Scalzi/Wheaton Book Of Awesomeness
One of my summer projects was to spend more time writing, and I used a variety of writing contests (Erika Napoletano, ESPN/Stymie and Scalzi/Wheaton) to force action on that thought. I think I had the most fun working on the Scalzi/Wheaton fanfic contest, mostly because it was the first time I’d written science fiction, fan [...]
Last Writing Contest: Vote For Me! Don’t Win Anything!
I’ve entered one final writing contest this summer: Erika Napoletano challenged readers to come up with 300 words describing a picture. I made it well under the wire (time and count wise) this time, and you can see my tribute to urban cruft in the comments section of the entry announcing the contest. Vote for [...]
Robert Heinlein Had His Bad Days, Too
Robert Heinlein was the first science fiction author that I read. Not read as in one book or one story, but read as in going to the library (pre-Amazon days), finding every single piece of his work, and checking them all out early in the summer and using those long, hot days by the YMCA [...]
When New Magazines Go Old School
Here’s a point-counterpoint of the new and newer that’s left me scratching my head a bit. EPSPN Magazine and Stymie Magazine jointly announced a sports fiction contest, with the winner(s) gaining a highlight in ESPN, Stymie, or somewhere other than the tearsheet above the men’s urinal (or maybe there too, courtesy of the afore-mentioned bathroom [...]
My Next Career Isn’t In Writing
I decided to spend some time working on writing projects as I’m between jobs. Seemed like a good idea – dust off some short story ideas, enter a few writing contests, polish up the blog a bit, and of course finish the mythical, much-discussed but oft-ignored hockey book. What I’ve really done is write two [...]
“Don’t Touch My Stuff” FanFic Entry
It’s been exactly a month since I was last employed full-time. One of my goals for the inter-gig session was to spend more time writing, and branching out from snarky blog entries and technical content in particular. I entered two short stories in the ESPN/Stymie Magazine sports fiction contest, and then only two days into [...]
Stymie Magazine and ESPN’s Fiction Contest
Stymie Magazine proclaims itself a journal of sport and literature. That’s not such a far-fetched concept; we love sports because we find stories in watching, playing, coaching and competing that we tell and retell to our family and friends. If there’s narrative, there’s something more than facts and figures. We’re captivated by stories, particularly those [...]
SitePoint Podcast with the book trio
Had the pleasure of recoding SitePoint podcast #56 with Brad Williams and David Damstra, my co-authors on Professional WordPress. As usual, it was fun romp through the process of writing a book, some of our favorite parts, and what it’s like to write with people you never met in person (sort of the inverse of [...]
Weird Hockey Blog of the Month
I’m pretty easy going when it comes to following people on Twitter or listing new hockey-related blogs, no matter how funky or far afield they may be. This one, however, passes strange on the way to goals by Rod Pelley: The Anaheim Ducks cheerleaders have a blog. I guess I’m in good company, I mean, [...]
Update on “Professional WordPress”
Brad Wiliams, David Damstra and I are still hard at work on Professional WordPress, our internals-focused complete guide and tour of the WordPress platform. We hit the 80% completion point for writing and today got to about 30% editing and review (5 chapters out of 15, but some of the bigger ones are still on [...]