About the time I started planning this series, I got an email from a writer friend. The writer friend is one of those people who think they know business, but have never really bothered to learn much about it. Or maybe they’re the kind of person who reads the how-to, remembers the details, but misses the overall point. The result is the same—complete cluelessness. I […]
Business Musings: Writing Screenplays (Hollywood Part 3)
The short version of this post: Don’t. Just don’t. Don’t write screenplays, even if someone tells you “you’ll make more money if you do.” The medium version of this post: Write screenplays only if you want to work in Hollywood. Otherwise, write the next book. The long version of this post: Brace yourselves, and settle in for the read. Before I go any farther, let […]
Recommended Reading: March 2021
Spent much of my month catching up on projects, reading for the Holiday Spectacular, and doing some other things that don’t count for the Recommended Reading List. I did start a critically acclaimed award-nominated book on the history of detective fiction and quit very quickly. It was racist AF. Three pages explaining what the Ku Klux Klan was (to tell us that a 1920s fictional […]
Business Musings: Content, Content, Content (Hollywood Part 2)
A few weeks ago, I got a survey from the Global Licensing Group, the people in charge of the Las Vegas Licensing Expo. They wanted to know my opinion (and probably hundreds of other people’s opinions) about content. Is it important? Why is it important? How should I/we/they handle it? Oh, and am I a content provider (licensor) or someone who licenses content (licensee)? I […]
Business Musings: A Cautionary Tale (Hollywood Part 1)
I’m starting a tiny new series because of everything that’s been in the news of late. But first, let me give you a caveat. For decades, Dean and I have said “Hollywood” when we really mean the film and/or TV industry. That word wasn’t accurate 30 years ago; it’s less accurate now. The industry has mushroomed. It’s not even one industry anymore. You can do […]
Lessons From The Writing Of The Fey—Introduction
Author’s Note: We’re running a Kickstarter right now that will give me some deadlines on starting a new Fey project. There’s a four-part book/video/class for readers and writers that goes with that Kickstarter, all non-fiction, all about writing the Fey. I’ve explained in greater depth below. Part of that project is this: I’m going to post the chapters of Lessons From The Writing of The […]
Business Musings: Surprises in the New World of Publishing
You’d think, after all these years, nothing about the changes in publishing could surprise me. And really, what happened this week didn’t surprise me as much as it surprised me because it happened to me. And it caused me to think of some things I hadn’t considered at all. As many of you know, I’ve been writing these posts about four weeks ahead. This one […]
Business Musings: The First Bump in the Road (A Process Blog)
I have had to revamp my writing deadlines. If you’ll recall, I wrote a process blog a few weeks ago about setting my writing deadlines on a granular level. It felt really good to do so. The deadlines pushed me—hard. With those, and my Spanish class deadlines, and some other things I’m doing, I found myself making choices to do more work than I had […]
Business Musings: Uncertain Times
My crystal ball is broken. When the world worked in a way that progressed, rather neatly, from one point to another, I could see as far as five years in the future. Sure, things would change. My health changed, for example, in the previous decade, and that caused personal changes. But the world I lived in here in the United States was relatively stable and […]
Thieves
The latest Diving novel is here, and it’s the one readers have been waiting for! Yes, it features Boss! She’s diving again, and getting into trouble. I also think this will answer a few questions for you…Click here to find out more.
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