Yeah, I Know. It’s been longer than ten days. But it’s been a busy month. Jamie Went off to college, art school at CCAD in Columbus. Alex, the little one, just started Kindergarten. And Tomorrow’s My Birthday.

And I’ve really been working my way through some research. Even done a little drafting already. Got one chapter done that I’m taking right out: Ended up being too much backstory, not enough forward momentum. Consider it Character Work.

So Give me a break already. I Promise. I’ll have a draft done by the end of October. A secon draft done in November- Maybe cheat a bit on NanWrimo. Then Some Beta Readers.

Could I actually have it on Amazon by the time everyone’s unwrapping their $99 Kindles? Perhaps…

Then, For My New Years resolution, a Series? Hmmm..

How About you- What are some of your short term goals?

Writing My First Novel: Day 10 ©, .

Ok, So I’m Still behind and still Plugging away. Way, Way Behind. Had a minor elective surgery ( I’m Forty and have a daughter going away to college. You’re smart. I’m sure you can figure it out).

So I’m about two weeks behind where I want to be. My two month Deadline is looking more and more like a one month deadline. Luckily, I’ve got the Book in a month things to keep me honest.

But I’ve got a problem. I’ve got two new ideas  hogging my brain.

One is pretty much a direct lift from a podcast I listen to. Sputnik at Tank Riot was talking about how much he loves submarine movies, and mentioned that since he liked zombie movies too, he wanted someone to make a zombie on a sub movie because, “Where would you go?” Ding! Why Not? Modern Nuclear or WWII Action? Pre or Post Apocalypse? Hmm, wheels are turning.

The second one came out of the ether- it’s not directly related to anything. I was just turning over a steampunk Idea and came up with something I’m really excited about. Because this is a lot more personal, and a lot less like “Theft” if I go forward with it, I’m not telling what it is. But it’s pretty cool. A quick google search shows that I don’t think anyone else has had this idea- at least not in this form.

I see on forums all the time the question “Where do you get your ideas?” and I’m always flabbergasted by it. Ideas are all over the place. You can get them from news stories, other writers, or just pull them right out of the air if you concentrate.

Some ideas are stupid: the world doesn’t need anymore vampires or werewolves, thank you very much. But if you keep an eye out, maybe you can catch a few good ones.

Then, of course, there’s a big difference between an idea and the execution. I can guarantee that i am not the only person this week to jot down “Submarine Zombies” in my notebook. Whether I’m the first to execute that idea or the best or even the most popular is as random and up to chance as pulling that idea out of the gestalt in the first place.

Hopefully, I can turn these ideas into something exciting. If not, I’m sure there’ll be more ideas my antenna will pick up on.

Working my Novel- Day 20: Plugging into the Gestalt ©, .

There’s a new website that’s making the rounds today: I Write Like.

Just paste a selection of your writing in the box, hit the button and the program does a statistical analysis on your writing.

Sure, it’s only as good as the algorithm. And sure, it’s probably on a par with palm reading or numerology. But Still, I don’t know what to make of the results on my first chapter:

Seriously? I Write like Dan Brown?

Working My Novel Day Something or Other ©, .

Where did the week go? I promise I’ll get caught up with the Working the Novel this weekend.

In the meantime, from ProBlogger comes the following challenge: Post links to the following Posts:

The First Byzantine Roads Post ( OOH, Uck. I am not afraid to say I was learning on the fly)

The Post I Enjoyed Writing the Most: The Best Writing Advice I Never Listened to

A Post with a great Discussion: Seriously? Lots o’ Pingbacks, not so many Comments:20 Themes for Writers.

A Post on someone else’s Blog I Wish I’d Written: John Scalzi’s Being Poor turned me onto his writing and blog.

My Most Helpful Post: So Nice I turned it into a page: My First Podcast has lots of YouTube Hits

The Title I am Most Proud Of : Well, You’re just gonna have to click. Hint: Cthulhu

A Post I Wish More People Had Read: Awww, Sometimes, it’s not about the Junk

Seven Link Challenge ©, .

How Effective is it? Well, apparently the Manhattan Russian spies were using Steganography. And they would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for those rotten kids at the the FBI.

See, Steganography encrypts your data files and embeds them in a data image. That way, you don’t have a bunch of  suspicious looking files on your hard drive.  Just the usual porn. Then you can transfer the data image, carry it around, and no one’s the wiser.

Try it out now. Google Steganography software or use a free program like  QuickStego.

Now, If only I had an innocuous picture to use. Something no one would suspect.

Perfectly Innocent

Good. Now go.

Tell no one we met.

Encrypt Your Data like the Pros: Use Free Steganography Software. ©, .