I’ve been thinking a lot about writing — why people write and, in particular, why I write — and other such silly navel-gazing-type thoughts, and I figured I’d explore some of those ideas through some (albeit very basic) application of writing rationale to various philosophies, as least as best as I understand them with my intro-philosophy and intro-psychology education. If people seem interested, I might turn this into a series. (Suggestions?) But, just so you know, this is likely all bunk, and should be [...]

From time to time — read: often — I’ve taken the opportunity to use this blog as a venue for my crazy writing schemes. Being the new year, I thought I’d continue the tradition and introduce you to my latest: The Weekly Fictoid. The plan is that each week I’ll be posting the results of an ongoing fiction project. And it’s really quite simple. It’s all based on an ongoing metaverse and story line I’ve been picking away at for quite some time, but [...]

So you are a business blogger. But why? Have you even considered that? Perhaps you have and the reason is worth sharing. Or perhaps you have no idea, you’re just doing it because everyone else is, too. Explain your reasons for writing. As of writing this (arguably the first true “blog” post) of this site I’ve launched a little tool called the 2 Topix Blog Idea Generator that has already seen a respectable hit count since making it public. In actual fact, the tool [...]

It’s my birthday and sometime in the course of this day, very likely by the time you read this, I am going to have launched my ersatz owl project. I will toss my little career concept from the nest and see how it flies. If you are reading this, the first few days and weeks of writing and exposition might not make a whole lot of sense. It will be slightly abstract as I gradually build the framework of something (I hope will be) [...]

For those who are interested, I just published a new episode of my online web-novel, The Data Yodeler. I write two new episodes every week, and appreciate your insight and support as I work my way through this massive, multi-year project. Below is an excerpt from Episode 37 / Just Photons and Pixels Beth frowned at me, and I was almost certain it was laced with disappointment. And the worst part of it was — as I discovered later, peeking over her shoulder as [...]

For those who are interested, I just published a new episode of my online web-novel, The Data Yodeler. I write two new episodes every week, and appreciate your insight and support as I work my way through this massive, multi-year project. Below is an excerpt from Episode 36 / Folks Wanna Know “No. I guess you could call journalism a hobby for me. I’m actually working on a linguistics degree.” Lloyd pulled another slug from his coffee and twitched his head to the side [...]

For those who are interested, I just published a new episode of my online web-novel, The Data Yodeler. I write two new episodes every week, and appreciate your insight and support as I work my way through this massive, multi-year project. Below is an excerpt from Episode 35 / More Gum Luv Those who have been following this narrative may recall that, in an effort avoid killing what little credibility that remained between us and the Cheeky Chewing Gum Company, we had opted to [...]

For those who are interested, I just published a new episode of my online web-novel, The Data Yodeler. I write two new episodes every week, and appreciate your insight and support as I work my way through this massive, multi-year project. Below is an excerpt from Episode 34 / Overdraft And I, that human Russ, cherished those brief minutes between waking and — as we called it — lighting up. And I, that unshared human, particularly cherished moments when I needed do nothing more [...]

I’ve been reading / listening to a book called “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s a non-fiction, pop-sociology-type book that seeks to explain the success of successful people through analysis of pre-conditions in environment such as timely access to resources, opportunity, and instruction. The point of the book — so far at least, as I’m only a couple chapters along — is that success is rarely due to innate characteristics (or because of what one might call ‘nature’) but rather that it is the result [...]

For those who are interested, I just published a new episode of my online web-novel, The Data Yodeler. I write two new episodes every week, and appreciate your insight and support as I work my way through this massive, multi-year project. Below is an excerpt from Episode 33 / Crush I want to claim that the last two weeks had been eventful. But as was usual with The Data Yodeler Project, that was a relative term. In fact things had been exceptionally — relatively [...]

For those who are interested, I just published a new episode of my online web-novel, The Data Yodeler. I write two new episodes every week, and appreciate your insight and support as I work my way through this massive, multi-year project. Below is an excerpt from Episode 32 / Copycat Closer “Russ.” Shen-Li shouted from the media room. “Russ — everybody — get in here!” We tripped over each other dashing from our desks and clambering to close the short distance. Shen-Li was reclined [...]

For those who are interested, I just published a new episode of my online web-novel, The Data Yodeler. I write two new episodes every week, and appreciate your insight and support as I work my way through this massive, multi-year project. Below is an excerpt from Episode 31 / BlackBerry Gun It had been dinner and six of us were seated around the little egg-shaped table in the centre of our headquarters and sharing a trio of pizzas. Beth sat beside her mother and [...]

For those who are interested, I just published a new episode of my online web-novel, The Data Yodeler. I write two new episodes every week, and appreciate your insight and support as I work my way through this massive, multi-year project. Below is an excerpt from Episode 30 / Jog Tube Off camera, Jas’ voice was muffled by the scuffs and scrapes of the microphone against my gloved hand as I adjusted the wire snaking from my headset to the battery pack strapped to [...]

This is part 2 in a series of meta-writing articles referencing my experiences creating a (far from complete) online web novel. Admittedly, I am assuming both success and completion of the project and will be exploring from that perspective. Additional articles in this series will be posted as interesting milestones occur. Three-and-a-half months, nearly thirty episodes, and about twenty-five thousand words (not that I’m even really counting) and here’s where we are at: if you are a loyal reader of this blog you’ll have [...]

For those who are interested, I just published a new episode of my online web-novel, The Data Yodeler. I write two new episodes every week, and appreciate your insight and support as I work my way through this massive, multi-year project. Below is an excerpt from Episode 29 / Three Player Mode I needed a break from the project. But there was no such thing. Instead, I melted into the faux-leather of our media-room couch, picked up a controller, and joined Nick and Jas [...]

For those who are interested, I just published a new episode of my online web-novel, The Data Yodeler. I write two new episodes every week, and appreciate your insight and support as I work my way through this massive, multi-year project. Below is an excerpt from Episode 28 / Predicting Dull “Forget it then.” I shrugged and turned to leave. There was a pause, and then a sigh, and then a flustered call. “Wait.” She swiveled the chair back towards me. “If I’d know [...]

For those who are interested, I just published a new episode of my online web-novel, The Data Yodeler. I write two new episodes every week, and appreciate your insight and support as I work my way through this massive, multi-year project. Below is an excerpt from Episode 27 / Mandelbrot Nick When the mail came there was a package delivered for Nick that was roughly the shape and size of the box in which a board game might be stored — long, rectangular, and [...]

For those who are interested, I just published a new episode of my online web-novel, The Data Yodeler. I write two new episodes every week, and appreciate your insight and support as I work my way through this massive, multi-year project. Below is an excerpt from Episode 26 / Meet the Parent Silence. “Anyone else?” I stood there willing someone to consent. I tensed, paused, as the moment stood still. I was digging into their skulls each in turn, imagining with the non-powers of [...]

For those who are interested, I just published a new episode of my online web-novel, The Data Yodeler. I write two new episodes every week, and appreciate your insight and support as I work my way through this massive, multi-year project. Below is an excerpt from Episode 25 / Key Notes My fingers were long since accustomed to the music of a QWERTY keyboard, the featherlight dance of digits upon the typesets of plastic keys, echoing the translation of my thoughts into text. And [...]

This is part 1 in a series of meta-writing articles referencing my experiences creating a (far from complete) online web novel. Admittedly, I am assuming both success and completion of the project and will be exploring from that perspective. Additional articles in this series will be posted as interesting milestones occur. Introduction: The Data Yodeler I’ve been meaning to do it for a long time, but it was in December 2008 that I decided that I was going to buckle down and — once-and-for-all [...]

I picked up a sturdy notebook to keep track of the details for my latest writing project on Thursday, and over the course of the weekend was able to populate it with so many scraps and scribbles the scope of the project itself is starting to seem very daunting. As far as planning these things goes, I tend to be a baby-step kind of guy, sketch out little bits here and there, pull the edges gradually closer together, and slowly knit the seams of [...]

This is a scrap of writing I recovered from a previous project I’ve since called the “datayodeler” project. It has been restored here as part of an effort to unify more of my writing in a single place for deeper enjoyment. I’ve shelved it (for now…) Enjoy. Personally, I hate it when a story flashes backwards from the time-line of the narrative. This sentiment is particularly true when the story is one bumbling flashback itself. But the problem of the Data Yodeler Project’s seemingly [...]

On February 12th is the two-hundredth birthday of Charles Darwin. This is also the day when much of the world will be commemorating the one-hundred and fiftieth anniversary of his most famous work, On the Origin of the Species. As a mediocre tribute to that — and given my personal and favourable disposition towards good science and science education — I’ll be doing something of a multi-topic, cross-posting, science-themed extravaganza for the next nine days, starting tomorrow. So, once again, back to the Big [...]