Posts in category Challenge

Took a Day Off

September 29, 2016 Leave a Comment Written by dwsmith

Took a Day Off

Nice dinner in the valley, fun movie, a bunch of television when I got home.

I did manage to get some e-mail answered, but past that, a day doing real world things. Who knew Kris and I could do that at times? (grin)

———————

October Online Workshops Start In One Week

Click the workshop tab above for description and sign-up or go to www.wmgpublishingworkshops.com.

Questions about any of the workshops, feel free to write me.

All are limited to 5 writers. All still have room at the moment.

Class #31… Oct 4th … The Business of Writing
Class #32… Oct 4th … Character Voice/Setting
Class #33… Oct 4th … Writing Mysteries
Class #34… Oct 4th … Speed
Class #35… Oct 4th … Teams in Fiction
Class #36… Oct 5th … Depth in Writing
Class #37… Oct 5th … Point of View
Class #38… Oct 5th … Writing Fiction Sales Copy
Class #39… Oct 5th … Writing and Selling Short Stories
Class #40… Oct 5th … Advanced Depth

Classic Workshops and Lectures are also available at any time.

If you are wondering what order would be best to take some of these workshops, we have done a curriculum for the workshops. You can see that at http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/workshop-curriculum/

—————–

Star Fall is Out in a Bundle

Repeating this again since I really hope a bunch of you get this bundle to see what I produced in those ten days in August. Some of you might remember the book I wrote in ten days while aiming at seven days in late August. Star Fall: A Seeders Universe Novel. That book is now available as I promised it would be. The official publication date isn’t until November, but at the moment it is available in a fantastic bundle called The Extreme Science Fiction Bundle.

Also notice that in this bundle there is a fantastic Retrieval Artist novel called Extremes by Kris. It also has a great novel by Kevin J. Anderson, another by Mike Resnick, and another by M.L. Buchman. Plus two books by J. Daniel Sawyer.

And also an amazing volume of Fiction River: Risk Takers. I edited that and it is a fantastic example of a Fiction River volume.

extreme-sf-ad-20163

——————–

Totals For Year 4, Month 2, Day 28

Writing in Public blog streak… Day 1,105

Total Miles This Month… 147 miles

— Daily Fiction: 00 original words. Fiction month-to-date: 4,700 words

— Nonfiction: 00 new words. Nonfiction month-to-date total: 1,500 words

— Blog Posts: 100 new words. Blog month-to-date word count: 9,900 words

— E-mail: 7 e-mails. Approx. 800 original words. E-mails month-to date: 425 e-mails. Approx. 27,400 words

— Covers Designed and Finished: 0. Covers finished month-to-date: 0 Covers

———-

— Year of Short Fiction Goal: 120 stories (July 1st to June 30th). Stories finished to date: 8 stories.

— Yearly Novel Goal: 12 Novels. Novels finished to date: 2 novels.

——–

You can support this ongoing blog at Patreon on a monthly basis. Not per post. Just click on the Patreon image. Thanks for your support.

On Writing, publishing

publishing, Writing

Automatic Confidence

September 28, 2016 6 Comments Written by dwsmith

Topic of the Night: Automatic Confidence

Lots and lots of writers get lost in the process of publishing between the moment they finish their story or novel and the moment it gets into print in one fashion or another.

Getting lost in this area often comes from a lack of confidence.

And fear. Massive fear.

Not sure what writers are afraid of, but sometimes releasing a work for a writer is like walking into nests of spiders. Or worse.

This lack of confidence and fear leads to either not publishing or rewriting, which is a form of not publishing.

So here tonight is an idea for you, something I call Automatic Confidence.

A Personal Note

Now, I know a vast amount about craft and storytelling and have the hundreds of published novels and even more hundreds of published short stories to prove it. Not even counting the teaching and editing I do year after year.

And yet, as I have always said, writers are the worst judges of their own work. And I am no exception to that rule, one of the only real rules in writing.

Since I started following Heinlein’s Rules in 1982 I have been convinced at a deep level that everything I write is crap. I never say that and I never act on that feeling because I learned through seven lost years of rewriting how bad that path is.

But I flat don’t trust myself to make any judgement on anything I have written. Ever.

So I don’t. It really is that simple and that hard.

And to make sure I never get a chance to make a crippling and wrong judgement on my own work, I have set up what I call Automatic Confidence.

What is Automatic Confidence?

Basically, it is a system that you follow to get yourself past all the points of critical voice taking back a story and trying to “fix” it. Or toss it away.

For example, for me, I have a three step process. It used to be a step or two longer in traditional and the early days of indie publishing, but it is down to three now.

Remember, I do not rewrite. When I get to the end of a book, it is done for me.

So my Automatic Confidence is this:

Step One: I print up the novel or story and give it to Kris, my first reader.

Step Two: I look at any correction she has made on my manuscript and decide if I want to fix it or not. I fix typos and unclear antecedents. If she has a story suggestion, I sometimes give that some thought. But I never reread the book, I just fix the mistakes.

Step Three: I give the book to Allyson at WMG Publishing to get to a copyeditor. I never see it again until it hits print. I have trained Allyson and the copyeditor who works on my stuff to go very light and about ever three books I have to answer a query or two.

You might have to have a step four in looking at the copyedits until you get a copyeditor trained completely to your voice and style. And you might need to fix the mistakes the copyeditor finds in typos, but Allyson does that for me at WMG.

So I have three steps in my Automatic Confidence.

By the time the book or story hits that third step, I am on to the next story. It is automatic.

I never have to fight the battle of believing something I write sucks and killing it. Or worse, rewriting it. I never face that.

I let readers decide.

Most long-term pros have variations of Automatic Confidence systems they have built into their process. But I almost never see beginning and young professionals with such systems. So I hear from them a great deal about how they agonize about the release process.

Stop the judgement on your own work. Make the release process automatic in some fashion or another and never give it another thought.

Just a suggestion to save you some grief and also to maybe save some of your work from self-destruction.

Hope it helps.

(If you want to hear a little more about this, take the Speed Online Workshop.)

———————

October Online Workshops Start In One Week

Click the workshop tab above for description and sign-up or go to www.wmgpublishingworkshops.com.

Questions about any of the workshops, feel free to write me.

All are limited to 5 writers. All still have room at the moment.

Classic Workshops and Lectures are also available at any time.

If you are wondering what order would be best to take some of these workshops, we have done a curriculum for the workshops. You can see that at http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/workshop-curriculum/

—————–

Star Fall is Out in a Bundle

And also an amazing volume of Fiction River: Risk Takers. I edited that and it is a fantastic example of a Fiction River volume.

extreme-sf-ad-20163

——————–

Totals For Year 4, Month 2, Day 27

Writing in Public blog streak… Day 1,104

Total Miles This Month… 143 miles

— Daily Fiction: 00 original words. Fiction month-to-date: 4,700 words

— Nonfiction: 00 new words. Nonfiction month-to-date total: 1,500 words

— Blog Posts: 800 new words. Blog month-to-date word count: 9,800 words

— E-mail: 29 e-mails. Approx. 2,100 original words. E-mails month-to date:418 e-mails. Approx. 26,600 words

— Covers Designed and Finished: 0. Covers finished month-to-date: 0 Covers

———-

— Year of Short Fiction Goal: 120 stories (July 1st to June 30th). Stories finished to date: 8 stories.

— Yearly Novel Goal: 12 Novels. Novels finished to date: 2 novels.

——–

You can support this ongoing blog at Patreon on a monthly basis. Not per post. Just click on the Patreon image. Thanks for your support.

On Writing, publishing, Topic of the Night

publishing, topic of the night, Writing

Regaining Focus

September 27, 2016 5 Comments Written by dwsmith

Topic of the Night: Regaining Focus

Last night I talked about focus, how times and outside events sometimes cause us to lose focus in our writing.

How do you get the focus back on writing besides the simple answer “Slowly?” That answer helps no one, really.

So let me give a few ideas on how to regain focus, or at least how I have done it at times. How I have brought back up writing on my priority list over the years when the world is tossing in far too many things.

Look at Overall Goals

Sometimes losing focus can be not only caused by other things in life taking priority, but also by each of us losing a focus on what is important with our own writing.

When the goal fades, the importance of your writing fades back down the priority list as well. Just natural. It starts feeling like “Why bother?”

So step back and take a hard look at your overall goals, see if they still fit what you are doing. If not, change them to goals that do fit. This might take some time. Give it the time.

Success Can Cause a Lack of Focus

Strangely enough, with writing, accomplishing a major goal or reaching some milepost can really cause you to lose the focus on the writing. It should work the other way around, but it doesn’t most times.

This has stopped me cold and made me lose focus numbers of times over the decades.

How to get past this is to again step back, acknowledge what you have accomplished, and reset another goal or milepost. And then focus on that new goal. That will bring up the focus on your writing and bring your writing back up your priority list.

Lack of Success Can Hurt As Well

This one makes more sense than most, but isn’t often the cause of a lack of focus. Most writers I know don’t give up easily on dreams of writing.

But when sales are down or under your made-up expectations, the focus can get pulled into other places trying to fix the sales. And they can’t be fixed without writing.

But just when the writer needs to really jump to more writing, the focus of lack of sales makes the writing almost impossible.

I usually don’t much care about how my books sell. But at times this creeps in and when I hear myself say something along these lines I try to smash it down at once. So listen to what comes out of your mouth to spot this problem.

A ton easier said than done.

Your Goals Force You Away From Writing

Wow, have I seen this a great deal. Especially with writers who start making some money with their writing or who go freelance with their writing. Suddenly everything in the business world, in the marketing, in the production, feels more important than the writing.

Notice I said “feels” which means the priority list has shifted.

In fact, the focus on the writing often drops so far down the ladder of priority that it is an afterthought. Even though the writing is the center of the business. The other stuff just “feels” more important and is more controllable in theory. So it gets done first, leaving little or no time to write.

This becomes a death spiral, actually, for writers, since the more the money goes down because of lack of writing focus, the more the writer will focus on external things like more promotion and so on to try to fix it. Scary but true and I’ve seen it over and over.

And yeah, you folks over the last three years have watched me try to balance this as we have built WMG Publishing into a solid, mid-sized publishing company with many employees. Sometimes I have lost that balance. Mostly I have won.

Over the last month I have lost, but I will regain the focus on the writing again soon, meaning in the next few days.

Health Issues

The sudden focus to a health issue or a family member or close friend health issue can cause writing focus to vanish instantly. And that’s logical.

The key in times of health issues is to keep your writing a fun, safe place to play. And take all pressure off your writing instantly. Guilt around not-writing might be a motivator in normal times, but it is deadly around health issues.

Take the pressure off and make the writing important again as the health issues clear.

I had to do this when my friend Bill died suddenly. I spent almost nine months not writing because my focus was on clearing up his estate and recovering from that. But when the time was right, I came back to writing. But it took some months to get back.

Summary

Those are just a few of the things to try to help you regain focus when the writing suddenly seems to not be so important.

Sadly, I have seen far more writers than I want to think about lose focus, put writing way down the priority list, and never recover. Take this problem as a serious problem, no matter the cause.

And keep the writing fun. Make it a place to escape from the other things. That also will help you give it more focus because it is fun.

And we all like having fun.

—————–

Star Fall is Out in a Bundle

And also an amazing volume of Fiction River: Risk Takers. I edited that and it is a fantastic example of a Fiction River volume.

extreme-sf-ad-20163

——————–

Totals For Year 4, Month 2, Day 26

Writing in Public blog streak… Day 1,103

Total Miles This Month… 138 miles

— Daily Fiction: 00 original words. Fiction month-to-date: 4,700 words

— Nonfiction: 00 new words. Nonfiction month-to-date total: 1,500 words

— Blog Posts: 800 new words. Blog month-to-date word count: 9,000 words

— E-mail: 27 e-mails. Approx. 2,200 original words. E-mails month-to date: 389 e-mails. Approx. 24,500 words

— Covers Designed and Finished: 0. Covers finished month-to-date: 0 Covers

———-

— Year of Short Fiction Goal: 120 stories (July 1st to June 30th). Stories finished to date: 8 stories.

— Yearly Novel Goal: 12 Novels. Novels finished to date: 2 novels.

——–

You can support this ongoing blog at Patreon on a monthly basis. Not per post. Just click on the Patreon image. Thanks for your support.

On Writing, publishing, Writing in Public

challenge, Writing, Writing in Public

Focus

September 26, 2016 8 Comments Written by dwsmith

Focus

It has been sort of a very strange period for me with my writing over the last few weeks or so. And I got a hunch this sort of things happens to everyone at times. Not the first for me, but one of the first times since I started this blog streak three plus years ago.

Let me see if I can describe this. It takes, at least for most of us, a level of focus at fiction writing. I am not talking about planning ahead or outlining or anything silly like that.

And I am not talking about all the problems that stop us from getting to the writing computer. At the moment I have none of those.

What I have is simply a lack of focus on fiction writing.

A better way of putting this is my short attention span is drawn away at the moment, so I just never seem to get to the writing. I want to, I like the book I am working on, no fears or anything like that.

Just too many other things at the moment that hold my attention.

There is nothing wrong with that in the slightest.

And I am certainly not beating myself up about not getting more words. I have total confidence that if I get to the writing, focus on it, it will happen just fine. And I also know that’s going to happen fairly quickly.

How you tell you are in this sort of strange mind place is conflict. That’s right, it feels like a conflict. Parts of your brain war for focus time.

Let me see if I can sort of explain that as well by example.

I am doing a ton of different things at the moment, some I have talked about such as the running, the bundles, the workshops (both here and online), the Kickstarter, and other things I haven’t talked about, but will shortly for a few of them.

I am also headed to Utah in a week or so for a wonderful conference there I’ll talk about later this week.

For example, I am losing weight, so a pretty large portion of my brain every day now is focused on what I can eat, how much, what I can cook, and so on. I am dropping about a pound every three days and need to stay on that pace until November and that is a focus.

At the same time I am ramping up the running, getting gear, reading all sorts of things about that, and spending the hours every day to get the milage needed. That is a huge focus.

And that’s just two things out of many that are fighting in my mind with my desire to write fiction.

Think of your focus like a tank of water. You can only drain so much away every day before there is nothing left for the writing. And normally writing is one of my top two or three things every day I focus on.

So not getting to the writing feels like a small conflict going on. And a disappointment, because I really love just sitting and making up stories. But for the moment the focus tank is dry most days.

However, the way to get out of this sort of place is to bring up the importance of the writing in the chain of things. So once again I have set a deadline for the new novel. I need to have it done by the 15th of October.

Not a huge push for me because I understand where I am at with focus.

But the deadline will over the next few days bring the writing focus clawing its way back up through all the distractions.

In case you were wondering about all this, to have this sort of awareness of your own patterns and writing takes years and practice. But I do hope me running through this might have triggered a few things for some of you.

And stay tuned as you see the writing focus come back on track while I will still be doing the running and watching what I am eating. Each area will get some focus.

Or at least that’s the plan. (grin)

—————–

Star Fall is Out in a Bundle

Repeating this again also since I really hope a bunch of you get this bundle to see what I produced in those ten days in August. Some of you might remember the book I wrote in ten days while aiming at seven days in late August. Star Fall: A Seeders Universe Novel. That book is now available as I promised it would be. The official publication date isn’t until November, but at the moment it is available in a fantastic bundle called The Extreme Science Fiction Bundle.

And also an amazing volume of Fiction River: Risk Takers. I edited that and it is a fantastic example of a Fiction River volume.

extreme-sf-ad-20163

——————–

Totals For Year 4, Month 2, Day 25

Writing in Public blog streak… Day 1,102

Total Miles This Month… 133 miles

— Daily Fiction: 00 original words. Fiction month-to-date: 4,700 words

— Nonfiction: 00 new words. Nonfiction month-to-date total: 1,500 words

— Blog Posts: 600 new words. Blog month-to-date word count: 8,200 words

— E-mail: 9 e-mails. Approx. 200 original words. E-mails month-to date: 362 e-mails. Approx. 22,300 words

— Covers Designed and Finished: 0. Covers finished month-to-date: 0 Covers

———-

— Year of Short Fiction Goal: 120 stories (July 1st to June 30th). Stories finished to date: 8 stories.

— Yearly Novel Goal: 12 Novels. Novels finished to date: 2 novels.

——–

You can support this ongoing blog at Patreon on a monthly basis. Not per post. Just click on the Patreon image. Thanks for your support.

On Writing, publishing, Topic of the Night, Writing in Public

focus, publishing, topic of the night, Writing

Workshop Finished Here On The Coast

September 25, 2016 2 Comments Written by dwsmith

Workshop Finished Here

Today was the last day of the Historical, Time Travel, and Alternate History workshop here at the coast, taught by Kris. What a fantastic group of writers who attended from all over the world.

Kris was the instructor on this one, so I played behind-the-scenes support, but last night I got to read a group of stories from them because Kris wanted me to be reader feedback. I was impressed and got to give them my feedback today. Some of the most innovative ideas came out of there and I got a hunch I’m going to be seeing a lot of those stories as parts of new novels or series. Great fun for me.

And a few of the locals dropped by after they were done this evening and by the time Kris and I got home all we wanted to do was watch television.

—————–

Some Fun!!

Repeating this in case you missed it yesterday. If you want to hear me talk for a while on publishing and writing, I was interviewed for a podcast a while back on DIY MFA Radio by Gabriela Pereira. It was fun to do and I think might help a few folks.

Thanks, Gabriela.

Give it a listen. http://DIYMFA.com/113

————————

Star Fall is Out in a Bundle

And also an amazing volume of Fiction River: Risk Takers. I edited that and it is a fantastic example of a Fiction River volume.

extreme-sf-ad-20163

——————–

Totals For Year 4, Month 2, Day 24

Writing in Public blog streak… Day 1,101

Total Miles This Month… 127 miles

— Daily Fiction: 00 original words. Fiction month-to-date: 4,700 words

— Nonfiction: 700 new words. Nonfiction month-to-date total: 1,500 words

— Blog Posts: 200 new words. Blog month-to-date word count: 7,600 words

— E-mail: 11 e-mails. Approx. 400 original words. E-mails month-to date: 353 e-mails. Approx. 22,100 words

— Covers Designed and Finished: 0. Covers finished month-to-date: 0 Covers

———-

— Year of Short Fiction Goal: 120 stories (July 1st to June 30th). Stories finished to date: 8 stories.

— Yearly Novel Goal: 12 Novels. Novels finished to date: 2 novels.

——–

You can support this ongoing blog at Patreon on a monthly basis. Not per post. Just click on the Patreon image. Thanks for your support.

On Writing, publishing, workshops

publishing, workshops, Writing

Running Breakthrough

September 24, 2016 7 Comments Written by dwsmith

Running Breakthrough

As I have talked about since the first of this month, I am in training to try to finish a marathon in November. I started this over twenty pounds heavier on July 1st and have been slowly and carefully working my way toward that goal of starting that race.

Very, very carefully since I was overweight and have bad knees. My goal is to run/walk the marathon. I want to say that right from the start. Actually my goal is starting. Finishing is sort of a distant dream. I respect that distance. But after today it feels a little closer.

I had planned on upping my daily milage of walking through September and have done that, now doing my base of five miles every day and adding in some seven mile days. Not even bothering my knees or legs.

And a second goal in September was to run a little, walk a lot, slowly build up the running. The ultimate goal is to run the first ten miles of the marathon which at my stride and pace would pretty much help me make the time limit.

So on October 1st I had planned to start running longer stretches than a quarter mile. My weight is down and close to on the pace I planned. I have to lose two pounds a week between now and the race to be on target, something I am already doing.

So today, because it was raining and nasty and Kris wanted to do her running without getting soaked because she is teaching a workshop right now, we went to the lower level of a mall parking garage. It is exactly a quarter mile around the garage inside. A perfect and dry track.

So I figured it was time for me to get going with the longer run pushes. Not sure why I thought today was the day. Just felt like I was ready I guess.

So today I decided I wanted to run one mile without stopping. And I did it. And I could have kept going, which felt great. In fact, when I hit the mile I felt like I was just dropping into stride and regular breathing.

So rest tomorrow, run on Sunday again.

First full mile I have run non-stop in 36 years. Gaining on it.

—————–

Some Fun!!

If you want to hear me talk for a while on publishing and writing, I was interviewed for a podcast a while back on DIY MFA Radio by Gabriela Pereira. It was fun to do and I think might help a few folks.

Thanks, Gabriela.

Give it a listen. http://DIYMFA.com/113

————————

Star Fall is Out in a Bundle

Some of you might remember the book I wrote in ten days while aiming at seven days in late August. Star Fall: A Seeders Universe Novel. That book is now available as I promised it would be. The official publication date isn’t until November, but at the moment it is available in a fantastic bundle called The Extreme Science Fiction Bundle.

And also an amazing volume of Fiction River: Risk Takers. I edited that and it is a fantastic example of a Fiction River volume.

extreme-sf-ad-20163

——————–

Totals For Year 4, Month 2, Day 23

Writing in Public blog streak… Day 1,100

Over 10,000 steps streak… Day 83

Running Miles This Month… 11 miles

Total Miles This Month… 122 miles

— Daily Fiction: 00 original words. Fiction month-to-date: 4,700 words

— Nonfiction: 700 new words. Nonfiction month-to-date total: 1,500 words

— Blog Posts: 400 new words. Blog month-to-date word count: 7,400 words

— E-mail: 11 e-mails. Approx. 300 original words. E-mails month-to date: 342 e-mails. Approx. 21,700 words

— Covers Designed and Finished: 0. Covers finished month-to-date: 0 Covers

———-

— Year of Short Fiction Goal: 120 stories (July 1st to June 30th). Stories finished to date: 8 stories.

— Yearly Novel Goal: 12 Novels. Novels finished to date: 2 novels.

——–

You can support this ongoing blog at Patreon on a monthly basis. Not per post. Just click on the Patreon image. Thanks for your support.

On Writing, publishing, workshops

publishing, topic of the night, Writing

A Workshop Day

September 23, 2016 5 Comments Written by dwsmith

Workshop Day

I spent most of today, in one fashion or another, on workshops.

For those of you who missed it, the workshops now have a curriculum, or at least a suggested order to take them. That is under the Workshop Curriculum tab at the top of the page.

The entire things is broken down into core workshops, business workshops, craft workshops, and genre workshops to make them easier to find. I also in two areas suggest order and what you should take first.

And for those of you who signed up for workshops through our Kickstarter drive, the first week of October I’ll send out a survey through Kickstarter to get workshops you might desire. And you don’t have to decide then either. We can hold workshops off for a future point, no problem at all.

October workshops still have slots in all workshops (they are not included in the Kickstarter program), including the new Point of View workshop. And yes, we will teach you how to float viewpoints and when to do it and when not to. As well as so, so, so much more.

Having control of viewpoints in your story is critical to reader enjoyment. And if you think viewpoints are simple, you are dead wrong. In fact, the Point of View workshop might be one of our most complex.

It will be a fun workshop, that’s for sure.

———————

Smith’s Monthly

Patreon supporters and Smith’s Monthly subscribers, two issues are working through the process with a third one to follow shortly. Stay tuned.

———————

Exercise Today

Got seven miles in and just under a mile running of that seven miles. Slowly picking up speed and distance, even tired and very busy as I was today.

————————

Only One Day Left!!

Just ONE DAY left to grab a fantastic fantasy bundle. It’s called The Epic Fantasy Bundle. Kris has a full novel in it called Heart Readers and it also has novels by Allen Drury, Brandon Sanderson and Tracy Hickman, among others. Can’t go wrong with that list of writers. Wow!!

And it has Fiction River: Unnatural Worlds in it. Kris and I edited this one and it’s a great one. You can get the bundle at http://storybundle.com/fantasy

Don’t wait on this one. It ends in one day and will then go away forever!

Epic-Fantasy-ad-2016-e1472882160922

——————–

Totals For Year 4, Month 2, Day 22

Writing in Public blog streak… Day 1,099

Over 10,000 steps streak… Day 82

Running Miles This Month… 10 miles

Total Miles This Month… 116 miles

— Daily Fiction: 00 original words. Fiction month-to-date: 4,700 words

— Nonfiction: 700 new words. Nonfiction month-to-date total: 1,500 words

— Blog Posts: 200 new words. Blog month-to-date word count: 7,000 words

— E-mail: 14 e-mails. Approx. 600 original words. E-mails month-to date: 331 e-mails. Approx. 21,400 words

— Covers Designed and Finished: 0. Covers finished month-to-date: 0 Covers

———-

— Year of Short Fiction Goal: 120 stories (July 1st to June 30th). Stories finished to date: 8 stories.

— Yearly Novel Goal: 12 Novels. Novels finished to date: 2 novels.

——–

You can support this ongoing blog at Patreon on a monthly basis. Not per post. Just click on the Patreon image. Thanks for your support.

On Writing, publishing, workshops

publishing, workshops, Writing

Got Sidetracked

September 22, 2016 7 Comments Written by dwsmith

Got Sidetracked

I had all sorts of things I was going to do tonight, including writing, and didn’t get many of them done. Got a few, but got sidetracked on setting up some forms to help with both writing organization and running organization and workshop stuff. And hours just went away. Amazing how that happens, isn’t it?

———————

What Was I Thinking Update #2

I have a video update on my race progress as part of the series What Was I Thinking. It’s only a couple minutes.

———————-

I want to push these two bundles again!!!

I am in two great bundles at the moment and so is Kris. You really can’t go wrong with these two bundles. Amazing reading. And the fantasy bundle only has two days left.

And also an amazing volume of Fiction River: Risk Takers. I edited that and it is a fantastic example of a Fiction River volume.

extreme-sf-ad-20163

The second bundle is a fantastic fantasy bundle that only has a two more days on it. It’s called The Epic Fantasy Bundle. Kris has a full novel in it called Heart Readers and it also has novels by Allen Drury, Brandon Sanderson and Tracy Hickman, among others.

And it has Fiction River: Unnatural Worlds in it. Kris and I edited this one and it’s a great one. You can get the bundle at http://storybundle.com/fantasy Don’t wait on this one. It ends in three days to go away forever!

Epic-Fantasy-ad-2016-e1472882160922

——————-

The Writing of Starburst: A Seeders Universe Novel

Day 1… 2,000… Total so far… 2,000 words
Day 2… 1,000… Total so far… 3,000 words
Day 3… 1,700… Total so far… 4,700 words
——————–

Totals For Year 4, Month 2, Day 21

Writing in Public blog streak… Day 1,098

Over 10,000 steps streak… Day 81

Running Miles This Month… 9 miles

Total Miles This Month… 109 miles

— Daily Fiction: 00 original words. Fiction month-to-date: 4,700 words

— Nonfiction: 00 new words. Nonfiction month-to-date total: 800 words

— Blog Posts: 200 new words. Blog month-to-date word count: 6,800 words

— E-mail: 9 e-mails. Approx. 500 original words. E-mails month-to date: 317 e-mails. Approx. 20,800 words

— Covers Designed and Finished: 0. Covers finished month-to-date: 0 Covers

———-

— Year of Short Fiction Goal: 120 stories (July 1st to June 30th). Stories finished to date: 8 stories.

— Yearly Novel Goal: 12 Novels. Novels finished to date: 2 novels.

——–

You can support this ongoing blog at Patreon on a monthly basis. Not per post. Just click on the Patreon image. Thanks for your support.

On Writing, publishing, Writing in Public

publishing, Writing

Back To Regular Fun

September 21, 2016 1 Comment Written by dwsmith

Back to Regular Fun

We hit the final hours of the Kickstarter this afternoon and it finished strong. Wow, just wow. Thank you, everyone.

And through Kickstarter, when everything is done on their side, I will send out to everyone a survey for the information we need to fulfill the rewards, including the workshop and lecture stuff. That will happen in the first week of October.

So now I want to get my focus back on three things. First, I am doing my best to ramp up my running. Second, I want to talk about the two fantastic bundles I have books in. And third, back to the novel and some writing. Finally. I’ve been missing it, actually.

———————-

So first, the running part of things.

Many of you following here know I am hoping to run/walk a marathon in the middle of November. I started this way overweight on July 1st, and I have not missed walking five miles a day since then.

But now I am working on the running part while being very careful to not injure myself. And that’s getting interesting to say the least since I am still too heavy, even though I am over halfway to my goal weight. Goal weight 180 pounds or under.

So I thought a couple times a week I would put in a couple of visual looks at how I doing. The first one is my percent of weight loss to my goal. About 60% there. (Almost on track since about 60% of the time has passed.)

Weight Loss

60%

The second one is how I judge my chances of finishing all 26 miles within the 5 hour time limit at this point in my training.

I think 10% is optimistic, actually. But I have two months to go so I want to keep moving this bar upward, slowly getting and feeling more prepared. At this moment in time I would not be able to finish the 26 miles in anything close to five hours if at all. I am walk/running at a 15 minute per mile pace, more walking then running, sadly. 6.5 hours. Too far over 5 hours at the moment.

Chance of Finishing

10%

———————-

Next the bundles.

I am in two great bundles at the moment and so is Kris.

And also an amazing volume of Fiction River: Risk Takers. I edited that and it is a fantastic example of a Fiction River volume.

extreme-sf-ad-20163

The second bundle is a fantastic fantasy bundle that only has a few more days on it. It’s called The Epic Fantasy Bundle. Kris has a full novel in it called Heart Readers and it also has novels by Allen Drury, Brandon Sanderson and Tracy Hickman, among others.

Epic-Fantasy-ad-2016-e1472882160922

——————-

The Writing

Sometimes life just says “too much to do” and the writing is put on hold. We all have those times. That seemed to be the case for me over the last couple of weeks. Just had my focus all over the place. And not one of those places was the writing.

But now things are clearing some even though we have a workshop going on at WMG Publishing offices. All the writers are busy, so I’ll get to spend time with them later in the week. And I can’t do much on the Kickstarter until all the bookkeeping is done. So not much there until the first week of October.

So tonight I got back to my writing computer after getting all the workshop assignments done and then watching The Voice. (An amazing show that will help writers if you watch it.)

I managed to go back over what I had already done, getting it all back in my head since it was short, then fired forward about 900 words. Took a short break and did another 800 words before deciding that was a good restart. 1,700 words for the night. Back writing. Yeah!

The Writing of Starburst: A Seeders Universe Novel

Day 1… 2,000… Total so far… 2,000 words
Day 2… 1,000… Total so far… 3,000 words
Day 3… 1,700… Total so far… 4,700 words
——————–

Totals For Year 4, Month 2, Day 20

Writing in Public blog streak… Day 1,097

Over 10,000 steps streak… Day 82

Running Miles This Month… 8 miles

Total Miles This Month… 104 miles

— Daily Fiction: 1,700 original words. Fiction month-to-date: 4,700 words

— Nonfiction: 00 new words. Nonfiction month-to-date total: 800 words

— Blog Posts: 600 new words. Blog month-to-date word count: 6,600 words

— E-mail: 27 e-mails. Approx. 2,200 original words. E-mails month-to date: 308 e-mails. Approx. 20,300 words

— Covers Designed and Finished: 0. Covers finished month-to-date: 0 Covers

———-

— Year of Short Fiction Goal: 120 stories (July 1st to June 30th). Stories finished to date: 8 stories.

— Yearly Novel Goal: 12 Novels. Novels finished to date: 2 novels.

——–

You can support this ongoing blog at Patreon on a monthly basis. Not per post. Just click on the Patreon image. Thanks for your support.

On Writing, publishing, Smiths Monthly, Topic of the Night, workshops

publishing, topic of the night, Writing

Just Hours Left!!

September 20, 2016 Leave a Comment Written by dwsmith

Just Hours Left!

The Kickstarter Fiction River subscription drive only has eleven hours left as I write this around 4 a.m. Pacific Time.

What is in the subscription drive? Discounted subscriptions, of course, on Fiction River and Fiction River Presents. Both electronic and paper.

We are also offering a package of writing books.

And discounted lectures and discounted online workshops.

And since we have hit the fourth stretch goal, even if you sign up for a workshop you get four free books as well as a Fiction River subscription.

That’s right… FOUR FREE BOOKS for the support.

Discounts on Workshops!

Numbers of people have taken advantage of either the single workshop or the three workshop package. These subscription drives every two years are the only times we ever discount the online workshops.

If you have gotten a workshop on Kickstarter and would like to get another one at the discount, simple up your pledge on Kickstarter the same amount and we’ll ask you about it when we do the survey after it’s all over. Or you can take advantage of the special offer below to get the workshop direct, but only for the next few hours.

And it is the only time we discount the subscriptions for Fiction River as well.

And remember, if you get workshops or writing books through this Kickstarter, you also get a Fiction River subscription for some great reading, plus the four free books for the stretch goals.

This deal right now is about as good as it gets. Don’t miss it!!

SPECIAL OFFER!!!

Until the Kickstarter campaign ends, if you have signed up for the workshop level on Kickstarter if you want to add more workshops in, like two or three more, write me. You can pick them out later, but we will give you the discount for more.

This is because Kickstarter only allows one reward per person and I have been contacted by a few people wondering about getting more or two of the three-workshop reward.

No time limit on when you can take the workshops or what you are going to take. You can decide that later, but to get the Kickstarter discount, you need to pay for the extra workshops when you sign up.

For example, we will be adding in a new workshop in January and another in March. You can decide to take those when they are announced. No need to decide now for the one or three through Kickstarter or the extras if you want them. Write me with questions. But offer is only good for one more day.

———————–

Totals For Year 4, Month 2, Day 19

Writing in Public blog streak… Day 1,096

Over 10,000 steps streak… Day 81

Running Miles This Month… 7 miles

Total Miles This Month… 99 miles

— Daily Fiction: 00 original words. Fiction month-to-date: 3,000 words

— Nonfiction: 00 new words. Nonfiction month-to-date total: 800 words

— Blog Posts: 200 new words. Blog month-to-date word count: 6,000 words

— E-mail: 31 e-mails. Approx. 2,600 original words. E-mails month-to date: 281 e-mails. Approx. 18,100 words

— Covers Designed and Finished: 0. Covers finished month-to-date: 0 Covers

———-

— Year of Short Fiction Goal: 120 stories (July 1st to June 30th). Stories finished to date: 8 stories.

— Yearly Novel Goal: 12 Novels. Novels finished to date: 2 novels.

——–

You can support this ongoing blog at Patreon on a monthly basis. Not per post. Just click on the Patreon image. Thanks for your support.

On Writing, publishing, workshops

kickstarter, publishing, workshops, Writing

Smith's Monthly, an original fiction magazine featuring every month a full novel, short fiction, serial adventures, and nonfiction now available for subscriptions.

And thirty-three of them now exist... Amazing, huh? And hard to hold. Here I am holding the first five...

$6.99 electronic and $12.99 trade paper editions are available at your local bookseller. All paper subscription copies are signed. For more information, just click on the cover.

ISSUES IN ORDER

These are the starting dates of upcoming online workshops. Limited to twelve writers. All have openings unless I say closed below. For sign-up and more information about each workshop, click the Online Workshop tab at the top of the page.

Class #31… Oct 4th … The Business of Writing
Class #32… Oct 4th … Character Voice/Setting
Class #33… Oct 4th … Writing Mysteries
Class #34… Oct 4th … Speed
Class #35… Oct 4th … Teams in Fiction
Class #36… Oct 5th … Depth in Writing
Class #37… Oct 5th … Point of View
Class #38… Oct 5th … Writing Fiction Sales Copy
Class #39… Oct 5th … Writing and Selling Short Stories
Class #40… Oct 5th … Advanced Depth

Class #41… Nov 1st … Author Voice
Class #42… Nov 1st … Point of View
Class #43… Nov 1st … Adding Suspense to Your Writing
Class #44… Nov 1st … Ideas
Class #45… Nov 1st … Character Development
Class #46… Nov 2nd … Depth in Writing
Class #47… Nov 2nd … Advanced Character and Dialog
Class #48… Nov 2nd … Cliffhangers
Class #49… Nov 2nd … Pacing Your Novel
Class #50... Nov 2nd …Expectations (Writing on the Rails)

Class #51… Dec 6th … The Business of Writing
Class #52… Dec 6th … Point of View
Class #53… Dec 6th … Writing Mysteries
Class #54… Dec 6th … Speed
Class #55… Dec 6th … Teams in Fiction
Class #56… Dec 7th … Depth in Writing
Class #57… Dec 7th … Plotting With Depth
Class #58… Dec 7th … Writing Fiction Sales Copy
Class #59… Dec 7th … Writing and Selling Short Stories
Class #60… Dec 7th … Advanced Depth

Class #1… Jan 3rd … Author Voice
Class #2… Jan 3rd … Writing Thrillers
Class #3… Jan 3rd … Adding Suspense to Your Writing
Class #4… Jan 3rd … Ideas
Class #5… Jan 3rd … Character Development
Class #6… Jan 4th … Depth in Writing
Class #7… Jan 4th … Advanced Character and Dialog
Class #8… Jan 4th … Cliffhangers
Class #9… Jan 4th … Pacing Your Novel
Class #10... Jan 4th …Expectations (Writing on the Rails)

Class #11… Feb 7th … The Business of Writing
Class #12… Feb 7th … Point of View
Class #13… Feb 7th … Writing Mysteries
Class #14… Feb 7th … Speed
Class #15… Feb 7th … Teams in Fiction
Class #16… Feb 8th … Depth in Writing
Class #17… Feb 8th … Plotting With Depth
Class #18… Feb 8th … Writing Fiction Sales Copy
Class #19… Feb 8th … Writing and Selling Short Stories
Class #20… Feb 8th … Advanced Depth

Sign-up and more information under Online Workshops tab at the top of the page.

More information on these lectures under the Lecture Series Tab above.

#1... Heinlein's Rules... Dean Wesley Smith 15 videos... $75.00

#2... Read Like a Writer... Kristine Kathryn Rusch... 8 videos... $50.00

#3... How to Write a Short Story: The Basics... Kristine Kathryn Rusch.... 7 videos... $50.00

#4... Writer's Block and Procrastination... Dean Wesley Smith... 8 videos... $50.00

#5... Carving Time Out for Your Writing... Dean Wesley Smith.... 8 videos... $50.00

#6... How to Research for Fiction Writers... Kristine Kathryn Rusch.... 14 videos... $75.00

#7... Pen Names: Help With the Decision... Dean Wesley Smith.... 10 videos... $50.00

#8... Motivation: Starting Easier and Writing More... Dean Wesley Smith.... 9 videos... $50.00

#9... Practice: The Attitude and Methods of Practice in Fiction... Dean Wesley Smith.... 10 videos... $50.00

#10... Master Plot Formula: How and Why It Works Today... Dean Wesley Smith.... 9 videos... $50.00

#11... Prolific Lecture: How to Become a Prolific Fiction Writer... Dean Wesley Smith.... 10 videos... $50.00

#12... The Stages of a Fiction Writer: How to Know Where You Are In Learning and How To Move Upward... Dean Wesley Smith.... 11 videos... $50.00

#13... Starting Writing. Or Restarting Your Writing... Dean Wesley Smith.... 9 videos... $50.00

#14... Endings: How to Write Them and Understand What Makes a Good Ending... Dean Wesley Smith.... 9 videos... $50.00

#15... Audio Narration Lecture... Jane Kennedy.... 9 audio lectures... $50.00

#16... Your Writing as an Investment Lecture... Dean Wesley Smith.... 9 videos... $50.00

#17... How to Get Your Books into Bookstores Lecture... Dean Wesley Smith.... 10 videos... $50.00

#18... How to Think Like a Science Fiction Writer Lecture... Kristine Kathryn Rusch....11 videos... $50.00

#19... Why Some Books Sell More Than Other Books... Dean Wesley Smith.... 9 videos... $50.00

#20... How to Write a Page Turning Novel or Story: Basics and Tricks ... Dean Wesley Smith.... 8 videos... $50.00

#21... The Basics of Designing Science Fiction Covers ... Allyson Longueira .... 8 videos... $50.00

#22... The Basics of Designing Mystery, Cozy, or Thriller Covers ... Allyson Longueira .... 8 videos... $50.00

#23... Paying the Price: A Working Writer's Mindset ... Dean Wesley Smith.... 10 videos... $50.00

#24... Writing into the Dark: The Tricks and Methods of Writing Without an Outline... Dean Wesley Smith... 12 videos... $50.00

#25... Reviews: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly... Dean Wesley Smith... 10 videos... $50.00

#26... Organization... Allyson Longueira... 8 videos... $50.00

#27... Confidence... Dean Wesley Smith... 10 videos... $50.00

#28... Stories to Novels... Dean Wesley Smith... 9 videos... $50.00

Posts in category Challenge

Took a Day Off

October Online Workshops Start In One Week

Star Fall is Out in a Bundle

——————–

Topic of the Night: Automatic Confidence

A Personal Note

What is Automatic Confidence?

October Online Workshops Start In One Week

Star Fall is Out in a Bundle

——————–

Topic of the Night: Regaining Focus

Look at Overall Goals

Success Can Cause a Lack of Focus

Lack of Success Can Hurt As Well

Your Goals Force You Away From Writing

Health Issues

Summary

Star Fall is Out in a Bundle

——————–

Focus

Star Fall is Out in a Bundle

——————–

Workshop Finished Here

Some Fun!!

Star Fall is Out in a Bundle

——————–

Running Breakthrough

Some Fun!!

Star Fall is Out in a Bundle

——————–

Workshop Day

Smith’s Monthly

Exercise Today

Only One Day Left!!

——————–

Got Sidetracked

——————-

The Writing of Starburst: A Seeders Universe Novel

Back to Regular Fun

——————-

The Writing

The Writing of Starburst: A Seeders Universe Novel

Just Hours Left!

SPECIAL OFFER!!!

My Newsletter Sign-Up

Current Bundle

Subscribe

Smith’s Monthly Subscriptions

ISSUES IN ORDER

Recent Posts

Online Workshop Schedule

Classic Workshops

Lecture Series

My Publisher

Support This Blog On Patreon