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Monday, December 27, 2010

The end of an era and the beginning of a new one

I think that title is just pretentious enough.  I'm closing up shop at this particular blog and moving all of my blogging activity over to mattbrier.tumblr.com

I like the Blogger platform well enough, but there is an ease of use with Tumblr that will hopefully inspire me to do more on a regular basis.  I will be leaving this blog intact as a reference and an archive, but if you want to keep up with my current status please follow me at mattbrier.tumblr.com.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Learning from Nanowrimo

What I've learned from Nanowrimo:

1.  November is never a good month for me to try and hack out 50,000 words.  Inevitably I run against the wall of preparing to go out of town, going out of town, spending time with family out of town, and for some reason work decides to get busy too.  I've managed to double my output from last year though and I'm not saying I won't make it in the end.  Realistically though, I'm only just over 11,000 words as of today and I should be around 30,000. 

2.  Given the right attitude I can make myself write on a regular basis.  I have pounded out around 1000 to 1200 words a day for the past three days.  This is huge for me and will play a large part in planning things for the next year.

3.  Even when I don't think the words will flow, they do some how.  They aren't Shakespeare, but they do flow.

4.  When it comes down to it, it isn't the success of the failure, but the doing. 

I don't know if the novel will ever get finished.  I can see adding to it even if I don't finish it by the end of this month, but I may or may not be as diligent in getting it done.  I've got renewed passion for other things in my life and I will be, with healthy input from my wife, putting together a plan for the next year and praying over it.

I'm probably even going to try and blog some of it so I can get some writing done on a regular basis and have a reason to keep this blog around.

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Top 10 Podcasts

This is the second day of the '31 Days to Build a Better Blog' challenge in which I have decided to participate.  I hope the lessons learned will help me not only bring more to this blog, but more inspired writing in general.  Today's assignment is a list post and to give you some further insight into my life I present the follow.

Top 10 Podcasts that inform, inspire, and entertain me
1.  Steelehouse Podcast - Mark Steele and Jeff Houston, along with other guests, discuss God in pop culture.  The conversations, sprinkled with much wit and candor, center around how God or the want for God shows up in everyday works if we just take a moment to see.  Honest and open discussions underlay the humor.

2.  This American Life - This American Life started as a radio program and has had two seasons on Showtime.  Each week they choose a theme and produce stories based on that theme.  The stories are more often than not true.  The production and story telling are top notch.

3.  WNYC's Radiolab - Taking a page from old time radio, Radiolab produces a show dedicated to science, philosophy, and life with the twist of making it extremely entertaining.  Sound effects, humor, music, and interesting topics are wrapped around interviews with experts and well investigated stories.

4.  The Moth Podcast - Stores told life, from the stage, without any notes.  Some adult content throughout, but the stories open an insightful window into humanity.

5.  PodCulture: Equal Opportunity Geekness - Geek news and reviews from an ensemble of geeks.  Very entertaining, especially segments like 'Geek Cuisine' and 'Guilty Pleasures.'  Some language throughout, varies episode to episode.

6.  NPR: All Songs Considered -  A weekly look at what is new in the world of music, primarily focusing on indie and alternative music. 

7.  Bored Again Christian - The music is not what you will find on Christian Radio.  It is art inspired by or inspiring the listener to God.

8.  Cranky Geeks - Weekly computer news, reviews, and commentary with John C. Dvorak and guests.  It is my link to keeping up with the tech world.

9.  The GeekDads - From Wired magazine and in some ways similar to Podculture.  Every other week the podcast brings news and reviews from the world of geek culture from the perspective of a parent raising a kid in the digital age.  On the off weeks they produce a shorter program called Geek Dad Hip Trax that features geeky inspired music(think Nerd core, chiptunes, wizard rock, filk) that can be shared with the whole family.

10.  This Week in Tech - Leo Laporte's flagship show.  Each week Leo and guests discuss the latest in technology news as well as review the latest gadgets and services.

Hopefully you will find something new in this list to inform and entertain you.