Well, you know the saying….

My website got compromised again. And it’s my fault.

(Well … as my-fault as someone else hacking my website can be….)

I cleaned my website last time, updated every version of everything I’ve got. But–call me naive–I didn’t change my passwords.

I’m learning a lot more about how sites are compromised. In this case, what they did was plant a php script on my site that was injecting code and returning account information. Then they replaced my error 404 page with a redirect through pretty much all copies of htaccess. 

So basically you’re clean unless you went to a dead link on my page.

I ran some scans on my laptop and came up clean, actually. But, just to be safe, run scans.

I want this to be the year I complete two short stories (instead of just one) and start submitting. I have only submitted one story to one magazine and have received zero rejection/acception letters to date. I want those numbers to change.

I’m off to a good start, came up with a decent story idea the other day and started writing it. The idea involves a man who knows exactly how many times he’s going to do something, such as going to the bathroom, eating at a restaurant, visiting his parents, etc. At first it was a kind of life insurance, and he’s used that gift to his advantage over the years by becoming a speculative investor. But, as the numbers are nearing zero, he starts becoming paranoid about when and how he’s going to die.

A friend of mine started writing a novel, too. I’ve been watching him blaze away at the pages and I’m inspired. I asked him if he’d mind if I joined him, not as a collaboration effort, but just as two writers tapping away at their keyboards. He agreed. I believe we’ll be getting together at some point this weekend. Should be interesting because I’ve never sat down to write around other writers before. This could be just the drug I need.

So after several screw-ups over at AT&T, I finally have internet back. And then I find out that my website was hacked.

Obviously my work is cut out for me. I’m going to be doing a lot of work around the site and updating. I have backups of everything of course, but it’s about time I redesigned my front page.

Is anybody running an NPI this month?

update: website = purged and restored.

I’ve been reading Stephen King’s On Writing. One thing that rings true throughout the book is that he’s just a regular guy who really loves to write.

He talks about how all the things we already know about becoming a writer are true. No shortcuts. The aspiring writer has to read a lot and write even more to find success. I thought I was doing okay at 250 words, but he writes about 2,000 words a day. He writes on his Birthdays, on Christmas—and doesn’t stop unless he’s taking a break. He admits it’s work but he enjoys it.

What number does he suggest to the budding writer? 1,000. I wanted to scoff, but at that point he’d already told me about his life. He told me how he wrote some of his earlier books in the washroom of a trailer, balancing a typewriter with a mini-desk on his left leg. How he wrote the following books in a 4 room apartment while taking care of his baby daughter. I have no excuse.

His pure honesty suggests that anyone can be a writer, but it costs time and hard work. He says to blow up your television, and anything else that might be distracting you.

So what’s my ‘anti-write’? Probably video games, more than anything else. Every time I think I’m getting sick of gaming or have seen it all, those devious dev teams come up with something shiny and new and I come crawling  back, thirsty for more.

Take Harmonix’s Rock Band. I never bought a game in the series (or Guitar Hero before it, or the oft forgotten Guitar Freax for that matter), but fate gave me the game and both of its sequels for free, along with 2  guitars, a drum kit, and a mic. How could I not play with all that cool free swag? Trouble is I get obsessive.

So I got pretty darn good. But now what?!? I can play the hardest songs on expert guitar, etc. But what did that really do for me? Get me Microsoft Gamer Points? Virtual numbers that will be obsolete with the advent of the next console?

My newfound skills certainly won’t be mentioned in my obit, nor will it matter in a job interview. And all that time I could have spent writing. Sigh…

Do you have an anti-write?

Awesome stuff:

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• Why the Novel Push Initiative Rocks
• Why I Love the Novel Push Initiative
• The NPI Participants Daily

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We’ve travelled a long and winding road. And where did we end up?

Halloween, of course!

Who survived? Who got the boot? Who got the most candy? For all these answers and more, check the tally below! Read the rest of this entry »

Halfway done!

Back when it was five days in, it seemed like we were in for a longer journey than we bargained for. But then before we knew it, we’re at the halfway point. Guess that means writing a little bit every day isn’t as hard as we thought, eh? Eh? But we knew that already. ;)

The tally: Read the rest of this entry »

It’s fun to watch everybody go the extra mile to keep up with the event, especially when they’re feeling good about what they’re writing. And it feels good once we win that daily argument with our brains to sit down and let the words flow, doesn’t it?

Let’s see where we stand after the first six days!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Read the rest of this entry »