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Time Crunched…
That Describes the Day… What little free time I had today went to watching The Voice final. Stunning music. Also had a fun hour plus in the store I hadn’t intended to have. I had planned on working with Josh and Dan for a short time to get an area set up to start working on a massive project. But then this nice guy came in, a collector who knew my old friend Bill. Josh and I got talking with him and he ended up buying two boxes of some L. Ron Hubbard leather books we had in the back warehouse. By the time that was finished, Josh was way…
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Running, Workshops, and Writing
And Pretty Much in That Order… Got out of the house late and then had to run errands. Two banks and both of our stores. Then I spent an hour, with Kris’s help, getting myself so I could get some music over my bluetooth headphones from my phone. Then I headed to do my short run, which trust me, did not feel short or quick, even though it was only three-quarters of a mile. I made it, but it was not a pretty sight. Problem is I don’t have a pace or breathing down yet, so my pace was just under a 9 minute pace, way too fast to be…
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A Response Letter…
To Any Writer Struggling With Ego… Have you ever listened to a kid tell a story? They can just go on and on making stuff up and they sure don’t need an ego to tell a story. And writing a story is just a learned skill, not something that takes an ego. As I have said in a number of workshops and lectures, I am convinced all of my stories suck. And I honestly don’t care because even if I write a story that doesn’t work, who cares? I did the best that I could and to me that is all that matters. If I had ego in thinking every story needed…
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Started Running Finally
Not Much in Distance, But a Start… Like every book or story, you have to start with a first line, a first word. Today, finally, I figured out how to motivate myself enough on the running to get the goals I want done. And interestingly enough, it is a twisted gambling structure that helped me get started. Now, for the folks who love to toss money away in casinos, yet feel they are winning, there are gambling systems. A Martingale is one. (Really silly.) Another is a simple Positive Progressive Betting System. All that one does is give some structure to betting and make a gambler feel lucky at times…
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Great Writer’s Meeting Tonight
23 Professional Writers Talking Business… Once every six weeks or so we have a gathering up at the WMG Publishing offices of the professional writers in the Pacific Northwest that can make it. 3 hours of nothing but business. You get 23 pros in the room like that, all focused, and it is great fun. Topics ranged all over the map tonight, from a fantastic reader survey to Hollywood to Book Pricing to Ads, and on and on. I took notes. Lots of notes. Thanks everyone, for a fantastic and learning evening. —————- JUNE ONLINE WORKSHOPS… All have openings at the moment. Information at www.wmgpublishingworkshops.com Any questions at all, feel free…
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The Magic Bakery: Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine… Beyond Next Year. As I said last chapter, it has been my observation that most writers never look more than a year out, if that. And that lack of being able to see five years and ten years and fifty years into the future causes all sorts of really bad decisions. Now, I wish I could say I had been an exception to this in my first few decades or so in publishing. Nope. Kris was a bunch better at looking long term and making decisions based on that vision. But I wasn’t. And wow did I make some boneheaded mistakes because of that lack of vision. So now…
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Too Much Other Stuff
Yup, We All Have Them… Meetings and then I spent a couple of hours up at WMG working on collectable stuff. We (meaning me and Josh, the North store manager among other jobs) are madly working to dig out a massive collection I bought about four years ago and haven’t done anything with. But at the WMG stores and offices and warehouses, to dig out one thing, it takes moving around a ton of other stuff. But almost there. The collection? Well, for libraries, they used to bind newspapers to make them easier to store and handle. The Oregonian, the main Portland paper, was bound in large black books, each paper…
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May Half Gone So A Summary Day
Time is Speeding Right Along… Workshop Summary… — First off, the special cover branding workshop with Allyson is now full. Sorry if you missed it. — The special prices for lectures I have listed below will be ending soon. — And the Strengths Workshops will close at some point for new sign-ups. If questions, write me. — Two spots open in the novel challenge starting June 1st. No openings in the short story workshop challenge. (And the four writers in May are doing great and I’m enjoying reading the stories.) That’s the workshop and challenge summary. May speeding right along. Personal Summary… I hope to power on the novel and…
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The Magic Bakery: Chapter Eight
Chapter Eight… Success and the future. Now there are two words that almost every writer I have met can’t fathom or even see when it comes to their own writing and business. Now granted, some writers give those two words lip service, and in different workshops Kris and I work at getting writers to think ahead. It feels like walking into a brick wall. Success and future planning when it comes to writing and a publishing business are just not possible for almost every writer to fathom. And honestly, I understand that. My goal, for a very long time, was to make a living at my writing. I had NO concept…
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Again A Busy Day
Workshop Stuff Mostly… Some writing done tonight. Book is going fine when I get to my writing computer. This afternoon, I ended up after some meetings at WMG offices walking in a light rain to get my milage today. Then stayed at WMG and worked on workshop stuff and the new lectures. Then home to cook dinner and do workshop assignments. Then I watched The Voice. An amazing eight singers in the semi-finals and this year I have no idea who is going to win it. Not a clue. Some years one person sort of climbs to the top, but all eight of these humans are stunning. And two of them…