Joe Flood

DC has its very own holiday market, December 5-23, on F Street, outside the National Portrait Gallery.

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My work environment.

Now that I’m not working in an office, people are curious about what I do all day. I told a friend of mine that I was taking a couple of weeks off to go down to Florida. “Take off from what?” he retorted smartly.

But the truth of the matter is that I am busy. I’m writing a mystery called Murder in Ocean Hall.

The other question I get is, “What tools are you using?” There’s almost a fetishization of writing tools out there, as if creativity was a matter of getting the right notebook or pen set. Or, if you’re a geek, getting the right piece of software, one that will magically draw out your work of genius and put it on the page.

While I’ve certainly been guilty of this in the past, I’ve been tending toward simpler and simpler tools. And, with my time, I’ve really discovered the value of something I once despised - routine. Routine is like a healthy habit, one you can’t put down.

Here’s the schedule and the tools I’ve found to be best for me.  It’s my Monday to Friday schedule. It’s one writer’s day:

7:30 AM to 8:30 AM

Curiously, I wake up at the same time I did when I had a real job. I haven’t sunk into dissipation nor do I stay up all night watching movies. I get ready for the day and check my email to see if I have anything important I need to respond to.

location: home
computer: iMac
tools: Safari, Gmail
drink/food: none
noise: Pandora, Radio Paradise or none 

8:30 AM to Noon

This is my core writing time. I like writing at Caribou Coffee and I’m fortunate to live within a couple blocks of two different Caribous. Why don’t I write at home? It’s easier when I’m surrounded by other industrious people with laptops and away from the distractions of home.

I try to write 1000-2000 words every day. I write in Pages, because it’s not cluttered or distracting like Word. And it will run on my almost six year old PowerBook, the little Apple laptop that refuses to die. I keep my outline in TextEdit, an even simpler tool. I use Safari for research.

location: Caribou
computer: 12″ G4 PowerBook
tools: Pages, Safari
drink/food: coffee (dark roast), cranberry scone
noise: quiet chatter, endless loop of Caribou Xmas music

Noon - 1:30 PM

After making stuff up from whole cloth, I’m usually hungry and mentally spent. I have lunch, watch the news for a little bit and check my email. I watch CNBC without really paying attention to it - it’s just sort of on.

location: home
computer: iMac
tools: Safari, Gmail
drink/food: orange seltzer water, sandwich
noise: CNBC/CNN

1:30 - 2:00 PM

Nap! I admit it, I take a nap. Not every day but one of the perks of working from home is being able to do things you’d never do in the office.

2:00 - 5:00 PM

I try to work a full day, as if I had a real job. I’ve got a lot of things I can work on, such as:

• research and write a blog post
• make comments on other blogs
• read and answer my email
• read interesting blogs and web sites
• look for markets for my short stories and screenplays
• edit photos and upload them to Flickr
• submit pics for photo contests
• conduct research for my novel
• edit my novel
• brainstorm ideas for my book and update my outline 
• explore new Web 2.0 technologies
• update my Twitter feed
• check out blogs and sites related to Web 2.0 in government
• signup for events in DC on Web 2.0, photography and other subjects of interest
• look for interesting places to work at in the future
• set up lunch or coffee with friends and colleagues
• read a book

location: home
computer: iMac
tools: Safari, Gmail, Twitter, Wordpress, Adobe Lightroom, Pages, TextEdit, Stickies
drink/food: chai tea, snack of some kind
noise: Pandora, Radio Paradise or none

5:00 PM

I’m done! At this point, I’ll go for a walk, break out the Wii Fit or go to the gym. Or maybe just have a drink.

I try to leave things where I can pick them up the next day. For example, I’ll have an idea of what I’ll write tomorrow and be turning things over in my mind. I’m thinking about what happens next in my story.

This type of routine seems to keep my sane and productive, perhaps because it mimics the schedule I had when I worked. I’m not averse to flipping my days around, however, and write in the afternoon instead of the morning. Or even taking a day off, especially if the weather is nice. Or working on a Sunday and taking off a Monday. Doing so keeps things from getting stale and feeling like a chore. After all, the routine is for me. It’s not something I’m enslaved to, it’s for my benefit.

But why keep a schedule like you’re working in an office? It may be pretentious, but I’m going to quote Flaubert on this one:

Be regular and orderly in your life like a bourgeois, so that you may be violent and original in your work.

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I snapped this pic at Co Co Sala, a high-end chocolate store on F Street near the National Portrait Gallery featuring tiny (but delicious) pieces of black gold. On the right side of the plate is a little piece of mint chocolate. On the left, the waitress gave me a free sample of chipotle chocolate, which had a spicy kick to it. I paired them with a double espresso. For $6, this is affordable luxury. 

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Preparing to take off. A skateboarder at the Fixation Show.

Has the DC art scene really left the underground and emerged into the light of day? That was the premise of an article in Sunday’s Washington Post. According to the piece:

Washington has a vibrant, under-the-radar art party scene that has long been visible only to those in the know. 

While I’m no porkpie hat wearing hipster, I’ve lived in this city for a while, and am friends with artists and arts organizers. In other words, I’m “in the know” and I don’t believe that there was a vibrant art party scene that was only available to the initiated.

In the past, “art gallery party” was a bit of an oxymoron. Galleries had receptions, where you politely drank white wine and tried not to eat all the cheese. These were serious affairs with the unspoken vibe that only potential buyers were welcome. Jackets were not required but you’d feel more comfortable in one. I can remember several events like this where I felt distinctly poor, young (though I’m not) and underdressed. Guests whispered to one another. Women in furs swooped in, distributing air kisses. This was a serious place where you affected a critical gaze as you looked at abstract paintings and wondered, “What the hell is that?” But you didn’t say that, instead you attempted the foreign language of ArtSpeak. “Uhh, this work seems to explore the idea of emptiness as a construct yet ultimately expresses the impossibility of authenticity in a plastic world.”

But the gallery owner could just look at you and know, he’s just here for the booze.  Which was only partially true, since I’ve had a long interest in all types of creativity. Going to a gallery, however, just didn’t seem fun.

That all changed with Artomatic. I’d date the birth of DC’s art party scene to the Artomatic in 2004 at the old Capitol Children’s Museum. From the beginning, what’s distinguished this scene has been its democratic nature. Artomatic is open to all - anyone can hang their stuff on a wall and call themselves an artist. Only very loosely organized, with just a few rules, Artomatic is to art what “open source” is to software - it’s taking authority away from middlemen and putting it in the hands of the crowd. And like open source software, everyone can participate though you have to contribute something too. Artists showing at Artomatic had to volunteer some of their time. They manned the bars, cleaned up and did everything else that the festival required.

Artomatic was an inversion of the gallery process. No one told you you couldn’t hang your stuff up and crowds of people responded to this openness. Artomatic has become a huge annual event in this city, one that took up an entire office building in 2008. It brought hordes of people (more than 50,000 of them) that were younger, poorer and more diverse than could be found in any Georgetown gallery.

The other unique trait of Artomatic was its do it yourself nature. Like the 48 Hour Film Project, another homegrown event, Artomatic was created from the bottom up. It was not organized by the Corcoran. Instead it was created “by artists, for everyone.” 

Since the last Artomatic, the art scene has really burgeoned, as correctly described by the Post. It’s included some awesome parties, such as the Roller Derby Party and the Fixation Show. But, these have not been underground affairs open only to those with a secret password. Instead, what characterizes the DC art scene has been openness, a lack of formality, disdain for hierarchy and a do it yourself spirit.

While things haven’t always gone as planned, it’s inspiring, for these casual affairs show that artists are real people and that art can be made by anyone. And, for myself, I’d much rather be drinking foamy beer out of a plastic cup while watching skateboarders than any fancy gallery affair.

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Tomorrow is the last day to see the Contact/s: The Art of Photojournalism at 3333 M Street, NW, in Georgetown. This great exhibit is part of FotoWeek DC and features twenty-five contact sheets made since 1976 by the photographers of Contact Press Images. The contact sheets have been enlarged and hung from the ceiling so that you can really good a close look at the individual photos. Plus, the exhibit, which is in a former furniture store, also has tons of really cool books on photojournalism that can be perused at your leisure. 

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Last night, I braved the cold to attend a seminar entitled The Nature of Transition by photographer Steve Uzzell. It was part of FotoWeek, the seven day celebration of photography in Washington.

The theme of the seminar was on transition in our lives, how it is something to be embraced rather than feared. After all, as humans we’re constantly in a state of change as we live and evolve. Uzzell, who primarily shoots commercial work, got the idea for the presentation after hearing from clients that their organizations were in transition. As someone who received their last regular paycheck in 1975, he thought he had something to say on the subject - and he had the photos to communicate his message. 

For lack of a better term, I’d call his presentation a “magical slide show.” After an introduction to set the stage, he turned down the lights and talked in a conversational tone about the universal nature of transition while he showed iconic pictures from his work over the years. We’re drawn to transition, for its promise of growth, movement and clarity. It’s the most dynamic place to be. But how do we get in transition and best take advantage of it?

1. Curiosity. All transitions begin with wanting to know what’s down the road, behind that door or over that bridge (one of his favorite photographic subjects). As a species, we’re naturally curious. This curiosity leads to growth and away from stasis.

2. Passion. Uzzell illustrated this point with a lovely photo of a little boy pretending to conduct a band. That’s what passion is - we need to get out of our seats and take part in the action, drawn in by our curiosity about the experience. Passion provides the energy necessary to drive through the transition. 

3. Commitment. This is the courage to sail into the storm, to take the hard way when everyone else takes the easy one. Uzzell had a great photo of a couple ignoring an easy trail to the summit of a mountain in favor of a more difficult route. Fueled by passion, you’re committed because you feel mentally and physically engaged by what you’re doing. And by completing what you thought to be impossible, the limits impose by your own mind are removed.

4. Accountability. You must be willing to accept the consequences of your actions - and inactions. You must stick things through.

Transitions have a beginning, middle and an end, which is the start of a new transition. Seen this way, being in transition is not something temporary but our permanent state. Why avoid it?

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Eurabia, my screenplay about what might happen if the US lost the war on terror, was a Semifinalist in the 2008 Screenwriting Expo Screenplay Competition. The Screenwriting Expo is a huge conference in LA for screenwriters.  

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride…

Actually, this script has done really well, making it to at least the semifinalist stages in the Austin, Writers on the Storm and American Screenwriters Association contests.

You can read the first ten pages online.

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I was out last Friday and just happened to run into this protest. Students poured up from the Dupont Circle Metro then marched down Massachusetts Avenue to the Embassy of Sudan. There were around a hundred protesters, some of whom carried signs with the names of Sudanese villages that had been ethnically cleansed. I followed along on my bike and fortunately I had my camera with me.

I like this picture because it shows the motion of the cab and the number of people at the protest. I took it with my Canon Digital Rebel XT with a Canon 55-250 IS lens. I ran it through the “aged photo” filter in Adobe Lightroom to fade the colors a bit.

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There’s a really interesting article in the New York Times on how Obama tapped the power of social networks to fuel his run for the presidency.  Here’s the nut graph:

Like a lot of Web innovators, the Obama campaign did not invent anything completely new. Instead, by bolting together social networking applications under the banner of a movement, they created an unforeseen force to raise money, organize locally, fight smear campaigns and get out the vote that helped them topple the Clinton machine and then John McCain and the Republicans.

Obama’s use of Facebook, Twitter, Meetup and other tools is well-known.  By successfully using these tools, he’s created an online mass movement and a personal brand.  The challenge he faces now is to implement his ideas across a federal government frequently mired in outdated policies and procedures.  While both the McCain and Obama campaigns used every online tool available to them, the federal government is filled with restrictions on Web 2.0 technology, due to privacy regulations, Congressional intervention and IT security concerns.  For example:

1.  Cookies.  The use of persistent cookies on federal web sites is strictly limited by an eight-year old policy developed by the Office of Management and Budget.  Young Obama supporters may not remember the Cookie Controversy of the millenial era.  The policy lists a number of conditions which must be met before cookies can be used, including obtaining the permission of the agency head.  Due to the controversy over cookies, and the strict regulations regarding their use, cookies are very rarely used by government sites. 

Why do cookies matter?  You need cookies to accurately measure usage of your site with tools such as Google Analytics.  Cookies are also used for personalization.  Here’s a good explanation:

A “cookie” is a tiny text file that we store on your computer to customize your experience and support some necessary functions. We also use cookies to better understand how our visitors use our site. Our cookies contain no Personal Information and are neither shared nor revealed to other sites. We do not look for or at other sites’ cookies on your computer.

This nice explanation on why cookies are used comes from… the Barack Obama web site and their privacy policy.

2.  Arbitrary Bans on Operating Systems.  The trend in many workplaces is to let the employees have the tools they need to do their jobs.  This is not always the case in government.  Some IT shops in government think Macs aren’t secure.  Some don’t like Vista.  Nearly all IT departments want to implement a common system configuration.  Everyone gets the same machine with the same software, no matter if you’re a writer or a web developer.  To be fair, this is true in most large organizations.  IT departments want to make their jobs easier by standardizing on the same equipment. Yet, the rest of the world is moving toward an ecosystem of operating systems rather than one to rule them all.

In contrast, the Obama campaign was described as being “open-source.”  They used the tools they needed to get things done, whatever they were.  Case in point - this photo of Joe Biden with a MacBook Air, captured on election night, a picture which I bet is hanging in the cube of many a beleaguered Mac fan in government.

3.  Bans on PHP.  PHP is essential to Web 2.0.  Without PHP, you cannot use Wordpress, the best blogging tool out there.  Yet, PHP, is banned in some (but not all) government agencies due to security concerns.  This concerns are not without merit, for government sites and the Obama and McCain sites were subject to cyberattacks originating out of China.  

However, I want to say “yes we can” to making Wordpress secure for government.  After all, http://www.barackobama.com/index.php obviously uses PHP.

4. Firewalls.  In this day and age, the concept of firewalls limiting what employees can see on the Internet seems outdated and silly, like attempts to ban books.  Yet, firewalls prevent many federal employees from using Web 2.0 tools to communicate with the public.  For example, the Departments of Interior, Energy, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs all block access to YouTube, MySpace and other tools.  So, if I’m an evil-doer, I can organize my group on MySpace and no one from Homeland Security will know?

Often, these firewalls prevent officially-sponsored government Web 2.0 efforts.  For example, an agency may have an island in Second Life, designed to educate the public.  Yet, a demonstration of the features of the island requires a visit to a coffee shop with wifi, a free and open place outside the agency firewall.

This is just a fraction of the internal barriers within government that have blocked many Web 2.0 efforts.  Despite this, government is filled with committed folks trying to get things done, despite the hindrances.

What will happen when Obama campaign staffers move into political positions within the federal government?  They will have come from an open, risk-taking environment free of the types of restrictions listed above.  As political appointees, they will want to put Obama’s stamp on government and change agency priorities and objectives.  

What’s coming is a generational and technological clash, as members of the Obama online movement collide with government managers bound by rules and regulations.  The best result of this conflict would be that outdated restrictions are thrown out and that government would fully adopt the principles of Web 2.0. Millions of supporters used online tools to participate in the Obama campaign.  They will expect to use these same tools to be part of an Obama administration.

Note: this article was republished with permission on epolitics.com.

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My screenplay Eurabia is a Semi-Finalist in the Writers On The Storm Screenplay Competition. Out of more than 1300 scripts submitted, Eurabia finished in the the top 50 screenplays out of more than 1300 screenplays submitted. My screenplay Eurabia is set in the near future. In this dystopian story, America has lost the war on terror and Europe is controlled by radical Islam. However, the CIA has a secret plan to change the course of history… While I didn’t win the competition, it was great to get the recognition. Another nice and useful thing about this competition is the “coverage” I received for Eurabia.  Coverage basically is notes from a professional script reader on your screenplay, what works, what doesn’t, and what could be improved. I thought the coverage I received was really useful. It included ratings on structure, dialog, originality, premise, execution and even the title of my script.  Additionally, it included a couple of narrative sections that, while brief, offered concrete suggestions on how I could improve Eurabia.  Here’s what the anonymous reader wrote about Eurabia under Strengths/Weaknesses:

Really a great concept that is well-executed. The first part of the second act lacks tension, but otherwise the script is tight.

Second acts, in films and in life, are really tough. A second act is halfway through a movie when things start to drag or they introduce some wacky twist and you start to wonder about the film. It’s a fair criticism of Eurabia. When I wrote the script, I knew the beginning and I knew the end but the middle parts were a bit hazy. In parts of it, I was definitely feeling my way along, trying to figure out what was going to happen. Second act weakness is a common problem for scripts. I’ve revised Eurabia several times already. I can see the problem in the second act but am not sure how to fix it yet. The detail about “lacking tension” was helpful criticism because it highlighted what needs to be fixed. And here were their Reader Suggestions:

Consider upping the threat that he faces with releasing this ‘weapon’. Because he knows exactly where and when, the tension lessens. Possibly making the release a little less predictable might add some tense moments. May not be right for your script, but something to think about or play with. This is somewhat nit-picking, but this script is so close.

This is a note referring to the end of the script and a choice the main character has. It’s another good suggestion. Eurabia goes along in a very linear manner to a confrontation that’s talked about earlier in the script. Everyone can see it coming. Maybe it would be better to derail the train before it gets to the station. It’s an interesting idea. Overall, I was really pleased with the Writers On The Storm Screenplay Competition. The contest was administered professionally, the coverage was useful and the overall experience was a positive one. I’ve been on the other side of the table, as a judge for the DC Shorts Screenplay Competition, so I know how difficult it can be to plow through massive quantities of scripts of varying quality and still provide serious coverage of a script. With more than 1300 scripts, Writers on the Storm has done herculean work.

Check out the Eurabia Coverage (PDF) from Writers on the Storm.

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