November Was A Big Writing Month

During the month of November I tried to tackle two writing projects at the same time. I knew I would be blogging so joining the National Blog Posting Month group would be pretty easy. The other project I was attempting was National Novel Writing Month. Arguably the most difficult task to complete in 30 days. So here's how I did:

I managed to write 40 blog posts in the month of November. Those 40 posts garnered 38 comments. Not quiet 1 per post but hey at least someone is reading what I write.

I managed to write 2893 words of my 50,000 word novel. I had reached about 9000 words when I realized the story was going no where and I needed to start over. I know, that was a stupid idea but the story was making no sense and it wouldn't have made a difference. I wanted something that you could read rather than just a bunch of words on paper. So while I didn't write a complete Novel I started one that I hope will end up in as a book one day.

I wrote a flash fiction story for a fellow writer to review. It needs a lot of work, in fact I will re-write the whole thing. Flash fiction is difficult to write. A complete story in under 1000 words. That doesn't give you much room for fluff. But I like what flash fiction teaches; to be concise and to the point. I did learned you can write very creative fiction in a small amount of words.

So in summary I had a pretty good writing month. My goal has been to increase the number of words I write both in blog posts and stories. I haven't even counted the number of words all of my blog posts have captured, but it's over 80,000, close enough for a Novel all by itself.

This month I'm focusing on these areas:

• A few series I want to write on digital photography and Lifestreaming.


• Social Media sites like Facebook and Ning. If you've never checked out Ning you need too. It's incredible. I love the layout and the community building. Ning has a strong platform and is pushing the new OpenSocial platform.


• OpenSocial and Android (mobile API)


• New Media posts that coincide with PodCampSLC.

So December ought to be fun. What are you doing this month?

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My Moleskine Crashed Hard

Have you ever discovered something so horrific that you nearly threw up on the spot? That happened to me today. Every once in a while I take public transit to my office away from home. Today was one of those days. I hastily put everything in my backpack and ran out the door to catch the bus. Somewhere between my office door and the bus, all of the Moleskine's I was using were gone. I must have forgotten to zip up the pocket they were in. All of my notes. All of my design drawings. Some personal information. Receipts. Names. Numbers. All gone.

This is the risk of a paper based lifestream. I have a PDA, a T-Mobile MDA, but I only use it to make phone calls, store documents, email, Twitter, and keep my lists. I never kept lists in my Moleskine. Typically I scan the notebooks for relevant tasks, notes and list additions, and type them into a note file I keep on my PDA. I felt good about it. I had a digital copy of some notes and lists and everything else just stayed in the book.

Remember the IT guy always telling you to backup? Well, it had been months since I'd backed up my Moleskine. There is no recovering months of work. There are things in those books I can't remember, and I planned it that way. My poor execution in backing up my trusted system came back to bite me in the ass.

So now the question; do I go out and buy new Moleskine's or do I abandon this type of collection system all together? At the moment I'm just sick and pissed all at the same time. I went back later to trace my steps and no luck finding them. Hopefully someone will find my business cards in the back and call me, but nothing yet. My instinct is to go get the books and quit whining, get over it, move on. So I'll wait until tomorrow. Maybe I will have a clear head and make the right decision.

Cammeron Reilly pointed me to a blog post of his when he first made the leap to a paper lifestream, and the concern he had about losing it. I never really had that problem. Maybe naively I assumed nothing would ever happen because I was always careful. But this one day when I rushed instead of took my time, really messed me up. I guess now I have a reason to write more blog posts on the subject.

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Attended My First KenCon Tonight

Local writer Ken Rand had his monthly KenCon today at the Barnes and Noble at the Southtowne Mall. KenCon is really has a gathering of local writers who talk about what they are doing, conventions they have been too and share some work with the group.

This was my first meet-up with this group. I feel a little out of place seeing that I'm the only one not yet published. I'm working on it. It was great. The people there tonight are first rate. Here is a list of those I could remember and a link to their site. The fun part about this meet-up was I got to reconnect with an old friend I hadn't seen in 5 or 6 years. Turns out she's running a very successful magazine here in Salt Lake.

Ken Rand - Ken is the grand master of all. He has hundreds of stories several books published including two upcoming books called Pax Dakota and Where Angels Fear. Ken is the host of KenCon aptly named for himself.

Patrick M. Tracy - Paul is a speculative fiction writer. He also writes poems and shared one with us tonight. Fantastic. Love Patrick's writing.

Paul Genesse - Paul has such an energetic and contagious personality. Paul has a book coming out in May 2008 called The Golden Cord, and has been published in various other books.

Eric James Stone - Eric is a science fiction and fantasy writer and has been published in various magazines and books.

Rebecca Shelley - Rebecca has a new book coming out in January called Red Dragon Codex. From what I understand she is a very accomplished writer.

Beth Wodzinski - Beth is Editor-in-Chief of Shimmer, a speculative fiction magazine which is published quarterly.

There was also another couple there who came later and I forgot to get their names. Sorry guys. Maybe someone can help me with that? I also forgot to take pictures, but since it was my first visit I guess its ok.

I appreciate Ken inviting me, I can't wait for the next one. I want to report I've written a lot more of my Novel and short stories by then.

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My NaNoWriMo Week One

Today ends week one of my attempt to write a complete Novel in 30 days. I'm currently at about 1800 words, which roughly puts me 10,000 words behind schedule. I will be making up some time this weekend. I'm going to lock myself in a room until I have at least 10,000 words. I know it seems like a huge wall to scale at this point but I'm confident I can catch up.

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Yes, I’m Participating In NaNoWriMo This Year

That's right, starting tomorrow I'm setting out to write an entire novel, 50,000 words, in 30 days. Crazy? Maybe. I've been priming myself this past month by writing one or more blog posts everyday and writing small short stories. I'm ready, excited and hope I can get as close to 50,000 as possible. If you've participated in NaNoWriMo before you know what it's like. I'd love to hear your stories. If this is your first year, like me, leave your blog link in the comments and let us in on how you're doing.

Since the average daily number of words I will need to write in order to accomplish the goal is 1667, I hope I can fit a few days blogging in there.

My Build A Better Blog series is almost complete and I have two other series I am researching to write on, but won't be as aggressive as the one I'm just finishing. I'm just having fun writing and hope someday to have a Novel in Barnes and Noble. Wish me luck.

By the way, I ran across this really cool site today called NaSoAlMo. It's the national Solo Album Month. Just like writing a Novel in 30 days, this site encourages musicians to record an album in 30 days. Very cool. If you're a musician, visit the site and give this a try. If you do let us know. Good luck.

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The Writers 10% Rule

A few weeks ago I met a really great Writer named Ken Rand. Ken has been a writer for a very long time. He's written everything from newspaper articles to short stories to novels. One of the really cools things about Ken's writing is he covers a broad range of genres. If you want to learn from a writer who has done it all, Ken is your man.

While I was at Mountain Con III I bought a book from Ken called The 10% Solution. One of the panels Ken was on he talked about how you can self edit your writing using several passes to cut out all the fluff, or as he called it, the 10% reduction. Every time you read through your manuscript find areas that can be compressed using smaller or fewer words or removing entire paragraphs. When you're done you will have a more concise story and something more pleasing for Editors to read.

You can apply this same solution to writing blog posts. I try to reduce what I write by 10%. Some times its just not possible to reduce what you've written but I would at least try.

Side note here. Ken didn't ask me or pay me to say anything about this book. I have truly gotten a lot out of it and just wanted to share it with all of you.

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Coming out of the closet

Oooh, I know that will get some click through's. But in all seriousness, I'm confessing my addiction to Galactic Fiction. I term Galactic Fiction as TV and movies around Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG1 and Atlantis and of course Star Wars. Now this may not be some earth shattering announcement, but there is a reason behind it.

For years I've read if you want to be a successful blogger you should write about the things you're interested in. To that end, I'm starting a new blog, one that is about my addiction to Galactic Fiction. I'm just a fan. It's my perspective. I don't plan on scooping SciFi news, there are plenty of sites for that. I don't want to start a SciFi bulletin board, there are thousands of those.

So there you go. I've confessed; come out of the closet. This should be fun. It's all in fun. I love this stuff. New blog is GalactiFi.com. I hope to write Star Trek style stories here books.galactifi.com.

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I lived 070707

That's right, years from now I want to be able to show my kids that I lived through 070707. One of the most unique days ever. There are probably a thousand reasons why it's unique. There are only 5 more years where we can have these special days. The remaining ones are 080808, 090909, 101010, 111111 (this one will be a VERY unique day), and 121212. Have fun on this unique day.

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Open Letter to Seth Godin

Dear Seth,

Long time reader, if this we're going to be on your blog instead of mine, I would be a first time poster. Thanks is in order for your latest book, "small is the new big".

I'm not a marketer, but I recognize the value of marketing which is why I enjoy your books and blog. As Hugh said on TheGapingVoid "Seth, besides being THE MASTER of brevity [I've referred to him in the past as "the Ernest Hemingway of marketing"]". Very well put. I'll agree. And that's the reason I've enjoyed your work so far.

But Seth, this book, it's the best thing I've ever read. I just finished The Long Tail by Chris Anderson (which I blogged about here). What could have been said in about 20 pages went on for hundreds. So, as you asked me to do in the WARNING, I'm going to read a few pages, share them with others, do something with it, then do it again.

Here's my commitment. I am going to pick 10 topics from your book. Share them, internalize them, make them part of my life. Then, after seeing how well this works, maybe I'll pick another ten. We'll see. But for now, it's ten.

If you are reading this post and haven't picked up Seth's book, click right here, or go to Borders, or B&N or somewhere. Get the book. It will be the best money you have ever spent. Trust me. Did you click on the link yet? Well, what are you waiting for.

your friend,

Thom Allen

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Giving your all as a parent

I found this link to a story about Dick Hoyt. I've seen several news and documentary stories on the guy and his son, who is physically unable to take care of himself but seems to be very intelligent. If you're a prent, this guy puts us to shame. If we did a tenth of what this guy has done for his child imagine the relationships we would have with our children. Read the story then look at your own life.

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The only magazine you’ll ever need

Pretty bold huh? Well, if you're into building a business, running a business, trying to get great business ideas, learn from the most successful business builders on the planet, you need Inc. 500. No, this isn't an ad for the magazine. I don't get any kick back from them. I just know, that pretty much the only magazine I put money down for any more is the yearly 500.

The Internet, for me anyway, has basically eliminated the need to purchase magazines. The information in a magazine is usually 30 or more days old and are so full of advertising it makes reading an article almost impossible. I feel like I chase an article; start on page 1, continued on page 96, continued on page 30, continued on page 55.

Almost every magazine has an online version. It's sort of counter productive don't you think? I know, magazines can go places computers can't, but I don't really care. If I need something to read, I'll just download content to my Treo and read it where ever I want.

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If you stopped blogging, would anyone care?

I'm a big fan of ProBlogger.net, where Darrin starts a lot of group writing project (I participated in this one, and hopefully the next one), and it generates a lot activity. What does this have to do with my questions?

Well, what IF you turned your blog off? Would anyone really care? Do your posts move or excite people? Do you even know if you have avid readers?

Tell me about your blog and why the blogosphere is be better off because of you.

I'll start... no, I doubt anyone would really care. Why? Because for the longest time I have just posted what I would consider drivel. Stuff that is important to me but probably not to many others. Sure, I've had my share of good posts. Stories that generated some comments. But in the end, looking back over 3 years of blogging, I've seemed to miss the point. Because I never really had a point.

At one time I wanted to post about NASCAR each week. That lasted for about 3 races, then I stopped. I wanted to post about hockey, that lasted for about as many posts. Then it was music. I don't even think I posted anything on music. I really thought I could make headway posting about tech stuff, for the simple fact I'm a geektoid. But alas, there is so much noise in the space.

As I've learned from ProBlogger.net and many others, is a blog has to have a direction. It has to give the readers some value. Give them something to keep coming back.

So, again, if you stopped blogging, would anyone care?  

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Problogger group writing project - my favorites

After reading all the blogs, commenting on most, I think I have found what I would consider my favorite posts on the topic posed on Problogger.net. Here they are in no particular order.

Discovering More Time by Steve
Brand Your Blog From Day 1 by Eric
But Don’t Look Back in Anger by Jan
Kill Fifty Birds with One Stone by Curt
12 Things I would do if I had to start my Blog again by JohnTP

Here is the link to the entire list of participators.

I really enjoyed this little exercise, and learned a lot. Unitl next time.

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Great little hack for tracking time

I've been a long time reader of lifehacker.com. I download the occasional "daily download", use the todo.txt file, and have implemented several other tricks. But this one, the worklog.txt file, created and maintained by a simple script file and opened with CTL+ALT+L (for Windows OS), made this little hack my all time favorite. Why? The simplicity. I am at my PC a good amount of the day, and I am doing various tasks for various clients. This is going to be a great way for me to quickly start and stop tasks. Thanks Gina.

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The vision for this blog… would I do it again?

Over at ProBlogger, Darren has started a great thread asking the question, would you run your blog the same way? It is an interesting question. I've enjoyed reading how many other well known bloggers answered the question. Now Darren has put the question out to all his readers. So, I thought I would take a stab at it.

When I first started blogging, back in 2002, I remember the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 were still fresh on every ones mind, including mine. I'm a former United States Marine. I'd been out of the service for quite some time when the attacks happened but my sense of duty was running high. I knew I wasn't in a position to re-join my brothers, but I could be vocal about supporting them.

I was reading a copy of Java Developers Journal when I came across an article by the editor, Alan Williamson, and he mentioned a "blogging" service his company started called blog-city.com. So I did some poking around, and started my first blog. It was all about military stuff, specifically, Marines. I had a pretty good little following. It's something I discovered happens when your blog is part of a community. You tend to have a lot of readers from that community. But as time went on I expanded the blog to cover other issues, and inevitably, hosting my own blog with WordPress.

The question then, would I do it all over again, I would have to answer with a resounding yes. I've learned more over the past several years because of my association with blogs than at any other time in my life. My current blog, digitalthom.com, is going through a sort of transition. From something that was a hobby, to something that will actually make me money. I don't want to be a professional blogger like Darren, but I do think my blog can be an integral part of my business.

The things I would do differently would be to have better meta words, better content, and longer relevant posts. Something that would continue to draw people in. I've really been looking at AdSense (because there appears to be a lot of people making money), so, I'm trying to figure out the best way to implement it in my blog.

So yeah, I'd do it all over. For starters I would be a little more focused on what I know and how I can add value, but at the end of the day I'd still be doing this stuff. I'm really getting into podcasting and hope to expand my blog readership by expanding my podcasting.

Thanks Darren for giving others the opportunity to share.

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Giving everything you have in life

My Brother-in-law sent this to me today, Author is unknown. But if it was you who wrote it, I'd totally give you credit.

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, 'Wow, what a ride!'"

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Product placement in books?

I finished read my first Steven King book, Cell. I know that King is kind of a weird guy. I know hist other books and movies have been pretty wird. You would need a twisted mind to come up with some of these stories. But what really tweaked me about this book was blatant product placement. I have a hard time believing King was responsible for it, but it was distracting. Here are some examples:



Ok, so you tell me, are we trying to tell a story or sell products. Is this a book equivalent of a subliminal message? It just really looks bad. The story was alright, but all these ads just honestly pissed me off. I paid full price for the book just to find out the cost was offset by a whole bunch of strategically placed ads.

You know, I wonder, when editing the book, did the publisher look for opportunities to place products or was the story actually written with the product placement in mind?

Now, I could be wrong about this whole thing and it's just a "coincidence", but I doubt it.

Del.icio.us: books writing ads

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Our children’s cultural deficiency

I was listening to NPR this morning and a reporting was talking about the decline in cultural participation of today's children. He sited things like iPods, video games and satellite TV and cell phones as the main culprits. He stated that fewer kids are being exposed to Mozart, Bach, Van Gogh, Shakespeare and many other great cultural icons in history. The reporter felt that the decline in our children's desire to learn more about or be exposure to classical music, live theatre, poetry, great novels and great actors will keep our children from passing on the value of these historical and cultural events to their families

We as parents should be responsible for teaching them about these types of cultures. Take a look at what your kids are exposed to. Do they spend all their time watching TV, playing video games or text messaging on the phone? Do you? Take some time to teach your kids about the world around us and the world of the past.

I'll never forget the day my daughter and I were driving in the car and she asked me very plainly, "daddy, when did we turn color?" I asked her what do you mean "when did we turn color?" She said that she had watched some TV shows that were in black and white but most are in color. When did our earth turn to color? Wow, her little mind actually thought the world had been black and white at one time. Of course I explained how TV evolved. She seemed to buy it.

So take the time to pass on what you know and get your kids involved low tech activities.

[1] NPR

Del.icio.us : children culture music

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A day in my life…

Monday morning:

My alarm clock hardly ever goes off. My internal alarm is way too powerful. The only reason I even turn the damn thing on is because I'm afraid that once in a blue moon when I will sleep longer than anticipated. For all of my life I've slept with a click, staring at me, with bold red numbers, and hardly ever needed its service. The first thing my wife and I bought when we got married was a stupid black alarm clock with bold red numbers, and guess what, we still have it.

I always wonder if I should shave after my shower. What do I care if my face has day old stubble? Do you know what a pain in the ass it is to have facial hair that requires shaving every day? So I try and pull my schedule up into my mushy brain cells. Do I have something happening today that I should shave for? Mondays are always full meetings and so generally I'll shave. But I hate it.

I'm looking at my closet. My wife and I have this thing... we hate our wardrobes. For me, I'm losing weight and I'm in between sizes. So everything is a little loser than I want but I can't bring myself to buy a bunch of new clothes I'll grow out of in a month or so. Ahhh, I just hate it. So I grab the main stay, a t-shirt, and then the jeans. Is it sneakers or Dockers today? What did I wear yesterday? Who cares, grab whatever's closest.

Breakfast has to be the worst part of a human's day. You just spent 6-9 hours sleeping, it's probably been at least 10-12 hours since you last ate, but you're too tired to care about eating. If I don't eat before I leave then I tend to not eat. By 9 AM I'm shaking. Have you seen what your kids eat for breakfast? One morning its cocoa pebbles, the next it's sugar smack something, the next it's the wife's kashi. Cereal always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I dream of breakfasts at Denny's (which is why I have to lose so much weight.)

I typically get to the office when it's dark. Zero dark thirty we used to say in the Marine Corp. That means any time before dawn, which is usually when Marines do things. Typically, I'm one of the first to arrive. There is always someone there before me, but I like going in early. If you start asking me questions about work crap before I've even taken my coat off I'm bound to ignore you or at least ask you to wait until I've had a chance to sit down and get settled. I have a routine. I love my routine. It's like drinking coffee only not.

Email is my worst enemy. I hate it. I love how fast people can communicate and allows people with great distances between themselves to communicate. But on the average I get 100+ emails. Not trivial spam email, but actual email that I have to at least evaluate if it needs a response or not.

I spend the next several hours working on various projects, writing some C# code, working with a new intern on his goals and objectives to get university credit, lunch, foos ball, and a meeting.

You know, there is one thing I hate more than any other type of work experience. It's when someone calls with a problem that needs to be resolved immediately, and they do it at 5 PM. Why? Why can't people discover problems at 9 AM? Even noon. But no, they have to wait till the very last minute to ask for help. Ahhh! I worked with a guy once who used to enter emergency bugs on a product he was testing and I was the developer, and then quietly walk out the door. At the time the culture was no one went home if there was an emergency bug. We needed it fixed right away, no matter the hour or the complexity. But this guy would do it at least once a week. Ruined my whole night. We should have adopted a policy that required the tester who entered the bug to stay as long as the developer. But, that's a whole nother story.

Finally, home, throw off the work clothes and jump in my sweats. Kiss the family (who are all about to head off to bed), grab a little food and chat with my wife. Just glad the day is over. Stressing about the next because I know it will be just as bad.

Del.icio.us : adayinmylife writing

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It’s my type of poem

I tried writing a poem a while back. It was for a contest. I didn't win, but it was fun thinking I might.

I had a wonderful young woman critique this piece, and I will share with you later what she said. for now, here it is:

I'm always amazed at this time of year, nature, slowing down, sleeping

Color dictates the mood then falls to the wayside in an ever eternal cycle

Breath seems to take form and float away

The flowers are gone and the leaves fallen the birds are on a southern path

It's only a short time, a pause if you will before a soft winter coat slowly falls and covers the ground

There, now, this type of poem was supposed to be about free form thinking. It wasn't supposed to be a traditional rhyming poem. I like this type. It lets the writer express in words what they are thinking and not trying so hard to find similar words.

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