To Blog Or Not To Blog...

I resolved to update this blog on a regular basis in 2013. So far, I am not doing well. I have, however, spent a great deal of time debating with myself if I should blog at all.

As writers, we are told that we must blog in order to build an audience or an 'author platform'. This is probably a valid concept. My issue is that there are 92.8 million writers who are blogging for mostly this reason alone. I know this because I read quite a few of them each day when I should be spending my time writing!

Don't worry... I'm sure this next part isn't about you!

The majority of the writers' blog posts deal with some 'cutting edge' topic, by which I mean a writing adage we have all heard a million times like 'Show Don't Tell' or 'Your characters have to be real!", and waste 500-1000 words telling us absolutely nothing new on the topic. That isn't to say there are not some very good blogs on writing, but the percentage of those is tiny. I don't blame the 99.5% of writing blogs that add nothing new, because if I did update my blog 2-3 times a week on the topic of writing I would be doing the exact same thing. But...

When I forward myself a link from my phone, open it up on my PC, spend 2 minutes reading it to find it is drivel I am often left feeling pretty stabby. The real crime is that they are spamming my twitter TL several times a day or many times a week advertising the same dreadful post. The biggest crime of all is when the blogger uses different snippets from the blog in their tweets so you cannot be sure if it is a post you've already wasted time on or some new rubbish!

So instead of adding to the noise level and being another 'not great' blog on writing, or worse a waste of writers' time, I am not going to update this blog regularly. I will continue to waste more of my time than I should reading bad blogs on writing, and when I read a good one I will retweet a link so you won't have to dredge through the sludge with me each day.

All that said, I will occasionally come back and bang out a piece here if there is something I feel I can add on a topic. Or something I feel passionately enough about to be the one spamming other peoples twitter feeds about several times a week. Thanks for wasting two minutes of your time here; now quit reading and starting writing!

Mandatory 2012 Recap

“Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.” - Ray Kroc

I accomplished quite a few things this year, but I wish I had done more. Most of my 2012 was spent writing about zombies in one form or another. These are a few of the things I did with my writing time:

• Three of my short stories were published. Two in anthologies and one in a magazine.
• I finished in one of the top spots in two short story contests.
• Laid out the bones of a zombie novel that I will get written soon - I hope!
• Wrote several articles on zombie survival and training for a magazine.
• Cranked out most of a novella in a new genre. (Tons of research included)
• Studied screenplay writing and started work on a few collaborative screenplays.
• Outlined a new YA novel.

I think that is about it... other than spending November travelling in Europe and December dying of pneumonia. Looking back, a lot of 2012 was spent learning new genres and new formats. This year I want to spend more time actually putting words on paper. Here are the goals I am setting for myself in 2013:

• Publish the novella.
• Complete at least two screenplays.
• Finish first draft of my zombie novel.
• Write the YA novel.
• Update this Blog at least once a week.

That seems fairly ambitious, but if I can finish 4 of those 5 bullets that would give me a B for the year and I was always ok with getting Bs in school!

What I Learned 'Vacation Writing' Pt 1

I spent November visiting family in Europe. I embarked with my laptop and plans to complete NaNoWriMo while on vacation. Looking back, it was probably a stupid ambition, but overall I believe I returned a better writer. Once upon a time, I was considered a Math genius... so I'll start with the numbers.

# words written on WIP: 0
# projects finished: 0
# laptops returned home: 0
# insight gained from a 5yo: tons

The first item tells you that NaNoWriMo was a total bust, and some would consider it a wasted month when no real writing was completed. So why do I feel like I learned to be a better writer?

I thought a lot about language. If I am to remain completely honest, my German is not great. When you switch from a huge vocabulary in your native tongue to a tiny subset in another you really think about the simplest way to communicate. I read samples of many e-books over the course of the trip, and the biggest flaw most of them shared was terrible word choices.

Mark Twain: "I never write metropolis for seven cents when I can get the same price for city. I never write policeman when I can get the same money for cop."

At a conference I attended this Summer a panel of published authors warned against 'writing that sounded like writing'. I think it is a trap many beginning writers fall into - trying to show intelligence or write overly colorful phrases. If every sentence contains similes, metaphors, unnecessarily complex words, or long strings of adjectives it becomes harder for the reader to get lost in the page.

I recommend reading some dreadful books in your chosen genre. Just a few pages here or there will show you how annoying certain writing habits and styles can be. I returned home eager to comb through some of my work and make sure I wasn't making similar mistakes.

I'll ramble about the wisdom that can be gained from entertaining a 5 year-old for a month next time.

Have any of you successfully managed to write while travelling?

iApocalypse

Most of us have grown very reliant on technology to help with even the simplest tasks. In a world without readily available electricity and WiFi that will all have to end, right? Wrong! If you plan ahead, mobile technology could greatly enhance your standard of living in the apocalypse or even make the difference between being a survivor and zombie chow. A smart phone could be the most important element of your survival preparation.

You may be wondering why in the world you'd want to add a smart phone or tablet to your survival bag that is already filled to over-flowing and weighs a ton when the days of making phone calls are over. The short answer: It will help you survive. Not to sound too much like a commercial, but the ways a smart phone can enhance your survival are limited only by your imagination.

Every decent bug-in/bug-out bag has first aid supplies. How many have medical books to help diagnose symptoms of illness or disease? How many have detailed instructions on how to treat major injuries or wounds? Our survival bags don’t have these crucial items in them, because books are heavy as hell. Put digital copies of those books into your favorite reader app and they will always be available. While you are at it... grab a few books on practical survival: how to hunt, build shelters, identify edible plants, grow food, purify water, etc. Before eating a dodgy looking root wouldn't it be nice to pull up a picture and make sure you aren't committing suicide by salad?

A smart phone will also be useful for keeping records. It can replace pens and fragile paper for keeping track of supplies, food and water consumption, schedules, or searched areas. If you keep it charged your device will provide accurate dates and times which will be important to know for weather patterns and planting schedules. Visual records might be used to note landmarks or places you have left supply caches. If you take a picture of a location after you scavenge it, you know exactly how it looked like last time you were there and could quickly tell if other people had gotten to it. Photos can also be invaluable for planning more complicated missions when you don’t want to rely on memories or maps drawn in dirt.  

Morale is one of the biggest long-term survival issues and it is often over-looked. Keeping your spirits up can be tough in today's world. There won't be enough Xanax to go around when you add in long periods of time restricted to small areas, lack of companionship, limited sleep, sparse diet, loss of loved ones, and hordes of groaning zombies constantly after your flesh. Monotony wears down the mind and will lead to mistakes.

Pictures of loved ones will help deal with their loss, bring a rare post-ZDay smile, or remind you of those who are counting on you to reach them. A little music can boost your spirits, help you sleep, or just drown out the groans of the dead. Watching your favorite zombie movie could give you laughs over how 'easy' the writers thought things would be in a world filled with the dead. Reading a favorite novel could take your mind to a happier place. Playing games could provide entertainment as well as help pass time and keep your mind sharp.

All of these capabilities are part of the basic apps that come with any phone or tablet. There are also some great apps available that are made specifically for survival by everyone from the U.S. Army to the elite British S.A.S. that by themselves would be well worth the weight of a phone and a charger in anyone’s survival bag.

The Basic Requirements

Start with a tablet or smart phone with a high storage capacity and a camera. It will not be possible to move data back and forth from another computer and the 'cloud' might not exist, so you will want to be able to cram as much data into that device as possible. Why would you carry around 8 GB of data when you could have 16/32 GB for the exact same amount of storage space and weight? A tablet will be easier to read and will make some apps more useful, but a phone is lighter, fits in a pocket, and uses less power.

The next thing you will want to find is the toughest hard case that is available for your device. Amazon.com is not going to be delivering if you need to replace your phone because it gets damaged. It may be possible to scavenge a compatible replacement eventually but you might never be able to replace the apps and information stored on your original. Remember that transferring data from one to another isn't as easy without conventional power supplies, computers, and internet connections. I recommend the Otterbox Defender Series. You can run over it with a car and not damage the phone.

The power grid might stay up for a few hours or a few days, but you are going to need a way to recharge the batteries on your device without relying on a wall socket or car charger soon after ZDay. You have two basic power options: kinetic and solar. Each method has unique advantages and disadvantages.

A solar charger requires exposure to the sun or other light which might not always be available depending upon where you are staying. The presence of other unfriendly survivors or zombies might make going out in the sun or removing barricades from the windows to let light in hard to do or dangerous. On the plus side the charging doesn't require any effort from you other than getting light exposure for your solar charger. A kinetic charger requires movement which means expenditure of your energy. Extra energy might be a rare commodity depending on your food supply, ability to rest, injuries, health, etc. I think the right answer is to have both, but if I could only have one it would be a hand crank charger.

The final step is loading your newest survival tool with the data that will help you not only survive but thrive in the apocalypse.

The 80/20 Rule of Survival

I intended to use this blog mostly for writing stuff, but I do write about zombies and definitely believe in disaster preparedness. Apparently some of that will be appearing here as well...

The 80/20 Rule, also known as Pareto's Principle, has been applied over the years to many fields. The basic concept is that 80% of your benefit stems from 20% of your effort. We all have a limited amount of resources to put into prepping, so you should spend that time and money as efficiently as possible. The key is identifying the 20% that contains your 80% reward.

It would be great to have an impenetrable bunker complex stocked with limitless supplies and be a professional mechanic/farmer/doctor/dentist/ninja/carpenter. Those of you who aren't Batman will need to focus your efforts a little more. Here is my list of things that are low cost (in time and money) that anyone can do to greatly increase their chance of survival in case of any kind of world changing disaster. In no certain order:

1) Learn to shoot - you can go to a range and take a basic gun safety class in one evening for about $100. One local range even has Ladies Night where women get free range time and gun rentals! There is no excuse not to know how to handle a firearm. I am not lending you one of mine if you are more likely to shoot one of us than one of the zombies or looters. That makes it less likely for both of us to survive. If you can afford the extra money - buy a gun! Any other time or money you put into survival supplies is wasted if you don't have a gun to protect it.

2) Learn to drive (motorcycles/manual transmission/trucks) - the more vehicles you can safely operate the better. Mobility can mean life or death and the more options for transportation you have the better. Buses and trains won't be running after TSHTF. This should be something you can do in a weekend and possibly for free if you know a friend that can teach you.

3) Learn to hunt/fish/grow food - with stores closed (and looted) food is going to be scarce. Even if you live in an urban area now, anyone who plans to survive long-term will wind up living in a rural area. Knowing how to shoot and how to hunt are totally different things. If someone stood a deer in front of me and I was hungry I could shoot it. Could I clean it? Cook it properly? Preserve the extra meat? Find the next one on my own? No, no, no, and no.  This has the highest cost in time and money of anything on my list, but I feel it is still part of the 80/20 because food is a necessity.

4) Get in shape - once there are no more public services or home delivery, life is going to be a lot of hard work. You don't need to be an Olympian, but if you cannot walk for 20 minutes without a break you won't make it very far when TSHTF. Another important aspect of this is medication. Pharmacies will be looted as quickly as grocery stores so the time to ween yourself off of pills is now. If you are borderline on cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, etc... improved fitness could reduce or remove your need for medicine.  

This isn't one of the items you can knock out in an evening or a weekend, but you can start working on it right now and without a lot of dedicated time or money - taking stairs not elevators, walking a little extra, eating a little better, etc. I am neither a doctor nor a fitness guru and won't pretend to be. You can seek out that expertise somewhere else... I'm just telling you that it is a waste of time and money to prep for disaster when you can't live without medicines you won't be able to get the day after the stores close.


Whatever your prep activities I would recommend balance. Do not put all your effort into long-term survival and ignore what you will need to survive the first month, or be focused to 'guarantee' you survive a few weeks only to starve to death from lack of long-term preparation.

What other items do you think belong on this list?

A Blog!

After many moons of deliberation I have decided to start blogging. I plan to use this space as a place to post snippets of writing and other stray thoughts on 'life, the universe, and everything'.