The WMG Anthology Workshop is back, baby!

My first pro sale (“For the Captain, My Captain, Again and Again” in Vol 16 of Pulphouse) was to Dean Wesley Smith at the first WMG Antho workshop I ever attended .

Up until this past week, I’d attended two Antho workshops: 2019 and 2020. The latter was right before the COVID lockdown, and I think all the individual anthologies (or at least all that I’d sold to) were cancelled.

So I was so excited when Dean posted they were going to revive it! And of course I signed up right away.

Six anthologies. Six different teams or individual editors, plus Dean trying to steal stories for Pulphouse. They all sit up on a dais, and each one says if they’d buy your story or not.

(From left to right: Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Ron Collins, Brigid Collins, Loren L. Coleman, Mark Leslie Lefebvre, Chris York, and Anthea Sharp.)

The only opinion that really matters is the last editor(s) to speak: they’re the one(s) buying the story for that actual anthology.

You have to write a story per week for each anthology, based on the editor’s guidelines, ahead of the actual workshop.

And can I say, these were NOT easy genres? Regency Fantasy, Cozy, Military SF, SF/Crime/Mystery, Tavern Ghosts, and Halloween Romance.

I missed on Chris York’s Beach Cozy-themed anthology because we were in Europe; I missed on Kris Rusch and Loren Coleman’s Military SF because I got so sick on the way home from Europe.

But I did turn in four other stories–and three of them were bought! Including one, my Regency Fantasy story, by editor Anthea Sharp, that prompted this shirt in the WMG Writer Store.

In case the link goes away or changes, here’s a pic of the shirt:

I’d buy one, except I don’t really wear t-shirts. Gonna wait for the workout or technical shirt. ; )

Between writing the stories and arriving in Vegas, we’re supposed to have read everyone else’s stories so we have a clue what the editors are talking about. It’s a lot of writing, and a lot of reading, and a lot of furious note-taking–but so much fun. I got to hang out with pals Jamie Ferguson and DeAnna Knippling and met new friends as well! (I am absolutely rotten about getting pics, but both DeAnna and Jamie are great about posting on social media.)

The anthologies are all coming under the Fiction River anthology series over the next year or so. Of course I’ll be putting up links etc when the Kickstarters are starting up.

The next Anthology workshop is scheduled for August 2026. I’ll be there!