• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    A Question I Got

    And My Answer… I deleted the question and my response and decided to answer it here so the author is not seemingly attacked by me. The author’s only fault is a massive belief in myths. So no point in me getting personal. So here is the author’s question in general. The author had a large (400 plus page book) that was in 4th draft. The author wanted to know if we had a workshop that would help him make the next rewrite/polish/edit draft better. Yes, someone actually asked me that question. Here is my response: I’m afraid not a one of our workshops will help you at that stage. You…

  • Lecture Series,  On Writing,  publishing

    “You Go To Them” Negotiation Lecture Started

    I Hope… Teachable seems to be having a little issue this evening, so I hope all the videos are loaded correctly. If not, I will fix it in the morning. But this is the second in the series of Negotiations lectures which include webinars. You need to go through the first one, which is “They Come To You” before you can take the second one. You can get to them on Teachable.com. Get the bundle of all three to save a few bucks. So those of you signed up, there is a question for you that is due later in the week. Webinar is Sunday. UPDATE: Teachable got it all…

  • Challenge,  workshops

    Anthology Workshop

    Write Six Stories, Then Possibly Sell Them… I am sort of surprised, in an odd way, that for the first time in years, the anthology workshop is not full at this point. We have five spots left open and the sign-ups end on November 24th because the writing starts on the 25th. Of course, almost all the northwest people are no longer coming. For years they had it easy. But for everyone else, Vegas is cheaper to get to than the coast and a ton easier in March. Let me change that metaphor. Light years easier. This might be the best workshop we do. But also the most frightening because…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Finally Done With A Warm-Up Book

    Yup, Finished the Short Novel… It’s a Thunder Mountain novella or short novel. Finished it this morning. Those who are following my 100 day challenge with letters will get a uncorrected copy of it in a week or so. I think I will send along another Thunder Mountain book or two as well to them because this one might take a little knowledge of the Thunder Mountain books. Kris will let me know about that after she reads it. I am finally getting the entire schedule thing worked out and am writing again solidly, now in the mornings. So tomorrow I will start a brand new book (no idea which…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    A Fun Event Today

    The Big Expo… Kris and I spent a large part of our afternoon not only getting into the Las Vegas Convention Center, but then picking up our bibs and all the bling and such for the runs this coming weekend. (We came away with 6 shirts from the thing. We are both going to run the 5k on Saturday evening. Then on Sunday I’m going to do the half-marathon. 13.1 miles or so. I had planned on the full marathon, but I can’t finish it in five hours which is the limit they allow before they open back up all the roads. Besides, I am still too heavy and I…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Thanks To Those I Met This Morning

    Some Wonderful and Very Smart Writers… It was great to meet so many names that I knew from here or workshops, but had never put a face to. That was super fun. Thank you! I had to be up this morning early (so no writing this morning) to be at the 20BooksTo50K Conference here in Las Vegas. I had 40 minutes to give a short course on Writing into the Dark, a topic that takes six weeks to go over in a regular workshop. (Just starting now in November, actually. Information below.) I had fun with the forty minutes and no one shot at me from the audience, so I…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Anthology Workshop Started Up

    And There Are Now Seven Openings… I started the 2019 Anthology Workshop group list. And will be sending out hotel information and first story information over that list shortly. So if you were planning on attending the workshop in March, which we start writing for in three weeks, contact me now. That’s right… there is three weeks of writing three stories at the end of November and early December, then time off for the holidays, then three more weeks of writing in January. Then a lot of reading. So really the workshop starts at the end of November. So time is almost up to sign up for this one. And you…

  • On Writing,  publishing

    A Reminder of the Lifetime Subscriptions Now Available

    Posted Series Workshop Reading List… First, I need to announce that the first video from Kris in that workshop is up along with the reading list. So those of you signed up for the Study Along Series workshop, or have a lifetime subscription to the Study Along, be sure to check that out. Now, here are the details on the Lifetime Subscriptions now available. We have been doing these workshops now for nineteen years plus and we plan on keeping going with a lot of fun and new things, not counting all the workshops available in each subscription already. REGULAR WORKSHOP LIFETIME SUBSCRIPTION You get all regular workshops and classic…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    New Future Series of Workshops Starting Up

    A Really Fun Series of Workshops… Starts on Wednesday… We spend so much time on all these workshops helping writers become better storytellers and better at business, but we haven’t spent that much time helping writers deal with their futures and the future of their writing business. And to be honest, we get really tired of writers spending all the time to learn craft and the business and then not know how to sustain and end up gone in a few years. The problem was the topic was so huge, we didn’t know where to start. We first boiled it down to six different six-week workshops. Finally we managed to…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Having Fun Advice

    On The Voice… As always, lots of great advice that can be directly related to writing. But this week, Mariah Carey, who was advising all the singers at this level, told two young girls the following… “If you are going to devote your life to a music career, you also need to devote your life to having fun with it as well.” Mariah Carey on The Voice. I know many of you get tired of me constantly saying over and over to have fun with your writing. I know that goes against the myth that sitting alone in a room and telling stories is “hard work.” And that many of you…