up… And Writing Stuff
Special Workshop Codes Are Out… First, if you signed up for a special workshop in the last Kickstarter, either Making Place a Character or How to Use the Rule of Three, the links and codes are out. If you were signed up for one or both of those workshops, and didn’t get a letter from me with the Subject Line “Special Workshop” (or Workshops), please check your spam filter over the next day or so. If not there, no worries, we have time. Write me and I will get you the codes when I get back later in the week. Second, refunds on the Diving Game are slow, and I…
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Next Chapter Will Be Coming
Right Now I Am Having Fun Writing… I will get to the next chapter of Wet Blanket Reality about traditional publishing next week. The next chapter is all the things you have to do to get an agent. That will be a fun one, I promise. Also today I got forwarded a link to an article that might be right up there with the most stupid article I have ever read about publishing. All stuff that I am pointing out as really bad and stupid, this article manages to turn it into positive to help writers. I just read it with my mouth open and thinking about how writers trapped…