Recently in Writing Category

Ok, here is what I want to and have to do this weekend. Want to are in italic's, and have to are not.

• Visit my grandfather Saturday and/or Sunday
  
• Polish up, finish off and post article about Linux to the Subscriber Section
  
• Write, polish, finish and post an article on the Library of congress' murder of Internet Radio to the Subscriber Section
  
• Hit the gym both Saturday & Sunday
  
• Watch both Nascar races(Busch(??) & Winston) on their respective days
  
• Hit the U of M garage sale on Saturday morning
  
• Figure out codeweaver's WineX and why it will not allow me to play either RCT or Nascar 99.

So, three need and 4 want. The garage sale is not likely. I think WineX is to big to tackle this weekend. I hope that I can get those two articles done in time, and hope that will lead to some subscription's, or inquiries at the very least.

Got four new Rick James articles up and online. Enjoy. No need to be a subscriber for these ones! He is an excellent proponent of Microsoft, who is not afraid to voice his displeasure with them when it is needed. Check 'em out before that domain may die.

Ok. Bob Thompson and Brian Bilbrey both think that publishing of tech books is pretty much dead. I want to write, but I am not sure how well received it will be in the current market, and I would rather not write one unless it has potential to do well. I am also not sure how long it will take to write a book, but if Bob is right about the average advance that would give me roughly 6 months to live off if I had no other work. I am not officially killing the idea, but I think I need more information before I move too much further along. I also have no idea what is involved in the process.

Hell, I don't even know what I would write about. If a writer of the caliber of Brian Bilbrey doesn't get a book deal , and then his next effort gets messed up between approval and writing, I don't know how well a book by Dwight Wallbridge, major nobody in the technology world. I dunno, what do you all think? Has anyone looked into book publishing? Anyone want to gimme a list of the steps needed for going from wishing to writing? I would really like to know this as I want to go into this with both eyes open.

Ok, so I am looking a little more seriously towards my writing. I need a few things. I need a proper dictionary. I also need a decent thesaurus. I need these because I kind myself stuck on what word to use in a given situation, and often being forced to use the same words over and again. That means I send out a call. Anyone who wants to buy me a decent Thesaurus for my recently passed Birthday, email me for shipping instructions. I am 100% serious on this. If I am going to write seriously, I need to get the right tools, and Word 2000 is not the best one. At the very least a recommendation as to the best one to use would also be great. Thanks.

Ok, so I looked at the Author FAQ on the GnomeTome site. They are focusing on the tip based format. Mine is nothing like a tip form, instead more of a tutorial. therefore I get the impression that a submission of it would likely be told thanks but no thanks. when I get back online I may email Randy and see what his involvement is and to see what he could work out, but in all likelihood I will have to post that to the Comments section and park it there.

I like Randy's idea of my writing a GnomeTome to get my foot in the writing door, but I honestly don't know what other then web design I could write 50 tips at 2 paragraphs a tip. I find that 50 paragraphs feels like a whole lot to me, but if I get some interest from GnomeTome's I might see how well I can do. I don't see 50 tips on how to do proper web design, but then again I am not sure how one can find 50 tips on anything. Maybe it's just me.

Well, there seems to be a somewhat increasing call for me to get into the professional writing biz. I know I am nothing like the formidable writer's Tom Syroid, Robert Thompson or Jerry Pournelle, but I am being told by an increasing number of people that I should. Cheyenne left me a comment that I should write and that she wishes she could write like me. Randy seems to be interested in writing with me. Scott got the ball rolling by mentioning writing and I blogged it, to which he replied that I would be as great writer. Anybody else think my writing is good enough? Anyone got things they would like to read about?

Anybody else think my writing is good enough? Anyone got things they would like to read about? Please, feedback is very much appreciated, as this will be quite a task and I have no idea where to start. This post will also go onto the blog, so you can easily comment there, and I do really want your opinions. I still don't think I can write well enough to do it even as a part time thing, and find this blog to be one of the most typically boring in the community, but it seems some of you think otherwise. I don't know who I would contact to get info on publishing a book, nor what I would write about, so that is what I look to you all for.

Well, well, well. Looks like more then just the mentally sound Scott thinks I should do a book, but a locker gnome staffer. He asked my specialty and what I would be interested in writing about. In all honesty I am not sure what to write about, but my specialty, as all my regular readers will know, is web design. That is not really an in demand piece of knowledge, as most places only use Front Page which appears to do all they need, and that is not really something they will trust me to tell them otherwise on. He suggested a GnomeTome, and I mentioned I had already written them abut doing one and no one had gotten back to me.

My idea for a non technical work is to write about my 10+ years with computers. that is boring, so I default to technical works. I am not sure what to write on as I have no idea what the other person(none other then Randy Nieland, writer of the Tech Specialist newsletter and as far as I know the person moderating the newsgroups until they were shut down) seems to have offered to partner in writing something, but until we can mesh out were each of our experiences lie, it is impossible to see where we would work.

So, I ask what you think I should write about. Please leave a comment or email me. thanks.

I commented on a post at Scott's sysblog earlier in which he thought it would be good to get back to the interest he once had in writing a book. I commented that I was happy to hear he had found a renewed interest in that, and that I thought I was unable to do something like that. I still don't feel like am a writer of the necessary caliber to get published, but Scott seems to think I am. I am a tad confused about a few things in his reply, but he seems to think I am a good enough writer to do something professionally. If he was going based on this blog, well, I am honored. I do this not for the accolades as a writer, but as a way to put my thoughts and opinions out there for the world to read.

As I told Scott in my reply to his, I thank him for his belief in me but because of my own disabilities(ADHD) I cannot concentrate on anything long enough to finish much, and frequently end up dropping projects half done. That is why I was happy there was not much extra stuff needed for the dealership site, had I gotten it, because I would have likely gotten bored with it(sometime after the money was spent). I cannot read technical stuff, as I have mentioned before, and find it nearly impossible to remember anything I read for more then a few minutes. Ritalin has been suggested to me, but as before I refuse to even consider such a thing. I don't do illegal drugs, so why would I take a prescription drug with the same chemical constituency of cocaine? Thought so.

as I just told Scott, I will look into writing professionally when I have more time to look for a subject and writing partner to write with. Without both I will not even consider a venture of writing a book. I just couldn't handle the burden of writing a failure without someone to share the disappointment with. Besides, I still don't think I have the technical knowledge or writing skill to do it. I guess I just need someone to prove it to me. Scott points to, apparently, my blog(and maybe my Geek's World site) as proof I can write, but I only see the ramblings of a bitter geek. I guess I am especially hard on myself, while thinking the best of those I know. *Yawn* I need sleep.

I have just read the most recent posts form Scott(I just caught his name) at SysBlog. I must say that without a doubt this is one of the most powerful blog posts I have ever read. I am not a drug addict. I rarely drink, and when I drink I drink very little. I do have my vices though, and this post helped me see that every habit, every addiction is just as hard to break and it sometimes takes equally as harsh measures to break them. My vices? Food. Laziness. Caffeine. The first two are worse then the others, and eliminating food and caffeine will help me solve the laziness one.

I know this pry sounds silly to a person who had gone through drug or alcohol addiction, but I have no doubt in my mind that breaking those four addictions will be the hardest things I have ever done in my life. Each addiction is difficult, I know this as I broke one in my life already, smoking, but these ones will be harder and I am still not even close to over Smoking. I have been cigarette free for more then a year, I am getting closer every day to my previous record, and I figure two years will be the key. I know now that I was truly addicted like any alcoholic, in that it was just as much physical as mental. I am working through the mental, and the physical and physiological are essentially gone.

I hope that Scott gets all the help he needs to work through his addictions, and I am sure he knows by now that the first step is the hardest and he has taken it. I can't sat his words have helped me all that much, but they have helped me vocalize my addictions, which is something I have never been able to do before. I wish him luck and I ask that you wish me luck in my attempts over the next little while to get above and beyond these problems.