Hello, 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 that, check out RobOHara.com, my primary website/blog.

Last summer in the throes of a “What do you want to do with your life?” midlife crisis, I decided to go back to school. A month later, I enrolled in the Masters of Professional Writing graduate program at the University of Oklahoma. I attended one class in the fall of 2015 (Writing the Short Story), and just kicked off the 2016 spring semester with two more classes: Readings in Mass Communications and Writing the Novel.

Our goal for Writing the Novel is to produce a 50,000 word novel within the time frame of the class (16 weeks). Last week (week one), we got settled in. Yesterday, we turned in the synopsis of our stories. And now, it’s time to drop the stick shift into first gear, pop the clutch, and burn rubber as we take off from the line with our eyes on the finish line.

Our professor, Deborah Chester, suggested that we keep a journal of our journey, and that will be the focus of this blog. Here, I’ll be talking about my novel and my writing process. I’ll share any writing tips and tricks I pick up along the way — the things that worked for me and the things that didn’t. Fourteen weeks from now, I hope to have compiled a collection of posts that document the creation of my first novel: the journal of my journey, so to speak. And, who knows — I may continue to document my path though the Professional Writing graduate program after this class ends.

So that’s who I am, and that’s what we’re doing here. I have a few notes scribbled down in my notebook that I’ll transcribe here throughout the weekend. By next Monday, everything will be set up and ready to document my adventure in real time.

For the record, I chose a specifically bland theme for this blog. I doubt I’ll be posting many pictures, and other than a spam filter, I didn’t install any plug-ins. This blog isn’t about looking fancy or installing a million features; it’s about writing, and even more than that, about writing about writing.

Let’s go.

PS: I added an email subscription box to the right hand side of the page. Sign up, and you will be notified every time I post a new entry. You can unsubscribe from the updates at any time. Anyone still on the list at the end will receive a free digital copy of the book!