One thing I think is really funny are the web site owners who want to put up a FAQ because most FAQ’s aren’t “Frequently Asked Questions”, but “Questions We Think Our Visitors Would Ask if They Were Us”. But one frequently asked question I actually get is how I got my handle, y0mbo. So, since the answer won’t fit in a 140-character tweet, I will answer it here.

The start of this story begins in August of 1972. On that particular day, my father held me above his head and proclaimed, “I have a SON!” I’m sure it was in very broken English, since he had only been in the United States for a few years. He is originally from the Slovak Republic (although it was Czechoslovakia back then). My parents decided to honor my grandfathers by naming me after them. My middle name, Edward, is my mother’s father’s name. My first name, John, is the closest approximation to my father’s dad’s name: Jan (pronounced YAN).

As boy growing up, my dad called me “Janko” (YAN-ko) which means “Little John”. Occasionally, my mom called me that, too. Unfortunately, one time in the car – with my friends present – she called me that.

“Janko, what’s that?” laughed one friend.

“Is that like Rambo?” asked the other.

The two jokers riffed on that for a little while and then decided that a cross between” Janko” and “Rambo” would be “Yombo”. The label stuck, especially since they called me that the rest of the trip.

Later in high school, my group of friends started giving each other pseudonyms. My new first name was Bill, and it only made sense to put Yombo in there. So Bill D. Yombo became my monicker.

In college, when the internet started to take off, people often chose handles instead of their real names. I dug into my handy bag of pseudonyms and chose Yombo again. But instead of keeping it all alphabetical characters, I swapped the first “O” for a zero.

And that’s where y0mbo came from.

When we finished redecorating the bonus room, we moved the TV from the living room to the boys’ new hangout. That, to me, was bliss: no TV on the main floor of the house.

Teh Wife did not concur. Thanksgiving was approaching and with family due to arrive, she pointed out there would be nowhere for her bother and dad to hang out. I thought maybe they would spend their time visiting, but I hadn’t considered the post-turkey vegetative state that can only be countered by watching television.

Fortunately, our basement is finished and our other TV is down there waiting to be hooked up. So began the mad rush to clean the basement. The list was huge and included several non-cleaning tasks like “schedule pool table assembly”, “buy furniture” and “disregard the cleanliness of the rest of the house”. But progress moved along. Unpacking was both good and bad. There are boxes of papers that haven’t been reviewed in two moves.

The worst part was the discovery that some commemorative coins sets and some antique silver dimes from my grandparents had been stolen by the movers. I found the box with which they belonged, but all but one dime and the packaging for some of the coins were missing. I think a pile of centennial quarters have gone missing as well.

The best part, though, was going through all the old photos and papers that had been dumped into various boxes over the years. As I sorted them into relevant piles it was very cool to take a trip down memory lane. It was like a time machine. School papers from the youngest. Class projects from the eldest (back when he used to bring them home). Photots from rips I took with Teh Wife. Pictures of my Mom. As I went further back in time, there were newspaper clippings of my achievements in high school that my mom saved for me. Finally, I discovered a few old Polaroid photos from my first six months of life. Cool stuff.

OK, so here is a post I’m writing on the iPad. I’m not sure how the non-tactile typing is going to work. I’m definitely not sure how the auto correct is going to work. I may find myself posting some screenshots on http://damnyouautocorrect.com/ if I’m not careful (and especially if I don’t remember to go back and edit).

I was actually inspired to give this a try by a tweet from @alxconn who said he switched his blog to WordPress because of the iPad. The WordPress app for the iPad made it too easy not to use WP. Bases on that thought, I thought I’d give it a go, too.

So far, resting the iPad on something is the best way to type. I found leaning on my elbows a good way to keep my hands over the keyboard, but it was soon tiring. Sitting in bed with the iPad on my lap doesn’t offer the same control as laying it in front of me. I think the best bet is putting the iPad on the table and typing away.

The biggest hurdle is the non-tactile nature of typing on a screen. It essentially forces you to be a hunt and peck typist. I can’t accurately type otherwise. It seems to also force typing with just two fingers too, although I may be able to use a few more on occasion.

I was reading a post over at Robby Slaughter’s blog about the difference between a networking event and a conversational French club. His post: The Expert Detector.

In it, he compared and contrasted these two distinct gatherings. One (the networking event) where everyone is prepared with scripts and pitches; the other a free-form experience where the conversations switch between discussions in a foreign language to discussions about a foreign language.

The latter is focused on learning.

What we really need in business is the equivalent of a salon:

“A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine the taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation … Salons, commonly associated with French literary and philosophical movements of the 17th century and 18th centuries, were carried on until quite recently, in urban settings, among like-minded people.

Founding father Benjamin Franklin created something along the same lines in Philadelphia in 1727. He called it a Junto. Its focus was to improve businesses in his home city.

Today there are, I think, two equivalents to the junto/salon. One is coworking where independents office together and support one another. The second is a Jelly - similar to coworking but without the official location.

In both, the types of people that come together to work allow business people to collaborate, converse and support one another.

It’s about learning.

When people are working on their own things in proximity of one another, they aren’t focused on the elevator pitch. The conversations bounce between business and personal. Sometimes a question comes up that is in direct relationship to a person’s line of business. More often than not, folks talk about running a business.

As an interesting sidenote, artist Hugh McLeod  has announced that he is holding a Salon for Gapingvoid. I’d want to check that out if I lived in Miami. Sounds cool.

At Blog Indiana I attended a presentation by Jeremy Dearringer of Slingshot SEO entitled “Defending Your Brand with SEO, Social Media and WMD”. I took sketchnotes during the session:

Takeaways:

• Many people confuse Google’s Search box with the address bar.
• Watch out for what Google suggests when people search for your company
• 70% of people read negative reviews first.
• Build your reputation on websites you control (stake your claim)
• SERM is a long-term strategy.
• Handle small problems before they become large problems.
• Be careful about reacting to criticism.
• Monitor, monitor, monitor.

Jeremy’s presentation slide deck: Search Engine Reputation Management

Technical Review

I wanted to take a moment and provide Jeremy with some feedback on his presentation as a whole. I think he did a great job. Clearly he knows the SEO business and the ways to build a good reputation. His slide deck had good screen shots of examples relating to what he was discussing. Unfortunately, there were other slides that were a wall of text. The slides should have been short bullet points, and he could have read the pertinent parts of the text to make things flow better. Overall, I got a lot out of the presentation. Thanks, Jeremy!

This amazing video caught lightening striking three of Chicago’s tallest buildings at the same time.

Some days I hate that I have to coerce myself into productivity. There are so many little tricks I’ve seen to do it, such as Merlin Mann’s (10+2)*5 hack.  One trick to avoid distraction I’ve come up with is what I call the “24-hour To Do Queue”. It’s a MacGuffin, as there is nothing to it but a little psychological manipulation.

I use the trick to help me stay focused on the task at hand when I have a strong desire to goof off instead. I keep a piece of paper next to my keyboard. When some random thing comes to mind that will distract me from what I need to get done, I write that random thing down in the queue. I also write down anything that is useful, but also a distraction *at that moment*.

So by the end of the day I may have a list like this:

• Check out what Megadeth is up to.
• Research Happy Days “Jump the Shark” episode.
• What’s going on with the Principality of Sealand?
• Learn more about oAuth.
• Research home inventory software.

The next morning, when I’m reviewing my tasks for the day, I pull out the 24-hour To Do Queue.  I can see that “Megadeth”, “Jumping the Shark” and “Sealand” were momentary flirtations but “learning oAuth” and “home inventory software” are worthwhile tasks. I move the worthy items to my real to do list. I discard the useless tasks and start a new queue for the day.

The trick is that by writing down these frivolous tasks, I’m essentially giving myself “permission” to do them, just not right now.  Tomorrow I’ll know better and ignore thme], but they are written down where I won’t “forget” about them.

This year for my Groundhog Day Resolutions, I’m taking an idea from Chris Brogan. Each year, Chris uses three words to guide and direct his focus for the year. For me, I chose these three words:

• Deploy
• Serve
• Connect

Deploy

I’m full of good ideas. Have I ever told you I invented XML back in 1994? Too bad I never did anything with the idea; I could be rich like Al Gore after he invented that Internet thing.

I have these great ideas, but often don’t deploy them into the development stage. Those I do develop often languish in the last 10% of completion. I don’t deploy them into the wild. I think they stay there because I don’t like to ship imperfection, and it’s always imperfect.

How arrogant.

It’s better that I deploy something not quite right than to never deploy at all.

The story of Flickr is pretty interesting and relates to this, I think. The founders of Flickr, it’s said, were working on an online game. One of the features they created was a way for players to share photos with their friends. The photo sharing piece got such rave reviews by the players that Flickr became what it is today. The game? Discarded.

Had the team built their game and not deployed until it was perfect they would have their big opportunity.

So for me: I need to focus on deploying. It doesn’t matter whether it is a code project, website redesign or blog post; I need to ship earlier than I do now. Or, I need to ship. Period.

Serve

The church we attend here in Indiana does a Weekend of Service each fall. The doors of the church are closed and services are cancelled. The congregation goes out into the community and serves. The impact is amazing, both to the community and those who have served. I want to focus more on serving others; both outside and within my family. It is important to spiritual balance and well-being. It’s an example I want my boys to see and participate in.

Connect

In the next few months, we will be leaving Indianapolis and moving to Chicagoland. It’s a big step for our family just as it was a big step moving to Indy two years ago. There are many new things for us: New schools and friends for the boys, a new territory for my wife, and a new marketplace for me. It is primarily about meeting new technology partners, networking, and getting to know the community in which I’ll be working. In Indianapolis, it took nearly two years for my connections to start paying dividends in the form of referrals. I would like to reduce this time in Chicago. Surely, they can use a good freelancer there!

We also need to connect into a church, community, and neighborhood. We are moving to Chicago for the long term and I want to make sure we’re embedded and get to know those around us. I’ll be looking for ways to connect with others in my neighborhood, community, church and marketplace.

The specific goals

I read an interesting blog post at the Church of the Customer. Ben McConnell writes about creating a 1-page strategic plan in the form of an info graphic. He believes this allows you to visually see the Objectives, Goals, Strategies and Tactics that will move you forward. In the next few days I will create my strategic plan for "Deploy / Serve / Connect". These will then translate into Groundhog Day Resolutions I can monitor.

You can follow a special Twitter account I’ve created to document my successes: @2010_3words

I was reading about The Writing Practice over at Chris Brogan’s blog. It’s about how he takes little snippets of time where ever he is to do a bit of writing. (He calls that time quilting. Clever.)

One piece of advice he has there about writing practice is this:

Publish often. Another place where our practice falls down is that we keep tons of drafts of things around, but never publish. Here’s the truth: If it’s not out there, it doesn’t count as much. (Journal keepers, I don’t mean you. Put down the purple pitchforks.) Get your work out there onto the web, onto blogs, into the hands of other people, whatever. Get it out there. The more you publish, the more people will take swings at it, the more people will riff off it, the more you’ll get the chance to get feedback.

This fits perfectly into one of my 3 words for 2010: Deploy(). If I don’t get it out there, it doesn’t count. So this is getting posted right now. As is. Even if this post is 90% Chris’s content ;-)

Last weekend I attended GenCon with my 12yo son (his first time at GenCon – w00t). Despite his youthful enthusiasm for all things merchandise, he humored me and sat in on a panel session for a full hour. Thanks, bud!

"Chummers and ‘Mechs and Writing for Catalyst" was the panel we attended. It was led by Hugo-nominated author John Helfers and the editor of Catalyst Game Lab’s long fiction. He was joined by an esteemed panel of game and fiction writers from Catalyst.

The panel covered what they are working on for the Shadowrun and Battletech lines and offered advice for authors that want to write for these games.

Meet your deadlines

Meet your deadlines, meet your deadlines, meet your deadlines. This statement was the leading comment by the panel. Your deadlines affect product schedules and could mean your fiction will be cut (and by association, so will you). Be on time: meet your deadlines.

Read good fiction

Reading good fiction lets you see what good writing looks like and what mistakes to avoid.

Know the universe

Creating fiction in a known universe can be tricky. Consistency is important because the readers expect the story universe to operate in certain ways. This applies both to the tone and style of writing and the history and technology of the universe. Changing fundamental technologies or timelines won’t fly with the editors.

Writing for a game is not a hobby

While RPGs are a hobby for most people, writing for the RPGs is not. It is a career and should be handled as such. Be professional, and remember: meet your deadlines.

You are writing in a shared world

Because Battletech and Shadowrun are shared game universes, your need to tread lightly there. If an editor requests changes to a character or plot point, be flexible. Editors know the facts better than you. They also know where the product lines are headed. One writer’s first story went through 9 edits before publishing, so be prepared.

Find the little details and extrapolate

It may be tempting to write on the bleeding edge of the universe. When you first get started, find somewhere off the beaten path to write. The primary characters of the universe have already been plotted for new products.  There are many "throw-away" statements in source books that can make a great starting point for your story. Extrapolate those little details into something interesting. Readers of Battletech and Shadowrun fiction love to see the lives of everyday people in the universes they love.

Be encouraged

Shadowrun covers a 60-year time span and Battletech covers a millennium. This can feel overwhelming to those less familiar with the history, but authors should be encouraged by this statement: RPG material is written in a way to help tell stories. Gaming is a story-telling activity just like writing.

Avoid clichés

Each Catalyst universe has been developed for years and each has developed its own clichés. An example given was Johnsons (business people) double-crossing the runners they hired in Shadowrun. Learning what is considered cliché and writing outside of that give you a better chance of success.

(Note: I would have liked for the panel to expound on what things were considered clichés in each universe, but time prevented them from doing so.)

BattleCorps

BattleCorps is the online fiction site for Battletech. At this point they are desperate for fiction to meet their desired quotas. This is good news for those who want to break into Battletech fiction.

Word Length

For most pieces of fiction used by Catalyst there is a word length requirement. Authors should write in the 5- to 10-thousand word range. Also know that some word limits are very strict. Even a dozen words over and it will be returned for editing.

Finally

I’d like to thank author Jean Rabe, who I understand coordinates the writer’s symposium that takes place at GenCon. I only wish I had been able to attend more sessions.