Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on January 31st, 2016 in Main 
RobOHara.com has finally moved to the cloud. I set up my first website back in 1995, using a local hosting company (TheShop.net). When I moved to Spokane in 1996, I moved to NextDim.com and set up home there. (My NextDim.com URL was mentioned in this interview with the Spokesman Review back in 1997.) In 2001 I set up a web server at my house and registered the free URL forwarder welcome.to/TheOHaras, which was the genesis of this site. In 2004 I registered RobOHara.com, and the rest was history. Back then, it didn’t make sense to pay someone else to host… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on January 30th, 2016 in WritingWhen I wrote Commodork (my first self-published book), I had no idea what I was doing. And although I hadn’t had a lick of training, I did have a pretty good sense of story. Before I started writing I made a list of all the stories I wanted to tell in the book. Then I wrote the titles of all those stories out on index cards, sorted them into piles, and put the piles in an order that made sense to me. The piles ultimately became my chapters. Of course, my cards didn’t contain every single detail — in fact,… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on January 29th, 2016 in WritingI hate work assignments that involve tons of complications and political tangles and workplace drama. The writing assignment for our class is the exact opposite of all those things, and exactly the kind of assignment I like. “You owe me 25,000 words this March, and 50,000 words this May. Good luck.” In the real world, nobody checks to make sure you’ve been keeping up with your word counts and writing a little bit every day. If nothing else over the past several months, I’ve learned graduate school is no joke.
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on January 29th, 2016 in WritingHello, my name is Rob. I work on computers all day, and write all night. Someday, I hope to swap those things around. Chances are pretty good that if you’ve found (and are reading) this blog, you already know who I am. If not, here’s all you need to know: I am a 42-year-old man child. I’m married, have two children (one teen, one tween), and live in Oklahoma. I like old video games, old arcade games and old computers. I enjoy podcasting, but even more than that, I enjoy writing. If you want to know more about me than… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on January 27th, 2016 in Star Wars, Star WednesdayDepending on your level of Star Wars knowledge, you may be baffled by today’s choice. The Draconian Marauder, of course, is not from Star Wars at all. It’s from Buck Rogers. While Kenner’s line of Star Wars action figures didn’t invent the 3 3/4″ scale, it quickly and definitively solidified it as a standard. Within just a few years of the original Star Wars line, figures for The Black Hole, Clash of the Titans, Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon, Dungeons and Dragons, CHiPs, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lord of the Rings, M*A*S*H, G.I. Joe, and a whole slew of others,… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on January 27th, 2016 in MainYesterday I mentioned the concept of “pretend profits vs. true profits.” These are terms I made up to describe the discrepancy between how much money I thought I was making selling books vs. how little money I ended up making. (In reality, what we’re talking about is “net. vs. gross” income, but I like these terms better.) When I first began selling copies of Commodork, Lulu.com (the company that printed my copies) ran a sale. By ordering 30 copies, I could get the price of each one down to $5. I sell paperback copies of my books for $15. That… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on January 26th, 2016 in MainA customer of mine recently informed me that he found pirated copies of my books illegally available for download on a major torrent website. I’ve run across those same links before myself, usually while searching Google for reviews of my books. Today’s reality is, people will pirate anything and everything available digitally. And if it’s not available digitally — say, an older book available only in print or an album that was released only on vinyl — they will convert it to a digital format so that they can pirate it. That’s reality. Whether you apply no DRM (digital copy… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on January 25th, 2016 in MainAfter having articles included in Chris Kohler’s book Retro Gaming Hacks (O’Reilly, 2005) and self-publishing Commodork: Sordid Tales from a BBS Junkie in 2006, my writing became somewhat “in demand” — and by “in demand,” I mean “lots of people began to contact me and ask me if I would be interested in writing articles and reviews for them for free.” I did, and do, contribute free articles to lots of publications, including websites, eZines, print magazines, and newspapers. I was (and continue to be) flattered each time someone asked if I would be interested in submitting an article to… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on January 22nd, 2016 in WritingI returned to school this week for another round of graduate classes. I’ve doubled my workload this semester. Last semester I only took one class, and this semester, I’m taking two. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons I’m taking Writing the Novel. The class is being taught by Professor Chester, the same woman who taught my Writing the Short Story class last semester. There are nine students in the class, seven of which were in my short story class from last semester, so I feel pretty comfortable in there. In short story class we wrote three 5,000 word (maximum) short stories.… (read more)
Posted by RobOHara ( @Commodork) on January 20th, 2016 in Star Wars, Star WednesdayWhile walking through the kitchen the other day I noticed this package of Star Wars tissues sitting on the counter. My wife, the eternal Girl Scout, is prepared. For anything. If we suddenly had to rappel off of something, build a sailboat, or perform a tracheotomy, I’m pretty sure my wife has the necessary components in her purse to do any of those things. If you were to be stranded on a desert island with only one person, she’s the person you should hope for. I’m sure my wife knows how to open a coconut on an island and get… (read more)
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