by Hyram Voltage | Apr 17, 2018 | Uncategorized
At the WritetoDone (https://writetodone.com/) web site, in her article How to Write and Publish Your First Book 2: Beat the Mid-Way Slump; Create a Book, the author Mary Jaksch (yes, I checked the spelling) writes about a slow and steady runner Cliff Young who beat... by Hyram Voltage | Apr 9, 2018 | Uncategorized
Just got back from the weekend Gaslight Gathering convention. A nice little convention in San Diego, CA. The drive form Fiasco Manor was not bad this year. No, major stoppage at San Clemente, and the air current were very favorable, I had a tail wind the whole way... by Hyram Voltage | Mar 26, 2018 | Uncategorized
It doesn’t matter what computer you write on as long as you write, but my Acer tower computer and I have been thorough a lot. It has i3 core cpu and was running windows 7 when I got it. I manage to get it upgraded to Windows 8, then Windows 10. The latest major... by Hyram Voltage | Mar 20, 2018 | Uncategorized
To find an idea for a book you need a map. When I was a kid (I was never a little kid) I went out into the desert to find treasure. There were lots of stories of lost gold mines and the treasure of De Anaza and I was going to find some. One minor rescue later I was... by Hyram Voltage | Mar 12, 2018 | Uncategorized
I’m nostalgic, but I don’t glorify the past. A friend of mine lost his house and almost everything he had in the Thomas fire in Ventura, CA. That got me to doing a photo inventory of every thing I own. And I mean everything including the box of tooth picks... by Hyram Voltage | Mar 5, 2018 | Uncategorized
My critique partner pointed out a plot hole that my Beta Reader found and I haven’t fixed yet. That’s not a good way to write a Steampunk book. She also found another plot hole I missed. It is not easy to fix plot holes. It takes work and time. I did not... by Hyram Voltage | Feb 22, 2018 | Uncategorized
Time; you can’t buy it, you can only measure it, use it, or waste it. You can write a Steampunk book. You can write a good science fiction book. But it’s going to take time. Lots and lots of time. You can crave out time to write. It’s not easy. The... by Hyram Voltage | Feb 12, 2018 | Uncategorized
Does your character need a character arc? Think about it. Did Sherlock Holmes change after each investigation? No, he was and always will be Sherlock Holmes. Did Bilbo Baggins change at the end of the Hobbit? No, when he got home he wanted to be a hobbit. He did not... by Hyram Voltage | Feb 5, 2018 | Uncategorized
It’s Thursday. The wind is off the ocean and blows into the garage where I am working. A cold, bitter wind. I had a deadline due on Friday for a electronic project. I was pushing it. I had been pushing it for days and things kept coming up to delay the project.... by Hyram Voltage | Jan 29, 2018 | Uncategorized
It happened again. A friend had a thumb drive die. Of course it contained the only copy of a file that he needed. Thumb drives are good, useful, even necessary, but they will fail just like hard drives. Always back up your files on two or more thumb drives. And keep...