I discovered there were two essential lessons I left out.

So I wrote them.

And now THEY’RE done.

Now I’m contemplating some sort of bonus for the course, but in the meantime, I’m going to be setting up the new classroom with the lessons, and getting everything ready to make the course available to students.

The guitar-playing dogs are in one of the lessons, by the way.

And once this thing goes on sale, I am looking desperately forward to getting back to the Ohio novels, and getting those out into the world, too.

Lesson AND worksheet — took a couple of days on this one, but this was one of those strange sideways-thinking lessons that lets you get at parts of your story that are going to be unexpected and exciting for readers, and that will give you fresh perspectives soon your characters and world.

Like what I got. Now on to other things.

Like watching the enormous Hurricane Idalia, which is coming ashore right where we have family living (and family in the hospital). AND one of my kids living in the after-path.

I didn’t have any idea this thing was even out there. A few years in Ohio, and it becomes really easy to stop watching the weather. You forget.

You shouldn’t… BUT YOU DO.

Sat down. Wrote. I knew what I wanted, I knew what I needed…

And I love it when a plan comes together.

Damn!

Granted, I’m out of bed at 6 AM, and hauling ass for five straight hours on just this one thing, so this project is NOT coming together out of magic and fairy dust.

This is butt in chair, hands on the keyboard, don’t-get-up-to-get-a-drink-or-go-to-the-bathroom work.

It’s focused, it’s intense, and when I’m done, I can feel the tired. Seriously.

But I LOVE what I got. I think writers are going to really enjoy the process in these lessons.

Now, however..?

Nap.

This particular lesson was tougher to break down into pieces — so it took me from 6 AM until just now just to lay out the lesson, and then write it out.

So now I have to stop, but I’ll come back in tomorrow, and do a read-through, and from that, figure out some ways to break the necessary tasks into simple worksheet steps.

Just cannot do anymore today.

1892 words for the day, one long writing session… BUT one lesson written from brainstorming through lesson start to lesson finish (excluding worksheets).

That counts as a good day.

I’m STILL in the middle of building my new Secret Big Class. Just finished Lesson 11 — a pretty big lesson. I’m currently looking an about twenty lessons total, so I’m making really good headway. And…

I’m excited about the way this class is coming together.

Had no idea what I was going to offer as the bonus class, though…

And when I mentioned worrying about this to a dear friend who just lost his wife, he came up with the perfect bonus… and told me he was passing it on from her.

It was a good moment. And the bonus for the class when it goes live?

Wonderful!

Very happy with what I got today on the SECRET TOPIC Fiction-Writing Big Course.

I’m moving steadily through the lessons and worksheets. Finished Lesson NINE of twenty-three planned, so I’m not to the halfway point yet (that will be when I FINISH lesson 12), but I’m making very good progress.

Won’t put it on sale until it’s done, but the folks on the list below will be invited the day before I take it live, and will have the opportunity to get it at the introductory price, which is usually about 30% to 40% below the final price.

So I now have seven full Big Course lessons and worksheets built. And my course tester is working through them as I finish each one.

I’m not giving any hints on what this course is or when it’s going to be available until I have the whole thing built.

I will note, however, that I’m now officially one third of the way through the PLANNED lessons.

And I’ll add that I have in the past noticed the occasional important concept or process I’ve left out of my outline while building the lessons, and created extra lessons to cover those concepts and processes… so I cannot say that the number of lessons planned will be the number I end up with. There may be more.

There won’t be fewer.

Writing-wise, though, today was a GOOD day.

Got my fiction first TODAY — had to toss a bit of the most recent scene, came in with new words, and even came out a bit ahead. Came out with a net gain of 148 words. Not what I’d hoped for, but I’m glad to be getting fiction. And the RETHINK part of the scene was essential.

I’m going to also include what I got yesterday, which was nonfiction for the new Big Class.

I’m happy with the way the processes I’m demonstrating are coming together.

And while today’s is a subject that I’ve had to cover in every single writing class I’ve done, I’ve had to do that because it’s useful to every writer (fiction and nonfiction), and it isn’t a one-time process. You do it in some for with every single piece of fiction you write.

Every writing project benefits from this, and how you do it is different for every kind of fiction you write.

So… The lesson is done. Five out of twenty-three planned. Still no idea on what the Bonus will be. Just that there will be one.

If you have a question about fiction writing (or writing in general) that I haven’t covered, just reply to this post, and ask. And I’ll read through any replies, and see if anyone asks something I haven’t covered before.

If I can figure out a one-to-three-lesson bonus class from YOUR question, you’ll receive a nice reward as thanks for the question.

Today’s objective was 1000 words on Ohio 4, and both starting and finishing Secret Writing Class Worksheet #1.

It always amazes me how much harder it is to build a worksheet than to write the actual lesson it supports.

It also amazes me that I forget this fact. I decided to do the worksheet before my fiction today, because “It’s just the worksheet, and I know what my writers have to be able to do… I can put that out in half an hour, maybe an hour tops…”

And I thought this because it’s been a while since I’ve built any worksheets… and I FORGOT how difficult it is to build a good worksheet that walks someone through a complex process a step at a time.

So… I did not finish the worksheet.

I’m maybe 25% through it.

Which meant that I did not get any words on the Ohio Novel today… because I did the worksheet first, and the worksheet is kicking my ass.

I made good progress on the worksheet.

I’m hoping to be able to finish it tomorrow.

BUT EVEN IF I DON’T, tomorrow I’m not working on it until AFTER I get my words on Ohio 4.

Live. Learn. REMEMBER what you learn.

My motto for the rest of this time when I’m writing a novel and building a class.

Yeah, I went big today.

BIG IN A LOT OF WAYS.

Have spent the last few weeks after getting my fiction words secretly outlining this Fiction-Writing Big Course, and building out my lesson blanks for the class.

Today I wrote Secret Writing Class Lesson One, and got all the words for it (at least in raw first draft). 4769 of them. Tomorrow, after I get my FICTION words, I’ll build the first set of Secret Writing Class worksheets.

To do this, I’m getting up way early, and alternating days between a day of writing fiction, a day of writing nonfiction, three times each week, working a six-day week.

And I’d kind of like to start publishing the first book or two of the Ohio Novel series at about the same time as I have this class ready to take live.