By the Campfire with Stuart

I have multiple blogs on my site. I started my technology blog with a narrow focus on what I was doing with DreamPlug devices, even though that is just a tiny percentage of my overall technology experience. I decided today that I would expand the scope of this blog to be about technology in general, since I have done almost nothing with my DreamPlugs for years, and there are many tech topics I'd like to blog about which have nothing to do with DreamPlugs. I decided to leave existing URLs alone, to avoid breaking links (if any), so the URL for the main page for the blog still hints that I started this to talk about DreamPlugs. However, the URLs for new posts will refer to the new blog title.

The title had to change, to remove the DreamPlug reference, and for some reason "Tooey's Tech" popped into my head. I haven't used or even accepted Tooey (derived from Stuey/Stewie) as a nickname for over 4 decades. For many years it had bad personal connotations for me, bringing back some very hard years and ugly experiences. Yet I like the alliteration in this new title, so I'll reclaim that nickname if only for this blog.

I first participated in NaNoWriMo in 2006. I skipped it in 2007, but I have done it every year since 2008. Most of the time I "won," by writing over 50,000 words in November. There were some years where I could not reach the finish line in time, though. Last year, I won... and I decided it was my last time to participate.

Before I go into more detail, I want to make two things clear about my beliefs and principles.

First, I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with an "organization" (or "entity" to be more general) gathering the resources it needs to survive. This is true for companies, for nonprofits, for clubs, for churches, and even families and individuals. There are costs for everything, even for survival needs. Seeking the means to cover necessary costs is not, by itself, "wrong." Second, I see nothing inherently wrong with amplifying the voices of those who have been historically ignored or pushed aside (for any reason), nor with making sure everyone feels comfortable participating in a group activity (however that may be defined). These things are not inherently wrong. How they are accomplished... well, that's a different story.

Maybe you've thought about writing a novel, or maybe the thought never crossed your mind but seeing this blog post makes you consider it. Autumn has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere and with it a fun and useful way to achieve that writing goal. As I write this in late September, I'm starting to prepare for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, which is really international these days) in November. This annual writing event brings together people around the world for one goal: write a new novel! You can join in—it's free, and at the end you might have a new novel. Read on for more about NaNoWriMo and why I think you should join the fun!

Distant Worlds is a sampler of my fantasy and science fiction. It was available on Amazon for a time, but now you can't buy it there or through any other bookstore. You also can't download it from my site. But from now until the end of May, you can get a copy. And it won't cost you a dime. Details below, but first I'll bore you by talking a bit about myself and the current state of my writing career. :)

Last September, while I was at the NINC conference in Florida, I decided to move my "Writing News" blog from this site to my author site (StuartWhitmoreAuthor.com). I figured that would make more sense than leaving it here, considering how I focus most of my writing-related efforts on that site. The only problem with this plan was that I needed to write a fair amount of code to get the job done. Not just HTML, but server-side code, along with setting up a database. While all of that is well within my technical capabilities, it was not well within my time and energy constraints. So, it was postponed for a month, then two, and then... yeah. Now it's on hold indefinitely.