Always Keep Learning / Happenings In The Outhouse 14-Nov-2025

No matter your age and experience, it is always important to keep learning.

I listened to a training video by bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith who has been in the publishing business for over 50 years.  Yes, five decades!  One of the points he made in the video (well, truth be told, he makes many great points but I'll limit to just one right here) is to keep learning.  Always.  So many authors came onto the self-publishing scene 5, 10, 15 years ago, and . . . where are they now?  They stopped learning.

Even many traditionally published authors seemed to have vanished.  Not all, but many who were considered the greatest at the time, have now gone bye bye.

Why?

I can only speculate, but it's possible that they also stopped learning.  They stopped reading and expanding their knowledge.

I learn more with each and every story that I write, no matter if it's a short story or a large novel.  There is so much to learn that I yearn to stretch myself even further.

What are you doing to expand your knowledge?

What are you practicing on to get better and better?

New Story - Along Came The Bodies / Happenings In The Outhouse 07-Nov-2025

A few weeks ago, I published another short story (I have a lot in the pipeline to line up, so this will be a frequent feature for a while.  It is titled "Along Came The Bodies."  It is a mystery story, set in the Fargo, ND, area.

"After twenty-five years, Detective Tad Wellstone wants to retire.

But first, he has to train in a new detective.

Then a call comes in. Right at the end of his shift. Two bodies. In a nearby farmhouse.

Will this case be the end of his career?"

Amazon.com: Along Came The Bodies eBook : Peterson, Mark S. R.: Books

Above is the link to the Amazon Kindle ebook store.  It can also be found on several other ebook platforms.

New Story - In Lieu Of A Reset / Happenings In The Outhouse 31-Oct-2025

Earlier this month, I published a short story titled "In Lieu Of A Reset."  It is a science fiction story that also earned me my first honorable mention from the Writers of the Future contest. 

"Rex Tandem has skills that are considered obsolete.

But Rex needs those skills now to save the crew. They are on a death sentence of a mission, deep in the outer rim of the galaxy.

Is Rex able to overcome the insurmountable odds before they are completely annihilated?"

Amazon.com: In Lieu Of A Reset eBook : Peterson, Mark S. R.: Kindle Store

Above is the Amazon ebook link, and it is also available on several other ebook platforms.

I Could Never Do That / Happenings In The Outhouse 24-Oct-2025

A few weeks ago, one of my daughters ran in her first full marathon.

When others hear about her accomplishments, their first thought is: "Oh, I could never do that!"

My question back at this is: Why?  Why could you never do that?  Barring any physical disability, what is stopping you from accomplishing and achieving your dreams?

I have heard the same thing about writing for all my life.  Others were so flabbergasted when they heard I was writing a novel back in college.  They'd ask, day after day, how much I had written and how long the novel was so far.  When it got past the 500 and 600-page marks, one even stopped believing that it was true.  She thought I was joking.  I wasn't.

Could I run a marathon?

Yes.

Not today.  But I could train for it, if that was what I wanted to accomplish.

Can I write a novel?

Yes, absolutely.  I've done it.  Several times.

Some tasks you do easily while others look at as insurmountable.

What's stopping you from doing something you want to do but somehow can't?  Want a hint as to who or what it is?  Look in the mirror.

A Few Very Productive Weeks / Happenings In The Outhouse 17-Oct-2025

At first, I was going to name this post: A Few Very Busy Weeks.  Then, I realized what I named the last week's post and, based on its contents, it was decided that I should name it A Few Very Productive Weeks instead.

Good call, Mark.

Over the past month or so, I have taken a few online writing courses taught by a husband and wife who have each been in the writing and publishing industry over 50 years learning and honing their craft.  Not only am I learning a lot from them, the courses are pushing me to complete a short story in less than a week.  The next round of weekly classes typically drop Tuesdays and story assignments are due on Sunday night--and classes usually run for three weeks.  However, if I have my weekends already blocked off for something else, I have to finish them sooner.

Not only that, there are monthly story submissions (and that doesn't even include the quarterly story submission for Writers of the Future).  So that means I am writing A LOT of stories.

Also, on top of that, I am in the process of publishing many of the previously submitted stories.  One of them is out now.  Here is the link to the ebook on Amazon but it is out on other online platforms too.

More to come . . . 

Busy Vs. Productive / Happenings In The Outhouse 10-Oct-2025

"I'm busy!"

"Boy, am I productive!"

Both of these words seem to be used interchangeably, but truly mean something completely different.  Let me give you an example: you want to clean out the garage before winter.  Okay, seems reasonable.  You have a general timeframe, and you know what the task looks like.  To prepare for it, you want to line up a dumpster and have a plan for disposal of the larger items (i.e. city dump, etc.).  Busy in this sense may be knowing who to call for the dumpster.  Productive is actually making the call.  Now that the dumpster is there, you go out on a Saturday morning and start cleaning it out.  Productive.  If you let the dumpster sit in your driveway for weeks on end without filling it up but are planning on doing it soon, that would be the busy department.

Get the picture?

Let's take the creative types out there.  Because this is something I'm familiar with, let's take writers.  Writers are, by and large, finicky.  We let the little things bother us or bog us down so that our creative juices don't flow like we want.  We wait for just the right moment, just the right amount of creative fairy dust to land on our brains and fingers, and in just the right place before we even begin to write.

If you, as a writer, read all kinds of books on writing but never put pen to page, or type any words onto either a virtual or physical page, you are just acting busy.  Not productive.  You need to get words down.  Any amount will do.  And then . . . finish.

Set a goal.

Do it consistently.

Produce something.

Writing By Hand / Happenings In The Outhouse 03-Oct-2025

For the writers out there (but take this advice to fit whatever your craft consists of), please do not limit yourself to the known tools at hand.  In the case of writing, do not limit yourself to just a computer.

Author Kevin J. Anderson typically dictates your stories (or at least an outline to the story) on a recorder while he is out hiking in the majestic Colorado mountains.

Author Neil Gaiman writes many of his stories by hand.

I have heard many tales of writers who, while commuting on a bus or train, will type out stories on their phones.

Earlier last month, I was brainstorming a new short story for a magazine submission, writing my thoughts in a Leuchtturm1917 notebook using a Zebra fountain pen.  Then, using said notebook and pen, I started writing the story.  By hand.  One page turned into several as I waited for my wife to recover from a scheduled surgery.  I completed the story and was absolutely amazed that I had written it all by hand.

I have done this before, writing stories by hand.  There are times when I don't want to lug around my laptop, and simply having a notebook and pen is the easiest way to go.  Writing by hand is quite fun and freeing.