The Journal, Thursday, 10/12

Hey Folks, First, welcome to “fan2orcas,” the most recent subscriber to this Journal. Glad to have you aboard. I’m going through a personal transition at the moment, so not a lot of substance here for a few days. But hang in there. It will pick up again soon. (grin) *** Woke up to good news this morning. I have another book, The Platinum Blond Perturbance (novella), in an upcoming bundle from BundleRabbit. I’ll post details on the website as they become available. The request for that book caused me to look at my other similar books. I realized I have … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 9/29

Hey Folks, Looks like I updated my website to include a page dedicated to bundles just in time. A new bundle started today. I only have a short story in this one but still. (grin) Well, I signed up this morning to support the restart of Pulphouse Fiction Magazine. There are some really cool “rewards” for pledging to the Kickstarter campaign. I won’t tell you which one I pledged, but I do encourage you to at least go take a look at the various offerings. You can find those at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/403649867/pulphouse-fiction-magazine. *** On a day when I could as easily … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 9/22

Hey Folks, Rolled out on time this morning, then spent an enjoyable hour or so talking via email with my young granddaughter, Taylor. By the way, just in time for my topic today (see below) DWS is finally back to busting myths with another Killing the Sacred Cows chapter. It’s in “Of Interest” today. Topic: Lying to Readers It’s annoying when Dean Wesley Smith is SO right on everything he says. Well, on most things. He does occasionally say he’s going to make me angry when he’s busting some idiotic myth, but that has yet to happen. But on the … Read more

The Journal, Monday, 9/4

Hey Folks, I told my wife last night I needed to get back in the office and publish “The Tarp.” I didn’t. So after most of my Internet stuff this morning, I did that. I’m rusty there too, so it took a little longer than usual. Anyway, I’ll be emailing it to donors shortly. Actually, I ended up emailing the last three stories to donors. I might have sent the first two before, but I don’t think so. I sent them “Going Home,” a war story about a sniper who encounters some unusual circumstances; “Pancho and Lefty: An Alternate Ending,” … Read more

The Journal, Saturday, 8/26

Hey Folks, Well, a Saturday. The sun is still a couple hours from coming up as I write this. I’ve done my daily rounds of the Internet, made my usual stops. If you enjoy a bit of history along with really great photos and some personal insights, check Linda Maye Adams’ blog at http://lindamayeadams.com/2017/08/26/a-veteranwriter-looks-at-history-leesylvania-state-park/. Over the past few days I’ve started several bits of fiction. Each time I let them go. I’m not sure whether they weren’t working or it was just that I wasn’t in the mood. Probably the latter. I mean, you don’t have to be in the … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 8/18

Hey Folks, Much of what follows is me thinking aloud. If you get something of value from it, good. But mostly it’s me using you as a sounding board. Sorry about that. Wow. I’ve been at this literary stuff a very long time. And the marketing stuff. Both in-person, glad-handing bookstore managers and sitting for hours at book signings and all that, and the much less costly and smarter electronic marketing. In fact, after I did some basic math I finally gave up (by and large) on book signings, etc. unless I happened to be speaking at a conference at … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 8/11

Hey Folks, I did pretty much nothing writing related today other than working on the handout for the upcoming intensive. Did a lot of stuff outside and around the office. Man, I’d forgotten how difficult it is to put on one of these things and prepare for it. (grin) But it’s all good. For one thing, I decided to scrap the nonfiction book idea for now. That will come after the seminar(s) is over, if at all. Right now I just wanna teach a good class. Today I did a lot of back-and-forth stuff, going from the handout I’m preparing … Read more

The Journal, Sunday, 7/30

Hey Folks, Cool. I woke this morning to a request to include yet another of my books, Rise of a Warrior, in a bundle at BundleRabbit. Not only is it a good stand-alone novel, but it’s also the first book in the Wes Crowley series. Uh, yeah. I’ll do that. (grin) If you don’t have your work listed with BundleRabbit yet, why not? Check it out at http://bundlerabbit.com. The account is free, and every time your story or book is bundled, you gain access to new readers. And yes, you can upload short stories and collections as well as novellas … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 7/14

Hey Folks, Probably another full day of editing in my camp today. Then that will be behind me and I’ll turn my hand back to fiction. Topic: POV—It Belongs to the Character, Not the Writer This is massively important. Summed into one sentence, Everything in every setting in your story or novel must be described through the POV character’s senses and flavored with the POV character’s opinions of the various aspects of that setting. The POV character’s description of a setting enables the reader to see (hear, smell, taste, feel) it. The POV character’s OPINION of that setting brings it … Read more

The Journal, Friday, 7/7

Hey Folks, Long post today. Sorry about that. But I think you’ll like most of it. I’ve been a bit remiss in not mentioning another bundle that contains one of DWS’ SF books. The Sci-Fi July Fever Fun bundle is on sale at https://bundlerabbit.com/b/sci-fi-july/. I’m not in this one, but if you enjoy great SF, it’s bound to please. Topic: “Real” Books vs. Ebooks On my Facebook pages, I recently announced the BundleRabbit bundle (Guns of the West) that includes two of my books, two of DWS’ books, and one each by five other writers. (You can see it at … Read more