• Challenge,  Misc

    A Science Fiction World

    I Just Finished a Long Drive… From Las Vegas, Nevada, up through Idaho and then completely across Oregon to the Oregon Coast. About twenty hours of driving or so one way, ten hours each day for four days. In the past I have loved to just get out and drive. All my friends know that about me. And sometimes I take back roads and head for places in the wilderness Kris will never go with me to again. Ever. But this time the driving and the travel was different and not fun. In the old days I would stop every hour to see something, get out and get a snack,…

  • Challenge

    Back in Boise… Surprise!

    Got to the Warehouse at 7 AM… Worked for three hours getting ready for the movers, they got there right on time at 10 am and managed, somehow, pure miracle, to fit everything in the truck. Packed solid. They got done at 3:30 and said they were taking off and would see me in Vegas TUESDAY morning. I had been planning for Wednesday morning. Oh, oh… So I went to my hotel room, took a thirty minute nap, took a shower, and checked out and hit the road by 5pm. Four stops and 9 hours later I checked into the hotel here in Boise. Got a breakfast in four hours…

  • Challenge,  Misc

    Leg One Down

    Ten Hour Drive from Las Vegas to Boise… Made it fine. Too much fast food, as I knew I would do. And since it was deepest, stupidest, red Northern Nevada, very few face masks in sight. I stayed over 20 feet from anyone without a mask and moved quickly. Families traveling through all had masks on their kids and seemed just as bothered as I was about the idiots. Boise has a harsh mandatory face mask rule, so fine here. I am sure Eastern Oregon will be a problem area again tomorrow. Otherwise no issue at all. Kris and I have a fairly new Cadillac SUV and it is scary…

  • Challenge,  Fun Stuff

    In a Suite On the Beach

    In Lincoln City… Spent about three hours up in the warehouse tonight, some of that time talking with Steve and Chris York who stopped by. Wonderful to see them. Some time giving Kris a FaceTime tour. Ugly amounts of work. So much really good stuff. Like at one point I was moving a few boxes of toys and found an entire box of Lionel Train Track from the 1950s in great shape. Maybe a 100 pieces. Not a clue what to do with it. Boxes of stamps (my friend Bill collected stamps). One entire box was stamp collecting supplies. I will keep the US stamps to use (sold the older…

  • Challenge,  Misc

    Traveling… Oh, My….

    Off to WMG Publishing Northern Offices… By the time most of you read this on Wednesday, I will be somewhere in the center of the Nevada desert, headed north.  I will stay in a nice suite hotel in Boise, then on to Lincoln City, Oregon, on the coast, on Thursday. Then on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday all day, I will be in the WMG Publishing 7,000 square foot warehouse/office basically organizing things. This trip is organization and decisions on what I am going to be doing with a lot of things that fill that place. We first got that warehouse nine years ago when my friend Bill died and…

  • Challenge

    Stay Safe Out There

    Two Major Storms… Are going to be rolling across the country this week, making a mess of travel. And so many people are going to think it will be life or death if they don’t get to where they are headed. And it really will, in many sad instances, become death or injury on bad roads. Or waiting for days in airports, under stress that will do your body no good at all. Or being stuck without a way home for days and days. Ughh. Holidays like this one here in the States this week are supposed to be fun things. But with major storms threatening to make a mess…

  • Challenge,  On Writing,  publishing

    I’m Back Home In Vegas

    Spent the Last Three Days on the Oregon Coast… Business meetings, finishing up a bit of the last of the move, and having great dinners with old friends. A good, but quick trip. I started a short story on the plane on the way down, didn’t have time to write anything while there, then finished the short story in the lounge at the airport and on the plane back. So that was fun. About 5,000 words. The idea (that I posted last night) of offering free Master Class tuition if you have or buy a lifetime online workshop came about in a meeting in Allyson’s office at WMG, with Kris…

  • Challenge

    Headed Home

    Going to Be Writing… Getting to the airport early, writing for a few hours, then writing for a few hours on the plane. I won’t have the first novel of the challenge done yet, but I am gaining speed with the writing and honestly that feels great. So I will be back in Vegas tomorrow evening (Sunday) and maybe even do some more writing tomorrow evening as well. So a fun trip. Great food with friends, great stuff at the stores and business. And a few hours of poker paid for most of it. And got a bunch of writing done. So far, a great short trip.

  • Challenge,  Misc

    Headed Back To The Coast

    Flying This Time… Leaving Kris the van and two cats. Both cats seem to be getting used to the place. I’m going to be getting ready to fire up on the short-story-a-day challenge starting on Sunday. That’s just part one of this coming challenge. Plus I have an entire house to pack and get cleared. So starting Sunday these blogs will get longer as I talk about how to focus on a challenge and writing and production in the middle of a pretty intense life roll. Moving, they say, is one of the most stressful events in a person’s life. So figure this short story per day for April will…

  • Challenge,  Misc

    A Filler Because I Am In A Car With Cats

    That’s right, two cats… I am writing this ahead and will post it from my iPad as I grab something to eat in the middle of the night somewhere along the way. I am taking two cats in a large dog carrier from the Oregon Coast to Las Vegas. So wish me luck… And this is yet again an example of the power of a streak with this blog. If I can post a blog while driving two cats non-stop for over twenty hours, anything is possible. (grin)