Pen and Paper required...

I've been tweeting a lot about 'just do it'. Just write.

Tweets are cool because you have put a complete story into 140 characters. More on tweeting another time but for this post it's tweeting that brought me to express a basic concept. 'All you need is pen and paper' to write.

I can say it in lots of ways with lots of allusions, examples from famous writers and stories from my own experiences. But really it simplifies to 'pen and paper'.

The Universe opens up when you sit down in your favorite chair, set a cup of joe on the end table and let those crazy, imaginary characters out of your noggin' and onto that notepad.

Maybe the key for you is to have that notepad and pen on the end table, ready for you between commercials at night. I write software during the day and it's a long day. Out of the house at 7:20 and back around 6:30. When I get home, I mostly want to relax, have dinner, read the paper and watch some TV.

But I keep my laptop right there on the end table, ready for the night's writing. I might write a few lines or a few chapters. I might rewrite stuff, outline new books, crawl the web for research or read the blogs of some of the cool friends I've met online. It doesn't matter, I do SOMETHING, every night.

Keep that pad and pen close to you whenever possible. On the bed stand, next to the couch, in your briefcase or purse. Just keep it with you, ready for action! ;-) There is no telling when that cool idea will hit you and you just HAVE to write that down before you forget it.

Keep writing, friends. Pen and paper required.

First try at 'Genome' scene in SketchUp...

OK, this is NOT the final product but I thought it might be cool to show you how the scene 'matures' as I learn more about SketchUp.

I have to find a better molecule model, add Jack, Frankie and Samantha and of course a neat model of PIP, hovering near Jack.

The model needs to be more of a human cell with it's organelle or maybe just a lot more molecules, not sure which would look best.

I also want to do a video that floats you from outside the room, through the door and pans around the holograph.

What do you think?

Working with SketchUp!

I'm bound and determined to reproduce some cool 3D scenes from my book 'Genome'. There just a ton of really cool concepts in my book, and I really want to 'show' them. I hoping to spark some interest in the book by showing off the holo-room and AI concepts.

So, I searched around, read reviews, googled, binged and generally spent way too much time trying to find the 'right' graphics tool. I finally said enough and downloaded SketchUp, it's seems to have everything I need.

It's going to take me a little while to grok the concepts and features but I'll get there.  I've got some background in graphing and diagramming tools and I've used some CAD/CAM applications in the past so I'm not a newbie here.

After about an hour, I was able to created a large room with cool textures and plop a neat looking console to one side. I need to find or create a room sized human cell or maybe just a bunch of DNA and molecules too.

The characters will be interacting with the molecules, just like in my book. I'll have PIP's avatar hovering somewhere too, helping Jack or Frankie manipulate the image.

As soon as I've got something to show, I'll post it here.

Have a great week, you dedicated writers.

Have fun.

Be cool.