Being a “Blooger” at CES 2008

Having the Blogger badge at CES this year made me feel like a second class citizen until I realized the sad and pathetic truth of it all.

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What Would You Ask Orson Scott Card?

I'm putting together some possible questions for the interview with Orson Scott Card on February 14th. I was wondering what you would ask him? Again, I'm not sure if I'll even have a chance to speak with Scott, but I'm sure Jeff will let me get something in.

• Do you want to know about any of his previous works?
• Do you want to know about any of his upcoming works?
• Do you want to know how he comes up with story ideas?
• Do you want to know what his writing habits are?
• Do you want to know who influenced him in the beginning? And what influences him how?

Let me know by leaving a comment here and maybe we can come up with some great questions. Thanks.

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A Video From Photowalk Utah, Studio Photography

At the last Photowalk Utah event on January 12th, a video was shot by Jeremy Hall and he has finally made it available. I had a great time and learned a lot. Unfortunately I couldn't find myself in the video but you should still watch it. If you haven't been to a photo walk yet, please join the group at photowalkingutah.com.

Here are my pictures from the Photowalk, Studio Photography.

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LDS Church Leader Gordon B. Hinckley Passes Away At 97

The leader and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gordon B. Hinckley, passed away in his Salt Lake City, Utah home today, at the age of 97. President Hinckley will be remembered my many as a man of compassion, a peace maker, and a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There will be many tributes to President Hinckley over the next few days, weeks and months, but each person who followed his council, will have their own memories and feeling about this great man. The world lost a great man and leader today. President Hinckley was one of the 5 people I wanted to meet in my life. I guess I'll have to wait for the next life.

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Matt Mullenweg In Utah For WordPress Meetup

I'm sure that's not the only reason Matt Mullenweg will be in Utah, but he was kind enough to extend his stay to meet with the locals, at a great Indian food place called Taj India. If you're going to be in Salt Lake City on February 2nd, you should join us.

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Interviewing Orson Scott Card At LTUE

I have been given the unique opportunity to be part of an interview with Orson Scott Card at Life, the Universe & Everything convention on the campus of Brigham young University. I'm a huge fan or Orson and I really want to thank Jeff Norris from I-SCI-FI TV for letting me assist.

I-SCI-FI TV is a great Science Fiction podcast produced live on Thursday nights, 7PM MST, at iscifi.tv.

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January Codeaway Rocked, Literally

Thanks to Laura Moncur and Matthew Reinbold, and host location Wasatch Wingz, for putting on a killer Codeaway. There were nearly 20 people in attendance. Rock band was playing the entire time. The wings were incredible and there was plenty of shop talk.

If you didn't come you really missed out. Look for the next Codeaway announcement at codeaway.org.

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A Twitter Book Club

This is an interesting idea, connect Twitter users, assign a book to read and then post a review via the Twitters 140 characters. The group was started by Drew (http://twitter.com/digitalmaverick) and he also created a Wiki to follow the progress of the book.

If you want to get involved, friend Twitter user @bookgroup and visit the Wiki.

Januarys book is The Three Evangelists by Fred Vargas. Have fun and don't forget to post your synopsis on Twitter when finished.

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Did You Own A VIC-20?

That's right, did you own a VIC-20 in 1981? Did you own a Commodore 64 in 1982? How about an Amiga? What other brands did you own in 1981 or 1982? I owned a VIC-20, a Commodore 64, an Amiga and a TI, and I want to know if you did too.

Here's the deal, I'm writing a book that includes stories about emerging technologies from the early 1980's. What I'm looking for are your personal stories. Who bought you your first VIC? Tell me about some of the programs you wrote. What did you and your friends do with computers? What peripherals did you have? How did owning that VIC or the Amiga influenced your current love, or hate, of technology?

There are several ways I would appreciate your responses:

1. Send me an email, vic [@] thomallen.com, with your story, any length, and permission to use any or all of the content.
2. Write a blog post and comment here with a link. If you would like any or all of the post included in the book, please send me an email indicating so, with a link to the post.

Be sure to include your name, email address and web site URL, for proper acknowledgment in the book.

I really appreciate all your help.

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Changes For PodCampSLC

Hello everyone, I hope you've had a great holiday. I wanted to take some time and talk about the PodCampSLC event that was scheduled for January 26th, 2008.

When Lorri Randle and I set out a few months ago to put on a PodCamp here in Salt Lake, we had no idea just how much of a challenge we were facing. There was a lot of excitement on our part and we wanted to make sure we had a great community event. The idea behind a PodCamp is the un-conference, or attendee driven content, and this a very exciting platform to present topics on new media. We know there are a considerable number of podcaster, blogger and vloggers in the Salt Lake City and surrounding area, and we really wanted to get this group together.

There were some significant hurdles early on regarding the location. While we struggled for several weeks to secure a location that was feasible for this type of event, we were eventually able to work something out with a local technology related school, Neumont University, to let us use their campus for the PodCampSLC event. We felt this was a critical part of the success of PodCamp.

Our next hurdle were the Holidays, that included Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. We also knew everyone's attentions would be focused on something other than PodCamp. Over the past few weeks we have received a number of emails regarding the date. The one thing I've been adamant about is the date would not change, no matter what. We can change the location, the content, or anything else about PodCamp, but not the date. But what we've heard from a considerable number of people who want to attend, January just isn't a good month for them, for many different reasons.

Since this is a community event, we want the entire community to be involved. This isn't just my event. So, we think it makes sense to push the event out a few months to give everyone time to put it on their calendar, and we get an opportunity to spread the word. It pains me actually, to make a change like this. But hey, nothing is perfect and neither are we. We just want to make sure we can all participate and get something out of PodCamp.

With that said, the new date of PodCampSLC will be March 15th, 2008, from 10AM to 4PM. Check in will take place from 9AM-10AM.

We hope everyone in the Salt Lake City and surrounding areas will look at this as a huge opportunity to help grow the new media community even more. We have some really outstanding people here and I'm so excited to get to meet and learn from everyone. Please help us spread the word. Include the date, the place and the time in your blog posts, your podcast's, let's create some excitement.

If you have made travel plans to get here, and this puts you in a real bind, please contact me off-line and I'll see if there is something I can do.

There are a number of volunteer activities we could really use your help with. I'll be outlining those in another blog entry, we are just looking for the community to get involved. That's what this is all about, our community. Make it ROCK!

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Writing A Plot Shouldn’t Be This Difficult

One thing I'm finding very difficult as a writer is putting my plots on paper. I tried in the past to write from my head. I have the story all figured out, the characters, the beginning, the middle and the end. But my problem has been hundreds or even thousands of words into a story I start to lose where I am. I spend too much time going back and reading what I've written to make sure I didn't forget something or remind myself the direction a sub-plot or character was headed.

I started a novel notebook, as I'm sure many writers have done, to help me keep track of the plot, the characters, the significant things that have happened to characters, and the general direction of the story. This is really helping me stay on task and I'm not having to refer back as often as I used too. But writing the plot is still very difficult for me.

The problem I face is, my stories are so detailed in my mind, I struggle to write it down because I end up writing the story and not a plot. For example, I'm pretty far into a novel I've been writing for quiet some time. It has very distinct characters and plot, but in my mind I see this very complex story and I can't seem to get it on paper without wasting a bunch of time. So I keep writing, and getting further into the story, and make mistakes.

What I need to do is write out plots for the five or six other stories I have, get them flushed out, then go back to my current novel and see if I can get the plot and characters on paper. Sometimes I feel like this is a lost cause. Maybe I complicated the story too much.

How detailed do you get with your plots and characters? How do you manage the writing process?

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3 Words For 2008

This year I wasn't really wanting to create a huge "goal" list, instead I wanted to focus on some key words that will help me stay focused. One of the reasons I want to have a set of words is because they are easy to remember. A set of words is also easier to measure against than a large list.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with goals, people use them all the time and so have I in the past. But my first word, Simple, is why I want to use words instead. Here are my key words for 2008:

• Simple - even as I'm writing this I keep thinking of all the new web sites I want to create. This is part of what caused me problems last year. Simple to me means not trying to keep up with everyone. I'll do what makes sense for me and what is easy. No need to create undo stress. It's just not worth the pain.
• Write - this is the year I focus on writing, and start answering the question "What do you do?" with "I'm a writer!".
• Enjoy - this is so important. I need to enjoy the things in my life, such as my family, my friends, my work and my hobbies. I also want to enjoy a healthy life style. I have lots of motivation to enjoy life.

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