• Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Story Twenty

    DAY TWENTY… Almost went for two stories tonight. And strangely enough, I started off groggy and not wanting to write anything. But the challenge forced me to the writing computer at around 2 a.m. A good start time for me. I sort of fumbled my way through the half title-sheets, trying to find something that would get my energy going. I spotted one word. “Delightfully.” Now that was fun. Two pages farther in my half-title sheets, I saw the word “Dizzy” and knew I had my title. “Delightfully Dizzy” had to be a Marble Grant story, so I typed that on the subtitle and off I went. I typed in…

  • On Writing,  publishing

    The Magic Bakery: Chapter Five

    Chapter Five… I get a lot of questions about pen names and if writers should use pen names in this modern world of publishing. So let me use The Magic Bakery to explain my answer to that question. Now understand, the reason for this book about The Magic Bakery is to help writers understand copyright and the magic power of copyright in this world. But the metaphor of the bakery can help in business logic as well. And in sales. And in promotions. For example, understanding the power of free is clearly illustrated in The Magic Bakery and I will get to that in a later chapter. But for this chapter,…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Story Nineteen and Some Updates on Challenge

    DAY NINETEEN… Turned out to be a fun day today. Most of you don’t know we are having a coast workshop here right now. Fifteen professional writers working with Kris on science fiction. I get to just sort of drift around the edges and talk to them when they appear. Tonight I got to help Kris with a fun assignment. She can really come up with some amazing stuff, as many of you have noted about the assignments in some of the online workshops. (grin) Also, got three people signing up for the short story challenge with me being a first reader. Two for May, one for June. I’m excited about…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Quick Update to Short Story Challenge

    Simple Update and Information… There are two start dates on this. May 2nd as I said originally and June 1st. It means I will be reading stories through July (If anyone decides to take me up on this) but that is fine. Both are 60 day windows to do the challenge. Another note: I will be done with my short story challenge by the first of May and will be starting into writing novels. So I will not be writing short stories at the same time as reading them. Sign Up Information: If you are thinking about this seriously, and think you can write 30 short stories either in one…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    I Opened My Mouth… So Here Is How It Could Work

    A CHALLENGE… A few nights ago I mentioned that if anyone wanted to take up a story-a-day for thirty days, I could be their first reader for a price. Yup, said that. Now I understand how really difficult on so many levels this challenge is. This is the second time I have done it and over the years hope to do one in every month of the year. Over different years, of course. Like the first one was in July and got the book Stories from July. This one will be a book called Stories from April. The stories will also be in Smith’s Monthly, in collections, and published stand-alone.…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Story Eighteen and Half-Title Pages Explained

    DAY EIGHTEEN… I somehow managed to get everything done today and actually get to my writing computer by 2 a.m. I would love to be earlier, but I’ll take 2 a.m. Today I got two more collections turned in. I did the covers for all three, including paperback covers. I will give you the covers and links when the first three collections are up. I hope to do a few more fairly soon. And I also got done the story cover for last night’s story. And I figured out how to do my goofy comment about being a first reader. See the post above if you missed it. So at…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Story Seventeen

    DAY SEVENTEEN… By the time I got through everything today and the workshop assignments tonight, it was 3 a.m. I really got to start earlier. So off I went to my half-title sheets. I grabbed a half tile “A Thief…” and then almost instantly saw another half title. “of Regrets.” I put that in the title spot “A Thief of Regrets” and instantly put “A Bryant Street Story” under it because it sounded like a Bryant Street kind of title. But after the first line I changed the subtitle to “A Marble Grant Story” and got going. 3:35 a.m. I took a break at 900 words. 4:10 I took another…

  • On Writing,  publishing,  workshops

    Strengths Workshops Available

    THE FULL SERIES IS RECORDED AND AVAILABLE… All six of the Strengths Workshops now exist. If you ever wished a major professional writer would tell you what you are doing right and where you need work, now is your chance. And not just one, but two of us. Kris and I have been making our living in fiction and publishing now for over thirty years each. We have also started to mid-sized publishing companies over the years. And both of us have over twenty million copies of our books in print and have been on every major bestseller list. Kris and I will help you in personal responses to the five…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Story Sixteen and Still Going

    DAY SIXTEEN… Tonight I was again very late getting to the writing because of finishing up the Strengths Workshops. So I again looked at some old story starts and such and found a really interesting story start. I worked on it about an hour, adding about 1,000 words total to get it to a 2,000 word story. It is called “Habit.” And considering I spent all day, night, and into the late night in front of a computer finishing up the last of the Strengths workshop, I’ll take the win and another finished story. And I did not have time to do the cover for the story last night, so…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    Story Fifteen… Halfway Through the Challenge

    DAY FIFTEEN… Halfway and having fun. Yes, writing a short story per day is fun. And Kris says she is enjoying reading my stories every morning.  I imagine I would enjoy reading a new story (and making light notes) on a story a day from someone as well. (Yes, I would charge for that (grin).) Only problem is that no one I know could tackle that kind of challenge. But if you are crazy enough to think you could do it, write me and I will tell you how much I would charge to be your first reader for a month of short stories. (What a nuts idea. I might change…