My NaNoWriMo Experience

On Nov 12, I found out about the National Novel Writing Month event (or NaNoWriMo for short, Wikipedia link). With 40% of the month gone, I decided to go for it anyway and signed up on the 13th. I did research that first night, because my novel idea needed research (mostly history, superstring theory and pagan roots of Christianity), and wrote the first word on Nov 14.

Between Nov 13-30, I pretty much just did my full-time day job, ran a bit and wrote… aside from necessities like sleep and eating, etc. November was very cheap and a bit anti-social, not surprisingly, but as of about 11 pm on Nov 30, I submitted my novel, reasonably well-edited of more than 50K words and was declared a “winner” by the NaNoWriMo event for meeting requirements (not best novel or anything). You’re not required to edit, but I know I won’t want to edit much after it all so I edited as I wrote, which made me very inefficient. Hey, one of my Life To Do things (#18) was to write a novel, not some ramblings called a novel.

After that whole ordeal, I woke up this morning at peace, feeling somewhat like I felt that I did after my first marathon, beaming about being able to see one more item on my Life To Do List crossed off.  Unlike the marathon experience though, I was able to move, and my future plans do not include any repeat novel writing. Maybe if I had done this in 30 days, I wouldn’t feel this same way. But hey, 30 days to get something done on my Life To Do list was a deal, never mind 17!

As for what will happen to the novel? Well, I have a few friends who say they want to read it. Wow, I hope I won’t lose any friends over this! Aside from sharing, though, I’ll just keep it for myself until I become famous for something else and then it will suddenly have novelty value, kind of like Barack Obama’s doodles. That’s why my 6-word memoir is “Everything done will mean more later”.

On a different note, congratulations to all those who tried and those who also succeeded. It is a wonderful event to try, this NaNoWriMo thing. I would highly recommend it like I would recommend a marathon. It’s not all wine and roses, but adversity is the best ingredient to give some meaning to life, real or fake (like NaNoWriMo since you don’t need to do it). Just a content sample from the novel. 🙂

Oh, I am a little shocked I am blogging the day after all that writing. I thought I had had just about enough of creative writing for a while after those 16 days of intense writing in my spare time.

Finally, the dedication (not submitted as words for NaNoWriMo count). The novel was dedicated to

Ms. Carol Butt (neé Pudsey)
who failed me in grade 3 during my first year in Canada because she thought I was going to have trouble with English

and

Ms. Margaret Young (RIP)
who gave a nerdy me a big English award in grade 12 because she believed there was more to me than numbers

Hehe! Do I seem like a Myers-Briggs Judging type to you? 🙂

My 229 poem collection, including one national award winner, could also be dedicated to them. 🙂

post-scriptum
My November seemed to have been brought to me by the letter K:
– 42.2K for a marathon on Nov 2 in -10C windchill in Moncton, NB
– 100K views attained for this blog since I started it
– 50K minimum word limit for NaNoWriMo

To those who would tear the world down, we will defeat you!

Those were words from Barack Obama’s Victory Speech on election night in the US on November 4, 2008, and any terrorist, organization or nation plotting to harm others for their fanaticism should do well to heed the warning. That counts Al-Qaeda, Iran, Mumbai terrorists and others willing to kill recklessly for their causes. However, they you should not heed that warning because it came from Barack Obama or America, but because of a philosophical belief held dear by and demonstrated through action by the people in the free world. And what is that philosophical belief, you might ask?

It’s because we value life more than you.

We won’t go recklessly killing people for our means and needs, or to make an example. We value life, whether or not we like that life, including life like you that kill for your selfish gains or power cravings. That’s why we don’t just kill you off, or kill off others around you, among whom you hide like cowards, just so we could eliminate you. That’s why we capture you and give you trials, feeding you and doing other things to keep you alive that cost us resources we could better spend on others more deserving but less fortunate, rather than just killing you off when the logical solution would be just to kill you off and minimize the damage you will have been able to do to humanity. That’s why even if you were found guilty, we sustain you as prisoners so you can live out your lives, or even have second chances, pouring lots of resources into you we know we would not likely ever regain in sufficient amounts to make keeping you alive a beneficial venture, whether you measure that by money or some religious or spiritual equivalent to karma points.

We may seem weak, to care so much for each life and be inefficient in those ways while you fanatics just go striking to cause terror among us, losing your own lives as if they were meaningless as our lives are to you. Indeed, that is part of your problem, that you don’t even have enough self-esteem to deem your life worth living. But the truth will ultimately show that it will be this extreme value we place on all lives that will allow us to defeat you. We care for it far more than you will or can ever care for your own narrow beliefs, and not only do we believe it, we demonstrate it sincerely all the time by doing far more difficult actions like showing compassion towards you, than your simple hypocritical actions to kill others in the name of something you deem to be good when it is merely your self-centredness. If you aim to tear the world down and think we are weak for what we do, you are even more disillusioned than you already were in just following and being willing to die for your fanatical faulty idealisms. And you had better come to their senses and abandon your causes soon if you don’t want to die or end up in prison for it, on the end of a losing effort, because that’s exactly what will become of you given our unshakable beliefs in the value of all life.

In what might seem to be our weakness in our extreme value towards life, ironically, lies the very strength we will use to defeat you… and we, will, defeat you!

A Detailed Facebook Etiquette Guide

This is a practical guide of some Facebook etiquette you might consider as starting points for your Facebook etiquette decisions. It is an abbreviated version of my three entries on my Facebook etiquette (part 1, part 2, part 3), where details and justifications were shared, and a longer version of my handy one page Practical Facebook Etiquette Guide. Please check those entries if you want to know more about the details and why I suggest some of these points.

Overall approach and mindset for everything
– Be positive all the time, especially with feelings (or avoid negativity if that is more meaningful)
– No swearing, even abbreviated swearing (or not excessively if you do the latter)
– Control privacy setting each time you post something, sharing Only with Friends almost all the time
– Have people in front of whom you need to behave among your Facebook friends as “designated monitors”
– If you do “inappropriate” things on Facebook, come back and delete it later to minimize visibility & damage
– Don’t get caught up in your friends or other people’s inappropriate behaviour, stick to your guns
– Treat your Facebook profile & activity like an informal resumé or media image of yourself, cause it is!

Notification
– Decide the minimum amount of what you want to notify others about and set it, not notify everything
– Check off nothing for Privacy, Newsfeed, Wall, and minimize application notification (ex. photos, notes)
– Set Notification Off for applications when you add them, unless they say something positive about you

Profile Visibility
– Use Only Friends privacy setting
– No limited profile access to anyone as if you’re that worried about them, they shouldn’t be your friends
– Profile visibility settings override blocking so blocked people can still see your profile if it is public

Friends
– Only people you’ve met in real life, choosing others carefully with validations from others you trust
– There is nothing wrong with rejecting people’s Friends Request on Facebook
– Update your Friends list by purging it once a season or a few times a year

Profile information
– Do not show personal contact information like addresses and home phones, personal cellular, etc.
– Do not list year of your birth (not even birthdays if you can bear it)
– Do not put anything about yourself that is less than flattering unless it’s obvious (ex. you smoke)

Wall
– Delete offensive or inappropriate comments, or counter with reply if you don’t want to delete something
– Avoid negative comments about others and especially those at work and/or your workplace
– It’s your Wall so control what shows up there, including notifications from applications & your comments

Status Updates
– Avoid updating more than a few times a day
– Avoid negative comments, especially feelings, news about others and news directed only at certain others
– Be careful about humour because “universal” humour that don’t offend is usually not very liberal

Photos
– You can have too many tagged photos of yourself (200 good shots should suffice)
– Untag less than flattering photos tagged by others, weeks after if you want to do it quietly or ask them
– No “inappropriate” photos (ex. sexually suggestive, drunk, obscene acts & gestures, by you or others)
– No photos that suggest bad behaviour even if photos are OK (ex. group shot for questionable activities)

Notes
– Use Notes to demonstrate something good about you (ex. writing skills, thinking abilities, topic interest)
– Avoid diatribes, attacks on people you know, “survey” Notes (especially stupid or personal info ones)
– If you use Notes as a journal, realize it is a public journal and not a private diary

Tagging
– Don’t tag others in things you wouldn’t want to be tagged if it were you being tagged (ex. bad photo)
– Don’t tag others in things you don’t think they’d want to be tagged (their standards may be stricter)

Comments
– Be selective where you comment, avoiding Walls & status unless you want all of someone’s friends to see it
– Think of all comments as being public to all and behave accordingly with your comments
– Avoid swearing, even in abbreviated form, doing it sparsely if you have to and maybe removing it later
– Avoid inappropriate comments, especially if you don’t know what someone’s “limits” are
– Remove someone’s comments from anything belonging to you if it’s beyond your “limits”

Applications
– Minimize Applications that play with your friends because they will take up a lot of your time
– Ask if an Application will benefit you and your profile image before adding (learning Applications are good)
– If an Application has few users, that’s a good sign not to sign up (check later to see if it becomes popular)
– Turn off Notifications on Applications unless it is something you really want to share, and not too often
– Scrutinize Applications invites and learn to say “no”

Groups and Fan Pages
– You will be judged guilty by association so be careful the Groups and Fan Pages you join
– Learn about who is behind the Groups and especially Fan Pages, and avoid “unauthorized” ones
– Update and purge your Groups and Fan Pages a few times a year, especially for dead or bad ones
– Scrutinize Group invites and learn to say “no”

Creating Your Facebook Etiquette
– Reread these guidelines, decide and make note how you’d alter them to create your Facebook etiquette
– Write out or type your Facebook etiquette because doing this really helps people remember commitments
– Put your etiquette somewhere easily accessible (ex. by your computer, post & bookmark, write a note)

Damage Control
– Go through your profile and make adjustments, bit by bit, to make your profile suit your etiquette
– Go back to your past actions (or recent past, especially those visible on your Wall now) and fix accordingly
– Recall any glaring or nasty back actions, or at any time that you do in the future, find and fix accordingly

Future Practices
– Keep in mind what you committed to for your etiquette, and check against your posting of them to be sure
– Revise your etiquette where and when necessary as Facebook will change with new features & new threats
– Once in a while, ask someone who is honest with you to tell you the impression they get from your profile
– Until that impression is something you are happy with, keep fixing your profile

Please share with your Facebook friends & check this posting for periodic updates.
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If you would like an abbrievated one page version of the most important points here, in my opinion, please have a look at my Practical Facebook Etiquette (Netiquette) Guide entry (with PDF), where you can customize your own Facebook etiquette. Please feel free to share this or other postings on this blog, as well as files. I will be happy to share my thoughts on any questions you might have relating to Facebook etiquette if you leave a comment.

Thank you very much for reading.

Facebook in Real Life

Who Are Your Mavens in Life?

A few years ago, Malcolm Gladwell wrote The Tipping Point, in which one concept he elaborated on was that of mavens or people who have special knowledge or experience; experts (The Free Dictionary, word origin from Hebrew). The concept with mavens was that you identify people in your life who can be your mavens in certain areas you either have an interest in and/or are important in your life, and make use of them to that extent. Now, that’s a cold way of looking at it because you’re not “using” them like the malicious expression implies, but rather appealing to the natural human pleasure of being consulted for something because someone considers you an expert. There’s also an English expression for that of how “everybody loves to be an expert”, or “everybody’s an expert”, never mind loving to be one!

Since I read the concept, I’ve implemented it into my life and it has saved me a lot of stress, and work, knowing who I could turn to for advice on a whole variety of things, including just who to get advice from, in general, and for things for which I don’t have mavens. You can’t have mavens for everything, not the least because the more you actually know, the more you realize how much you don’t know! That’s as true a proverb as any I know! (no pun intended)

Mavens are great to save you lots of work, whether it’s where to find a bargain on something (or just get it in the first place), to technical questions, events to attend, someone’s reputation and outlook on certain issues, and on and on and on. Of course, if you were to just rely on mavens to do your work, though, you’d come to a very quick and nasty realization that isn’t going to get you far in life. I don’t look or treat my mavens that way. Rather, I look at them as just guidance to help me take that first step, which, if you know your universal proverbs, is often cited as being the hardest one to take in many cultures. I usually take that first step myself, but the guidance is hugely useful, and I also take the rest of the steps.

As for applying the maven concept, I’m not going to recommend making a list, although if you’re a list person, then go for it, Franzly. Sorry. Bad pun (Franz Liszt). I just keep an intuitive list in my mind, noting things almost to the point of asking myself how can each person I meet be a maven for me? If you want a more blunt version, what’s he/she good for? Though I very much don’t recommend that, just presented for humour. Then I start collecting mavens, having an idea who’s good at what. More than one maven never hurts, you know. It’s like having more than one angel at your side. I then note all the times when I don’t know to whom I should turn, and look for mavens in those areas, sometimes by very simple but effective means, like showing up at a writer’s event to meet some writers and start networking there. Believe it or not, people love to help an upstart who knows next to nothing about a topic!

Now, I realize there are people out there leading lives where they say they don’t know to whom they can turn for advice. I appreciate that and don’t want to make this maven concept into something trivial like a game. In those cases, I think those people might have to reach out a bit more than the rest of us surrounded by some good people around us. They might have to take a bit more of a leap of faith, reach a little further outside their circle if their circle is toxic and keeping them in a bind. But I would highly recommend them to gather up a little courage and do so. The world is full of good people. If none are in your circle’s proximity, just keep the faith there are some just beyond it and try.

As for giving back, which is the type of person I am, it’s a little hard on this one cause you’d be going around professing your expert if you’re going to end up serving as mavens for others. Ironically, as much as everybody loves being an expert, they’d hate it when an “expert”, especially self-proclaimed ones, even with degrees, gets in the discussion. Just do what you do, make sure other know it and leave it at that if they want to make you their maven for anything. I don’t know anyone who considers me their maven for anything, for example, although that might just be formally since lots of people ask me lots of questions. On the other hand, just about everybody I know is on my informal maven list. With that many, maybe one of these years, I’ll give out Minh’s Maven Awards, for the most helpful mavens in my life! 🙂

So knowing all that, think, and get some answers for this question.

Who are your mavens in life? (and for what, of course)

A Practical Facebook Etiquette (Netiquette) Guide

A Practical Facebook Etiquette Guide

For a printable version of these guideline text in this post, please click on the PDF link below to download.

A Practical Facebook Netiquette Guide, by Minh Tan [23 kB PDF] (last updated Nov 19 2008)

For additional and more comprehensive content on the topics within this post, please see My Facebook Etiquette posts, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and A Detailed Facebook Etiquette Guide. Additionally, avoid potential Facebook trouble when around careless Facebook users.

This document is now also available in Spanish. Many thanks to David Iza for translating!

This post was noted the blog of Regina Lewis of the Do-It-Yourself Network on Nov 19, 2008.

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On-line presence profiling, especially on-line social networking with Facebook, is becoming more common as schools and employers screen potential employees and scholarship recipients in yet one more category in their selection processes. This is especially important for teenagers and students who are often too casual in their on-line social networking, with emphasis on Facebook as a dominant player in the market.

This is a practical guide of Facebook etiquette, or “Netiquette”, you can use to customize your Facebook Netiquette. As you read it, check off what you agree, note where and how you want to differ, then create your Facebook Netiquette by writing or typing out all the new guidelines to help you remember them. Put it somewhere easily accessible and/or visible to you for easy reference as you Facebook. Doing this in a group with your friends and/or Parents might also be effective.
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Overall Tone
Avoid negativity, especially with feelings and anything about other people

Language
No swearing, even if positively and abbreviated like LMFAO (or not excessively if you do)

Self-control
Learn to say NO to invitations (Friends, Applications, Groups, certain events not good to publicize)

Poking
Do as little as possible, preferably not at all, not the least because poking is so “old school”

Profile Privacy
Set your profile to Only Friends privacy, giving nobody limited access as they should not be your Friend

Friends
Only have Friends you’ve met in person, and purge your list a few times a year as friendships fade

“Monitors”
Have people in front of whom you need to behave among your Facebook friends as “designated monitors”

Contact Information
Do not list personal contact information (ex. address, phone #, birth year, specific job locations like store)

Status
Don’t update your status more than a few times a day, avoiding statuses directed at one or few people

Wall
Defend your Wall by deleting inappropriate comments or counter with reply if you don’t want to delete

Self-photos
Keep tagged photos of yourself under 200, untag the less flattering and inappropriate ones

Tagging
Minimize tagging to let people tag themselves in photos, and don’t tag anyone in unflattering ways

Notes
Use Notes to share something genuine, avoiding personal attacks, “self-surveys” and diatribes

Comments
Be selective where you comments, expecting it to be public and what you comment for proper manners

Post Privacy
Control privacy setting each time you post something, sharing Only with Friends most of the time

Notifications
Minimize Notifications sent, turning off for Applications when adding unless their news are worth sharing

Applications
Minimize Applications, especially inappropriate ones, games that waste time, or ones with few users

Groups & Fan Pages
Check details of Groups and Fan Pages before you join, especially for authenticity (ex. authorized pages)

Media/Legal Privacy
Don’t start, join or invite others to groups or pages with news or names withheld by media or law, until after release

Damage Control
Go through your profile and make adjustments to make your profile suit your Netiquette rules, bit by bit

Profile Impression
Occasionally, ask someone for an honest impression they get from your profile and fix it till you’re happy

Redemption
If you do “inappropriate” things on Facebook, come back and delete it later to minimize visibility & damage

Purging to Update
Purge things a few times a year (ex. bad or outdated photos, Friends, Groups, Fan Pages, Notes, comments)

Self-control
Don’t get caught up in other people’s inappropriate behaviour, stick to your Netiquette & update it as needed

Overall Approach
Treat your Facebook profile & activity like an informal resumé or media image of yourself, cause it is!

Please share with all you know who Facebook and check this link for periodic updates.

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Please feel free to leave comments and I will do my best to give an answer.

Facebook in Real Life