No-one ever tells you how to write that first blog post. Do I launch into content or introduce myself and the purpose of the blog? The former is more useful to the internet but the latter will help visitors trying to understand why this blog exists. Flip a coin? No. I don't like leaving it to random chance. There must be an analytical approach to picking between the two options. Or perhaps there is a third? Perhaps I should just over-analyse the first blog post and not write anything useful to anybody.
It's this sort of procrastination that has stopped me from being a published author already.
Introductions
My name is Rob Lang and I want to be a published author. I am going to be a published author. My day job is as a Technical Team Lead for a software house based in Berkshire, UK. I enjoy that a lot and it pays the bills. I also love creating: digital art, music and of course, prose. I am a gamer too, I love playing Minecraft and roleplaying games once a week. I am married and have a little boy, who is the light of my life.
Writing
I have done some writing and although I have been keen to improve, my writing so far is distinctly in the amateur or academic field. My writing includes:
Icar - The free science fiction RPG
Icar is a free pencil and paper roleplaying game set in a distant future where humanity is at war with a race of robots. The game is currently undergoing a new version re-write. Most of the words exist but the images are taking a considerable amount of time. I have many story lines ready to go in this universe.
The Free RPG Blog
I write a mostly-weekly blog where I review free roleplaying games and tools. Reviewing is not quite the same creative process as novel writing.
Moggle Philosophies
A series of very short stories pinned together regarding a philosopher called Moggle. Big thoughts are his business and he frequently rubs up against the rest of a desert town's population. Originally posted as part of a play-by-post roleplaying game. They could do with moulding into a novel.
Dynamic Neural Networks PhD Thesis
A purely academic work that descirbes a novel algorithm for creating artificial brains that adapt to changing environments. I can't really look at it anymore. The writing in places is shocking, some of the statements I made were shakey or not upheld and the graphics are too difficult to read.
Automated Taxon Identification in Systematics: Theory, Approaches and Applications (Systematics Association Special Volumes)
Snappy name, eh? I wrote Chapter 4: Neural Networks in brief. The aim was to introduce artificial intelligence to biologists to provide grounding enough to understand the applications in the book. I hurried out the chapter in the midst of PhD re-writes but am proud to have something published.
Next up, getting started with writing.
