Some good news on a Friday night: I just found out that my story “Sing” is up for the Favorite Story of the Year on the podcasting site, Drabblecast. You can check it out and download the story here. In fact, you can download all five stories for free and vote.

A note to writers: “Sing” was my first short story sale. This is why you never sell all rights. I have resold that story more times than I want to count since its first appearance in 1987. In fact, podcasting wasn’t even a glimmer in anyone’s eye back then, but had I sold all rights, I wouldn’t have been able to sell the story to this brand new technology.

Just an FYI.

A new story out in a very pretty anthology, Crime Spells.  The story’s called “The Best Defense,” a sort-of legal thriller in a fantasy world.

Dean and I have been nagged into it yet again. We’re adding some workshops into 2009, including two for beginning writers.  Here’s the information from Dean’s website.  You can find the workshops for professionals at www.deanwesleysmith.com.

As for the workshops for beginners, here’s the information direct from Dean’s website:

Well, we’re going to do the Kris and Dean show workshops again. After doing two hours of the workshop at Worldcon in Denver as two panels, and after getting a ton of requests over the years for us to do these again, we’ve decided to go again. Twice. First time in at least ten years. And maybe the last. <g>

So, here on some details. This is open to anyone who is interested in fiction writing at any level. If you’ve always had it as a dream, or are already firing out stories and novels, this workshop will be good for you. Our goal for this workshop is to clear away the fog that all writers feel about the craft and business and give any writer a jump forward to getting to the dream.
So, feel free to pass this information on to anyone who is even interested and talking about wanting to write. As I said, this is open to anyone at any level.

Workshop Name:
THE WRITING CAREER FROM THE FIRST SENTENCE TO PUBLICATION AND BEYOND. Aka, the Kris and Dean Show.

Taught by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith.

A little about us:

Kris is the international bestselling author of over 90 novels and hundreds of short stories. She has been nominated and won just about every major award in four genres. She’s the only writer in history to have a story in all four Dell magazines during the same year. (Asimov’s, Analog, Ellery Queen, and Hitchcock’s). She’s the only person to have won a Hugo award for both professional editing and for her writing. She spent six years as the editor of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Her mystery novels and stories have been nominated for three Edgar Awards, and she’s won the Ellery Queen award three times. She’s been a full time fiction writer for over 20 years. You can see a ton more about her at www.kristinekathrynrusch.com.

If you are here, you know me, but let me add in the following bio: I am the bestselling author of over 90 books and a hundred short stories. I have over seven million copies of my books in print. I have written in just about every major universe and every genre, plus I have written comics for DC and scripts for Hollywood. I have also been an editor and publisher and for ten years I edited the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds anthology for Pocket Books. I have been nominated for a ton of awards and with Kris I won the World Fantasy Award for my work on Pulphouse Publishing. I am known for being able to write fast and in any world. I am hired regularly by New York publishers to ghost novels and rescue other writers who are stuck. I also write thrillers and paranormal romance under pen names. I have been a full time fiction writer for over 20 years.

Kris and I are married and we live in a three building compound overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

This workshop covers everything, starting from craft and story structure, how to write stories, how to get to the computer to write, and then follows manuscripts into publishing houses, teaching how to get your work read by both short fiction editors and novel editors. Detailed information about what happens to your manuscripts in editor’s offices, how stories are bought and why. And when you need an agent and how to get one. Also a lot of information about how to simply sit down and write, how to get your family to help you, how to become a selling professional fiction writer.

And Kris and I will be answering a ton of questions for two days.

1st Workshop:
Details:

Date: Saturday, June 13 and Sunday, June 14.

Location: Lincoln City, Oregon. (Exact meeting location to be determined)

Cost: $300.00. Does NOT include rooms(but we will have deals with hotels to get rooms for writers at about $60 per night.)

Schedule: Saturday: 10am-1pm. Lunch. 2:30-5:30. Sunday: 10am-1pm, lunch, 2:30 to 5:30.

To sign up, e-mail me at dean@deanwesleysmith.com and put Workshop in the title line. I will give you more details and tell you where to send in your workshop fee to hold your spot.

2nd Workshop:

Details:

Date: Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13.

Location: Lincoln City, Oregon. (Exact meeting location to be determined)

Cost: $300.00. Does NOT include rooms (but we will have deals with hotels to get rooms for writers at about $60 per night.)

Schedule: Saturday: 10am-1pm. Lunch. 2:30-5:30. Sunday: 10am-1pm, lunch, 2:30 to 5:30.

To sign up, e-mail me at dean@deanwesleysmith.com and put Workshop in the title line. I will give you more details and tell you where to send in your workshop fee to hold your spot.

Please feel free to post the details or pass this on.

These are going to be fun. I hope that some of you can make it to the Oregon Coast and join us.

Cheers
Dean

My latest Signals column has just appeared in The Internet Review of Science Fiction.  It’s a whimsical piece, and yet already has one response taking me seriously.  It’s silly, folks.  Silly!  So go enjoy it.  You can see it here.

My bi-monthly column for Jim Baen’s Universe has a new installment.  Click here for my latest words of wisdom.