To Get a Free AI Audio Version of this blog, click here. Every time I complain about being too busy to get all of my work done, I toy with the idea of quitting school. I’m taking classes every spring and fall semester at UNLV. Dean tells me I don’t have to work hard at them because I already have a job, but you know, […]
Business Musings: Assessing Pandemic Damage (A Process Blog)
To Get a Free AI Audio Version of this blog, click here. I suspect spring in Las Vegas will always have reminders for me. In those first dark days of the pandemic, when we were wiping off our groceries and viewing our neighbors with great suspicion, when we were wearing cloth masks that were makeshift at best, and running out of toilet paper as well […]
Business Musings: AI And Mediocre Work
To Get a Free AI Audio Version of this blog, click here. I write better in Spanish than I speak. Much better. Some of that is because I have read Spanish with varying degrees of competency since I was eight. Many of my problems speaking the language come from either a lack of vocabulary or, in the past year, an inability to access that vocabulary […]
Business Musings: How Writers Fail Part 11: They Want To
I know, I know. The title is harsh. Because the topic is harsh. Remember, I have decades worth of experience watching and trying to help writers. And I have learned, to my chagrin, that some writers are beyond help. Or rather, the help those writers need is beyond anything I or any other writer/mentor can provide. The writers who are beyond help often ask for […]
Business Musings: Building A New World
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m tired. Bone-weary, in fact. The last six years or so have been a terrible rollercoaster, filled with disaster upon disaster. There have been some lovely moments, and a few victories for those of us who still believe in the power of the human spirit, but lately, it seems like the bigots and the haters are […]
Business Musings: How Writers Fail (Part 9): They Quit
The title of this post seems obvious. How do writers fail? They quit. Yes, they do. But it’s about more than quitting, really. This post is about when they quit. Let me start with a quote from John Mellencamp that slapped me about the face and neck when I was casually reading the AARP Magazine. To celebrate his seventieth year, Mellencamp was interviewed about his […]
Business Musings: A Worrying One Percent
Every year, we buy the Pearls Before Swine daily calendar. When we started into 2022’s daily calendar, I hesitated. Stephen Pastis had written all of the comics in 2020, and he was commenting on the then-current events. I told Dean that I did not want to relive 2020. Dean told me I didn’t have to read the comic strips, but he wanted to. So they’re […]
Business Musings: How Writers Fail (Part 8): Yeah, I Already Know That
I recently read a novel by a traditionally published writer who’s been a favorite of mine for forty years. The novel was good—her work is always good—but it lacked dramatic tension. At one point, Dean asked me what genre the book was, because the cover didn’t communicate a genre clearly. I was about 100 pages from the end. I paused, frowned, and said, “I have […]
Business Musings: How Writers Fail (Part 7): Competition
This is another one of those deceptive titles, like “Money.” Because when most writers read “Competition” as the sub header here, they think, Yep, there’s just too much competition out there. A handful of writers win, but the rest of us lose. Um…no. Readers are a fascinating bunch. They’re terribly unpredictable. Just because something is marked “bestselling” doesn’t mean that everyone wants to read it. […]
In-Person Writing Workshops
A number of you emailed me privately to ask for the schedule of the in-person workshops for 2023. I told you all that we would announce soon, and promised to let you know…and then forgot the save the emails. So, I’m posting here. We’re doing 6 craft workshops in 2023. I love these things. They challenge me as well. Here’s the schedule: Fantasy/Caper… January 9-12, […]
Ten Little Fen: A Spade/Paladin Novel
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The Chase
The Chase, the latest Diving novel, answers a lot of your questions about the series. It also might cause you to ask a few more. Click here to find out more.
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