• Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Fun Pictures…

    Wonder What I Did Last Week… Here are a few pictures taken by the Writers of the Future people at the 39th year awards. Keep in mind that I was the first person across the stage 39 years ago… And with Jody Lynn Nye I was the co-editor of this volume in the transition after Dave Farland’s tragic death. (First, before the pictures, remember the May workshops are starting up. See yesterday’s post for details.) Here is that first picture 39 years ago of me being the first across the Writers of the Future stage. Oh, so young. Algis Budrys in tux, I am shaking Greg Benford’s hand. Behind me…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Not Enough Hours

    We All Have Those Kinds of Days… No matter how we try, there is just not enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done. In the old days, I would just short myself on sleep, but not these days. I think I burnt out that ability somewhere in my early sixties. So Advanced Character Development is a Tuesday Class, and responses and the new week will be posted on Tuesday. Late Tuesday, so many of you will already be in bed when that happens. Don’t write me. Just shows me you don’t read this. (grin) Today (which is now Tuesday), Kris and I run screaming…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Another Fun Day

    I Hope My Two Lectures and One Panel Went Well… I just got going and was my normal blunt self. Huge numbers of people in the two lectures, which was surprising to me, but they must have known that would happen since they put me in that big room. And fun being on the Kickstarter panel. Then I headed home in the late afternoon and an hour later walked down to the Arts District and met Kevin Anderson and the entire crew from D2D for pizza and a pub crawl. Fantastic fun, and Kevin and I got telling stories over beers about some of the old-timers in the field of…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  workshops

    Fun Collection Class

    Thieves Collection Class I think this might be the most fun collection 9-week class we have done. The topic of Thieves can be in any genre and cover just about anything.  Got two other collection classes starting as well today, but the Thieves to me sounds like the most fun. At the end of 9 weeks you have written five new stories and published a collection. I’m thinking a romance thieves collection would be great. Or maybe a thieves in Space Opera. Thieves topic and focus just fits anywhere. Fun. Just started today. Also the first classes in the July Regular Workshops started today as well. And the second sessions…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  workshops

    General Stuff… And Story Challenge

    Five Stories So Far… Everything going fine. 3 stories in the 2,500 word range, two stories in the 4,000 word range. I got jammed today building a new Kickstarter, so didn’t get the stories uploaded to Patreon or the rest of what I was going to do there, but will shortly. And will do a challenge complete update here shortly as well, including how the days are working out as far as timing. Workshop Sale will finally end today (Thursday in the evening). Use code YearEnd if you want to grab one last class on 50% off sale. I have been holding up on my calorie limits and hitting my…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Night Off

    Santa Tomorrow… Me and Kris and Lisa and a number of other writers around town, plus 25,000 to 30,000 or more other humans are all going to dress up in our matching Santa outfits, hats and all, and do 5K around the streets of downtown Vegas. Oh, my, god, is that fun and just head-shaking stupid. So I will be announcing my 2022 challenge in the next few days and doing more posts on the Wet Blanket book, plus announcing some fun new workshops and classes and the start of Motivational Monday for writing and publishing. But tonight, since I have to get up slightly early, I am taking a…

  • 70 Book Challenge,  Challenge,  Recommended Reading

    Filler Tonight

    Just to Keep the Blogging Streak Alive… Night like tonight I wonder why I bother, but this streak after nine-plus years of not missing a day doing a blog is so powerful, I have to acknowledge it. Annoying. Granted, I am writing here, but can’t begin to tell you how many times I wished this streak was nine-plus years of fiction writing without missing a day. Maybe that will be part of the new challenge for 2022. More than likely not. I have a few more chapters of the Wet Blanket Reality written, just don’t feel like putting them up right now, so will do so in the next week…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff,  Kickstarter Campaign

    Busy Day But Not As Expected

    Original Plan: Run Two 5K… I have so much stuff to do to get ready to leave on Tuesday, I decided to skip the first run and stay home and work. And for the second 5K I walked a mile. Kris and Lisa did both and I am impressed. But doing both runs would have wiped me out and I needed the hours of writing and work. Most of the time I just powered on finishing the new Thunder Mountain novel. And I am finishing up all the refunds on the game. (Not done yet, so no panic. Still got a lot of letters to send.) And tomorrow I will…

  • Challenge,  running

    Here I Go Again…

    Tomorrow, First Run… Far, far too early in the morning, but for a great cause, a children’s cancer fund. 5K Now the great plan that started back in July didn’t pan out real well, even though I did a ton of things right. I managed for almost two months to do more than 5K in steps per day, so far without missing more than a couple of times. Some days past 10K in steps and some running. I also made sure that every day I ate less in calories than I spent. I had almost no misses since the first of August. I had hoped to lose one pound per…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    Going Out Again…

    Into the World With Friends… Wow, that is amazing that we are able to do that now. After 15 months of seeing no one personally (except other masked people in the elevator), seeing no friends, having no writing talks, now that has changed. Had a wonderful birthday dinner a few weeks back with Loren and Heather Coleman and two other writers who were all fully vaccinated, then dinner and lunch with Lisa a few times, then Chris and Steve York (also fully vaccinated) showed up in town on their way East and we had some wonderful dinners and late-night gab sessions. And yesterday, Kris and I went out for lunch…