tag archive: writing

That’s right! I’m officially “patent pending.” Coming soon to a patent office near you:

“Method and Apparatus for Creating a Work of Fiction with the Aid of a Computing Device”

That’s the name my patent attorney came up with. Please, before you start squawking about ridiculous software patents, let me explain. I’m not a fan of software patents, either. (Or at least: I wasn’t, before this experience.)

I’ve been concerned for a while now about the stifling effects of software and business method patents on innovation. I’ve mentioned here from time to time my desire to write fiction, but this ambition has often been hindered by legal fear. What if I unknowingly infringed on someone’s intellectual property with my methods for creating that fiction? Particularly since I intended to use a computer for said creation, and computers are quite technical and almost magical in their ability to enable new forms of innovation and patentable processes. Sure, there’s no question that if you sat down at an old-fashioned typewriter and banged out your manuscript, …

Hi, loyal readers. I’m still here. Last week was busy at work, and getting up at 3:30am tends to make my evenings shorter. Any time I’ve had, I’ve been working on writing a Java utility to help with naming and sorting my pictures. It’s always a battle between finding time to write blog entries and finding time to write code. I like doing both, but writing articles tends to crowd out programming time. It hasn’t been as often that writing software has crowded out blogging time. And since I really want to write free software as well as write about it, I’m going to have to work on that balance.

I’ll be sharing my program here, with some trepidation. It’s not perfect; nothing ever is. I always imagine writing some elegant and beautiful work of art, but the words on the page never match up with that ideal. Even if posting software here won’t result …