NaNo Now What + Artistic Kid Op

My editor Adam Wilson has a great post over on the Office of Letters & Light blog with advice on what to do now that's its all over. If you're wrestling with how to go from here with your November novel, or you simply want some very good writing and editing advice, definitely check it out.

I'm not a huge fan of gigantic internet corporations, but those who provide nice scholarships for artistic kids get a gold star in my book. Like Google, which is sponsoring the Doodle4Google contest. To quote from their site, it's "an annual program that invites K-12 students in the United States to use their artistic talents to think big and redesign our homepage logo for millions to see. This year, we ask students to exercise their creative imaginations around the theme, “My Best Day Ever…” One talented student artist will see their artwork appear on the Google homepage, receive a $30,000 college scholarship, and a $50,000 technology grant for their school along with some other cool prizes!"



Every U.S. citizen or permanent resident who is currently attending a K-12 school (this includes the homeschooled) is eligible to enter this one, and there is no entry fee involved. To read over the official contest rules go here, and to download the entry form go here. All entries do have to be sent in via snail mail to the address at the bottom of the entry form page. Deadline for this one is March 22nd, 2013.

Preserving Your Online Privacy

I know I'm hitting you with a lot of posts today but this is another heads-up I thought was important to share, especially as today is the last day you can do anything about it.

As of March 1st Google's privacy policy changes will allow it to officially compile, store and use information from your past, present and future online browsing, searches and other formerly private internet activities (they already have tons of stored data on you; this change allows them to use it for their own purposes.)

If you do not want Google to do this to you and your info, instructions on how to clear your Google Browser history and prevent Google from using it in the future can be found here at digitaljournal.com. I used these instructions and they worked fine for me.

Google Street View Weirdness

I've been using Google Maps with Street View to take some virtual tours of places I haven't visited in a long time to see what's changed. It's fun and a lot cheaper than a plane ticket.

I was virtually strolling around Avignon when I stopped to change directions and saw this (click on image to see larger version):



I know the gentleman on the left there is nothing more than the victim of a camera glitch, but usually the stretchy shadows and echoes vanish once you stop moving the viewer. This time it didn't, so the guy looks like he's melting into the sidewalk. Very Daliesque and uberweird -- and sparked an idea for a cool story that I can't write until I finish all my deadlines so I am now staying far, far away from Google Street View.

Aaron Hobson has a nice collection of beautiful landscapes here; likewise screen-shot while he was playing with Google Street View (like swiped from Gerard over at The Presurfer.)

Googling the Street View

Google may make armchair tourists out of all of us now that they are offering their Maps with Street View. This search engine allows you to enter an address, move a little figure onto the map and (if available) see a street-level view of that location.

Here's what a street in Paris looks like (click any image to see larger version):



You can also move around your location, street by street, block by block, and zoom in and around in all sorts of interesting ways. If you've never had the chance to explore a particular city or other location and/or can't travel there, this allows you to take a virtual walking tour of most places (there were a few places I tried to pull up that only offered a still shot, so it seems Google hasn't mapped every square inch of the Earth (yet).

I can't tell exactly how old these street views are, but I'd say probably at least six months but no more than two years old (if there is a note of exactly when the images were taken I didn't bother to look for it.) While faces and license plates are mainly blurred out, businesses, signs and other details are not. Here's a street where I used to go shopping in San Francisco's Chinatown:



I think this service is especially helpful for writers if you want to include a setting in your story that is a real place you've actually visited but haven't been back to visit in a long time. There was this spot out on the west coast where I used to sit and watch the sunset that I wanted to use in a story. Unfortunately I lived there many years ago, and as much as I'd love to go back there, I don't have the time or justification for the expense.

Relying on my memory, I wrote the location into the story with a lone bench, some rocks and the water. When I pulled up that spot on the street view, however, I saw that someone had put up a big ugly fence near my bench:



It takes some practice to learn how to use the different symbols and zooms to move around your street view, but I think it's worth taking the time to play with and learn. Plus if you can't afford to take a research trip, it may be the next best thing to being there.