Bob Mayer

The New, Improved Bob Blog

bob — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:55:51 +0000

7 May 2008

I’ve decided this blog needs to be better. It needs a schedule and a purpose. Well, several purposes. Because I’m that kind of guy. With several purposes. So. My goal is to post every Tuesday.

Why Tuesday?

Why not Tuesday?

Because it’s there.

What will be the several purposes?

Talk about Who Dares Wins as I rewrite the book and do workshops and presentations.

Talk about Bob-Land which consists of writing, speaking, on the road, and various inane observations including comments on Crusie-Land.

Rant about books and movies because I’m a writer and I look at things from a different perspective.

And run blog sale specials for my on-line store that will only be up for the week the blog is up, then will be removed.

Who Dares Wins:

A tenet of WDW is that our greatest defenses are built around our greatest weakness. More on that in a future post. A corollary to that is that what we think is our greatest character trait is often our greatest defense. Therein lies the rub. While we think we are doing something positive, in reality we are defending ourselves.

So it behooves us to look at what we think is ‘noble’ and ‘good’ about us and try to see how we are using something to actually hide a defect of character that subverts that good trait.

For example: you take responsibility for others and take care of them. All fine and good, but perhaps you’re doing that so you don’t have to look at yourself and take care of yourself? And if you can’t take care of yourself, you really can’t take care of other people.

Bob Land: I started to feel like The Fourth Horeseman of the Apocalypse this last week. I flew in to Denver, en route to a conference, and they had a snowstorm there that kept us on the ground in the plane for two and a half hours. Then when I got Oklahoma City, they had a fierce hailstorm. The conference went well, nonetheless. Although I couldn’t get the projector to work right during my last talk. All the slides were elongated so people could only see the middle of the slides, not the sides. I’m sure they missed nothing important.

Except the ‘secret’ handshake of publishing.

Books & Movies: No Country for Old Men. Sorry. Didn’t get it. It struck me as a literary film. Where they got way too cute. Especially deciding to skip over the climactic scene and sort of have you figure out what the hell happened on your own. And what exactly did Tommy Lee Jones accomplish? Nada. Nothing.

Next week: Viggo Mortenson redeems himself. Which he couldn’t do in A History of Violence.

Blog Special:

A hardcover of The Novel Writers Toolkit: A Guide to Writing Great Fiction and Getting it Published. Retail: $22.99 On this week’s blog special for only $10 plus S&H:

Teaching Writing

bob — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:25:43 +0000

Back from my long Jeep trip. It was interesting and both conferences were well worth attending.

One thing that happened was meeting people I’d worked with years ago. Either via Writer’s Digest or my own writing courses. A woman in Las Vegas showed me her published book that she was very happy with. I just got an email from a member of Orange County RWA about some information for the workshops I’m giving the weekend after this and she mentioned that a book I had given her a little help on had sold to Berkley for a 2009 publication (www.deannacameron.com) I’ve had a couple of other people this past year that I worked with tell me they got published.

I’m not saying it was my teaching or help that got them published. They did that on their own. But it’s nice to know that the assistance actually helps because teaching writing is often very frustrating. In Who Dares Wins I talk about the Five Percent rule and I think it’s true in teaching writing: about five percent of the people I’ve worked with really apply the material and change what they are doing. But those who do get so much better it’s amazing. So it’s really about them and there own initiative.

I’ll be in OK City this weekend for the Oklahoma Federation of Writers Conference. Then LA next weekend for the Orange County Romance Writers monthly workshop. Then back here for my Advanced Writers Workshop for which there are two slots still available, but it will close soon as I have to get the material disseminated early in May.

Then no trips for a while. Well three weeks which is a long time for me. I have to get Jefferson turned in to my agent after rewriting based on feedback.

Nothing but good times ahead.

On The Road

bob — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 02:14:56 +0000

Currently in Colorado Springs. Via Twin Falls, ID; Las Vegas, NV; Sedona, AZ; and Albuquerque, NM. Today I went from 80 degrees in the desert to 11,000 feet through a pass in Colorado where there was four feet of snow on either side of the road. Of course, the top on the Jeep was down. Pikes Peak Writers Conference is this weekend. I’ve done it a couple of times before. A very good conference. Last weekend I was in Vegas for the LV Writers Conference. Another good one. Met some interesting people. But do have to admit I am not fond of casinos. New Bob rule: no more gambling towns. Just not my vibe.

Pulling together my Who Dares Wins team. Getting feedback on Jefferson. Lots of work to do. I hear a rumor Dogs & Goddesses is done. You know how rumors are. Got an invite to teach Navy SEALs in Coronado how to write. That’s an oxymoron.

I figured out some important stuff about Who Dares Wins this past week with some help. Need to start simpler. Then build. Go through the nine steps, then you start over again at a higher level.

The sun is setting behind Pikes Peak. LTD.

The Jefferson Allegiance

bob — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:35:44 +0000

A draft is done. Getting some readers. I need to redo the ending scene. Then send it in to see what my agent says.

Who Dares Wins: I’ve restructured the old book and have cut 40,000 words already. Need to cut more and also write in some more examples and practical exercises readers can to work their way through the program.

Then it will be on to Wild Ride while Jenny is still wrestling with AKMG. Also, somewhere in there we need knock out He Wrote/She Wrote. My stuff in there is perfect, but Jenny seems to be wrestling with her part.

Nothing but good times ahead.

I think.

Who Dares Wins: Still kicking

bob — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:11:21 +0000

Yes, I’m still alive. Things have just been very hectic. I’m pulling together the Who Dares Wins manuscript. It’s down to 100,000 words and needs to lose another 50,000. No sweat.

Got a draft of Jefferson done; needs a major rewrite. Then we shall see.

Waiting to see on some other interesting things developing. And researching Wild Ride. As usual we’re disagreeing on some basic things, but since I’m right, I’m sure it will all work out.

The Writers Workshop this past week was great. Good writers and they all clicked.

Checking to see if anyone actually reads these things to the end: Running a very short blog special: This will only be up for a week. Order any two books off my on-line store and get a free copy of the Writers Kit (a $25 value) thrown in for free. Just mention it in the comments section of the book order that its the Writers Kit blog special.

Who Dares Wins

bob — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 22:41:07 +0000

I’ve been playing with this title for years now and finally realized simpler is better. Down to: Who Dares Wins: The Green Beret Way.Simple. Direct. Also gotten the nine steps of it down to one word each.1. WHO2. WHY3. WHERE4. CHARACTER5. COURAGE6. CHANGE7. COMMAND8. COMMUNICATION9. COMPLETIONI really like the flow. And since the manuscript is due in three weeks, I better get moving on it. But first, time to finally write the climactic scene of Jefferson. Do or die, getting it roughed in today. My Writers Workshop next week is full. The Advanced one in May still has slots.Things are starting to bloom here in the dark Northwest. Perhaps we’re not that doomed.

Following the Star to Bethlehem with my iPhone

bob — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:34:27 +0000

Yes, I actually followed a star as we got close and it grew darker. Actually it was the lights from a plane landing at Lehigh Valley Airport. Of course, I told Jenny “Look, see the plane landing there?” And she said “Where?” So much for her following the star.Which reminded me of the way we found the airport in Milwaukee (which is Native American for ‘We Don’t Do Signs’) during book tour in 2006. We saw planes on their landing patterns and just drove toward where they seemed to be landing. We did a lot of very good work on Wild Ride. This morning I’m reading Jenny’s notes and fixing them, because apparently her remembering my brilliant insights is like her seeing the star of Bethlehem. We actually did in 24 hours what took us about four months with Agnes, so either we’re getting better or this is totally screwed.For once I’m not giving away much about Wild Ride. I think it’s better if we keep the focus into the book rather than chat about it much on blogs. The interesting thing is we’re doing it just like we taught last year on he Wrote/She Wrote. We started with two characters and setting. Yesterday I feel like we got the idea down to one sentence. And like every other idea, it’s been done before, except we’re doing it differently. I just sent Jenny the link to the IMDB page for the movie that has a sort of similar idea based on a book. Of course we have a much different setting, characters, plot etc. Ah, the iPhone. Ok, it does need a voice recorder. Now that it’s open to 3rd party developers I’m sure someone will come up with a widget for that. But beyond that, it’s the first device I’ve bought that I feel truly saves time and money. For $20 a month you always have internet access if you have cell phone coverage. You can get email any time. So if you don’t want to pay $7.95 or more for an hour of wireless while waiting for a flight or $12.95 a night in high level hotels (why do high level hotels charge for Internet while the Super 8 doesn’t?), it starts saving you money right away. The email program actually is easier to use than that on my computer. Google maps is great. Every time we stopped I could update and find out exactly how far we were from where we were going. It’s not a GPS (I just bought a new one of those too, which is cool) but it gives you everything Google Maps does in the palm of your hand. You also can synch iCal with the calendar on it (except twice now I’ve forgotten the old am/pm thing and this morning got my warning at 6:45 am that I was meeting the local RWA people in the lobby for dinner.) You can also load your iTunes on it so you don’t need to carry your iPod any more. Weather. Camera. Text messaging. Write notes, like I was last night at dinner with Jenny. And the keyboard is so much better than trying to do text messaging or writing on a phone keyboard. It’s a full keyboard.Plus, you have internet access anywhere, did I mention that. So we’re driving along and for the five minutes Jenny actually drove, I was googling demons. You can look up anything on the internet, get phone numbers, locations, etc. All this and I’ve only had it for a day. I’m sure I’ll find more cool stuff.

On the way to Cincinati

bob — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:02:12 +0000

Yes, I spelled it wrong. On purpose. I used to always spell it wrong, but after enough lecturing by you know who, I’ve learned. Cincinnatti. Wait. Spell checker says that’s wrong too. How about: Cincinnati? Ok.

I’m on my way to that city to meet Jenny and work on our next collaboration and then drive together to Bethlehem, PA—which has immense Biblical implications. Like who is the third King and who is bringing the incense and frankfurters and other stuff. And who in Bethlehem is doing the virgin birth thing. We have a friend there, Katherine Ramsland, but somehow I don’t see her doing that in a manger. Investigating a murder scene in a manger, yes. Cause Katherine does that sort of stuff. And vampires. And, well. Enough said. And I didn mean she ‘does’ vampires, at least as far as I know. Boy, I’m gonna get in trouble for this post.

I did a little stage show with Katherine and Elizabeth George last weekend at the Whidbey Island Writers Conference, which was kind of interesting. We were in the local theatre and there was a crime scene. We talked about how we would approach things from our particular points of view. Katherine as a forensic scientists and non-fiction writer; Elizabeth as a mystery writer; and me, well, as me. I was right of course.

So I’m on the plan listening to some Pink Floyd—The Wall—and just re-read the opening two scenes of WILD RIDE that we sent in a long time ago as part of our proposal for Wild Ride. And I started to smile. I really like these two characters and the set-up in the amusement park.

Jenny & I learned to write a book together on DON’T LOOK DOWN. I think we got the system down on AGNES AND THE HITMAN. But I think WILD RIDE is going to rock. Because we’re doing a couple of things a bit different with it: dropping the romance—more of a early Moonlighting type of relationship between her heroine and kinda hero—and we’ve got a paranormal element that is going to let us swing wide.

It’s actually a lot more like the early X-Files than Moonlighting. I re-watched the pilot for X-Files not long ago and it was really well-done. Very funny, too. So we’re shooting for that.

No, I didn’t finish THE JEFFERSON ALLEGIANCE but it’s at 95,000 words and just about done. I’ve got all the pieces in place to write the climactic scene. In fact, I’ve got all the character en route to location of the climactic scene, so that’s good. I left the printed out manuscript at home with Deb to go through and clean up my stuff as she’s the grammar expert and can get rid of all those dangling things I dangle. And besides, the idea was her’s to start with, so I’ll find out if I kept the plot on target.

An hour out from Cin—whatever. Actually, the antagonist in JEFFERSON works for the Society of Cincinnati, so I had to learn how to spell it. The oldest military society in the United States founded in 1783. And the protagonist work for the American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the country, founded in 1745 by Benjamin Franklin.

So lots of cool history in the book. And no, not info-dump.

Who Dares Computer Repair

bob — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 02:06:09 +0000

I killed my keyboard with liquid last week. Called Apple to get it repaired and was told it would cost in the range of $600. Since the replacement keyboard costs $120, one has to wonder how extensive the work is to replace it, costing $480.So I found a site called ifixit.com Bought a replacement from them, then followed the instructions. Took about 20 minutes and it works.Well. There’s a very slight bow in it, but I’m sure that will work out. And somehow I have two extra screws left over, so I’m anticipating something falling apart in the middle of a presentation. But still. $480 for 20 minutes work? And I’m sure a lab tech could have done it in 10. So much for being consumer friendly.I did the Whidbey Island conference this past weekend. Met some people I hadn’t seen in a while. Taught some workshops and even did Improv. With Elizabeth George and Katherine Ramsland we did a little show called Step Aside Sherlock in the Whidbey Theater. We were presented with a crime scene and had to talk about how we’d approach it as a thriller writer, a mystery writer (Elizabeth) and a forensic scientist (Katherine). Quite interesting.No trips for a week and a half until I fly into Cincinnati. Which I finally know how to spell and we work on Wild Ride and He Wrote/She Wrote. Then drive to PA where I do a workshop for Pocono-Lehigh RWA. Then back to Cincy and fly home and no trips for five weeks. I hope to get my draft of Jefferson done this week and then have to finish Who Dares Wins before mid-April.Nothing but good times ahead.

Who Dares Wins

bob — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:40:44 +0000

So the book is sold to Simon & Schuster with a Jan 2009 pub date in hardcover and I have to have it in by 15 April. Considering I’m basically cutting the current 116,000 word book down to 50,000 that’s not too bad, although there needs to be some restructuring.First issue though is title. I sold it as:WHO DARES WINS: THE GREEN BERET WAY TO CONQUER FEAR AND SUCCEEDBut I’m thinking maybe:WHO DARES WINS: THE GREEN BERET WAY TO SOLVE PROBLEMS Shorter and more to the point? It’s basically using Special Operations tactics in day to day living.Thoughts? I’m still thinking both of those are too negative sounding. MaybE:WHO DARES WINS: THE GREEN BERET WAY TO SUCCEEDorWHO DARES WINS: THE GREEN BERET PATH TO SUCCESSDecisions, decisions.One slot left for the March retreat if anyone is interested, btw.