Episode 127 – Consistency in Word Count & Publishing with Blaze Ward

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In this episode, Mark has an in depth conversation with author Blaze Ward.

Blaze Ward writes science fiction in multiple universes. He also writes odd bits of high fantasy with swords and orcs. In addition, he is the Editor and Publisher of Boundary Shock Quarterly Magazine and many other magazines and publishing projects.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes.

He also announced the winner of the book and workbook for THREE STORY METHOD from J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon from a random selection of commenters from Episode 123. In addition, the Patreon winner is also announced.

In their conversation Mark and Blaze discuss:

• When Blaze started to kick into full production schedule for his writing
• Writing 400,000 words a year while he was employed and working full time, and how he ramped it up to 100,000 words a month, which he has consistently reached for the past two years
• The daily/weekly schedule that Blaze keeps in order to write 4000 words a day Monday through Saturday
• The plan for Blaze to write 14 novels and 40 stories in 2020
• Mal Cooper, who wrote 40 novels in 2018, and makes Blaze look like a slacker
• The thrill of “getting to go write” when Blaze wakes up in the morning
• P Time and L Time (Personal Time and Linear Time)
• The plans for ensuring that his heirs will continue to benefit from the works that Blaze has written
• The various different novels in different series’ that Blaze has written and is working on
• Why Blaze isn’t playing the “exclusive to Kindle” game in publishing and has chosen to go wide
• Selling short stories that are not available anywhere else directly on his website
• How Blaze is using Patron (to provide his $5/month patrons content a full year before it is available to anyone else)
• Boundary Shock quarterly magazine, which Blaze edits, including the inspiration for creating it and the logistics of filling each issue of that magazine and others with content using a syndicate of fifteen other writers
• The different newsletters that Blaze sends out
• Some of the financial changes that Blaze and his wife Leah (also an author), have recently made regarding translations and travel to writer conferences
• And more…

After the conversation, Mark reflects on comparisonitis and discipline.

This episode was sponsored by the wonderful patrons of the Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing Podcast who support this show and gain access to additional content over at www.patreon.com/starkreflections.

Links of Interest:

• Blaze Ward’s Website
• Episode 126 – Thanks for the Laughs and Inspiration
• Episode 125 – Simplifying, Streamlining and Organizing with Janice Savage
• Episode 123 – Three Story Method with J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon
• “I Will Survive” Parody (Contains adult language and content)
• Patreon for Stark Reflections

Blaze Ward writes science fiction in the Alexandria Station universe (Jessica Keller, The Science Officer, The Story Road, etc.) as well as several other science fiction universes, such as Star Dragon, the The Dominion, and more. He also writes odd bits of high fantasy with swords and orcs. In addition, he is the Editor and Publisher of Boundary Shock Quarterly Magazine. You can find out more at his website www.blazeward.com, as well as Facebook, Goodreads, and other places.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0