I was just over at blogging friend, Jacqui Murray’s lovely site, worddreams, reading her recommendations about how to keep your New Year’s resolutions. You can read it here: https://worddreams.wordpress.com/2021/01/09/5-tips-for-keeping-new-years-resolutions-2/. While you are over there, take a look at her selection of great books, including some incredibly well researched early man historical novels.

Her article interested me so much, I thought I had to add my two pennies to this discussion.

I don’t set any resolutions, but I do set goals. To my mind, these two concept are entirely different. You may beg to differ, my work colleagues tell me often that not everyone thinks like me, so I am open to discussion about this.

To me, a resolution would be a lifestyle change, something like exercising more or eating better, as Jacqui has suggested in her post. Goals are your planned achievements for the year.

Each year, I set goals and I work hard towards them. Sometimes my goals shift a little over the course of the year in order to accommodate unexpected twists in my life path, but the basic concepts stay the same. Due to the fact my goals seem to increase each year, I know I will not achieve resolutions to work less, relax more, or do more exercise. Just for the record, I do squeeze in 20 minutes of exercise a day, but that’s pretty much what it is during the working week. I also do 15 minutes of light stretching every day.

Writing goals

Last year, my writing goals were to publish one children’s book and to publish A Ghost and His Gold by September. I also wanted to participate in two anthologies.

My achievements last year were as follows:

I published Sir Chocolate and the Ice cream Rainbow Fairies story and cookbook in April 2020 so that goal was achieved.

A Ghost and His Gold took me much longer to finish than expected. The main reason for this delay was that the book ended up being much longer than I originally planned. It has come in at approximately 116 000 words as opposed to my intended 80 000 words. This meant a lot more research, re-writing, and editing.

Has it been worth it? Oh yes, I am very pleased with how this book has shaped up and I feel I’ve achieved my plan to investigate the psychology of the Great South African War. I sent my final changes back to my publisher, TSL Publications, before New Year and this book should be published within the next 6 weeks. Hooray!

Another reason for the delay in my finalising A Ghost and His Gold timeously was work related. At the end of March the world went into it’s first C-19 related lockdown and my world went crazy. I worked excessively hard for the five months from April to August 2020, including weekend and evening work. This obviously ate into my writing time.

This goal was not achieved within my original timeframe, but there are good reasons why it was not so it isn’t a failure, but rather an adaption.

With regards to anthologies, I have participated in two as planned with two short stories in Spirits of the West, compiled by Kaye Lynne Booth and two short stories in Spellbound, compiled by Dan Alatorre. I have also written three short stories which will be included in another horror anthology compiled by Dan Alatorre, Wings & Fire, which is currently available for pre-order. This goal was achieved.

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You can find all of these anthologies on my new Roberta Eaton Cheadle Amazon author page here: https://www.amazon.com/Roberta-Eaton-Cheadle/e/B08RSNJQZ5. I must be honest that setting up this pen name author page has also been quite an achievement. Amazon didn’t make it particularly easy for me to do this.

Reading

I did manage to read 100 books last year but 60 of those were for Robbie’s Inspiration and 40 for Roberta Writes. Of the 40 books I read for Roberta Writes, however, 10 were classic books which take me longer to read, so I was happy with this achievement.

Community service

The community service goals were much harder to achieve this year due to the lockdown and C-19, but we attained the following hours:

Greg and Michael got 4.5 hours each for making chocolates and packaging them for a Valentine’s Day fundraiser. The money went to a previously disadvantaged orphanage. Gregory also helped me make up 50 party packs for the children at this same orphanage for their year end Christmas party. This earned him another 2 hours. I also donated 100 Sir Chocolate books for this Christmas party.

During December, the boys helped me make up 110 Christmas packages for the residents of a local old age home and earned 7.5 hours each for their assistance. These were distributed on Christmas day.

In total, Michael earned 12 hours of community service and Greg earned 14 hours. The boys did also both assist me with recording nine baking and children’s book reading videos for our YouTube channel during lockdown. These were aimed at helping to entertain children stuck at home for the lockdown period. You can find our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVyFo_OJLPqFa9ZhHnCfHUA

We are thinking about what we can do this year.

So far, Michael has contributed $10 towards sponsoring a turtle nest. If you are interested in contributing towards this worthy cause, you can read it on blogging friends, Micah and Markus’ lovely blog here: https://markusundmicah.com/2020/12/30/we-can-save-more-turtles-together/

Do you set resolutions or goals? Do you achieve them? Let me know in the comments.

Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing your link in the comments below, anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time).

My family spent the past few days at Fugitive’s Drift Lodge in KwaZulu-Natal. This lodge comprises a nature reserve near the Buffalo River, which prior to the Anglo Zulu War of 1879, constituted the border between the British controlled Natal colony and Zululand. At this time, Zululand was under the leadership of the Zulu King Cetshwayo kaMpande, who led the Zulu army to victory at the Battle of Isandlwana on the 22nd January 1879.

Aside from the obvious goal of spending time in an amazingly beautiful place and enjoying the wildlife, we also had a goal of touring the graves of Lieutenants Melville and Coghill, who lost their lives attempting to save the Queen’s Colour of their regiment after the Battle of Isandlwana, and the battlefields and museums of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift.

This post is the first in a series of four posts which will share the doors from the guest house we occupied during our stay at Fugitive’s Drift Lodge, a beautifully maintained traditional South African farm house, the Library and selected doors from the lodge itself, and pictures of doors relating to our tours of each of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift.

Today, I am sharing the pictures of the guest house and the grave sites of Lieutenants Melville and Coghill.

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If you are interested in finding out more about Fugitive’s Drift Lodge you can do so here: https://www.fugitivesdrift.com/

If you would like to learn more about Coghill and Mellville, you can do so here: https://www.fugitivesdrift.com/melvill-coghill-at-fugitives-drift/

If you would like to join in Thursday Doors posts, you can do so here: https://nofacilities.com/2021/01/07/charter-oak-pl-thursday-doors/

‘How do you keep focused during long writing sessions?’

Focusing is not something I struggle with. In fact, when I am focusing, I am unlikely to hear anything going on around me as I block out all other noises and sounds. I have always done this and the teacher always had to come over and tell me it was time to stop reading at the end of each lesson [we were allowed to read until the end of the session, when all our work for that specific lesson was completed]. It used to drive my parents and siblings nuts and now it drives my husband and children crazy because I won’t hear them talking to me if I am writing, reading or blogging. My sons get quite upset about it, especially Michael, as he says I ignore him. I’ve tried to explain I just don’t hear him if I’m absorbed.

When I’m on work deadlines, I work 12-hour sessions, eating and drinking at my computer, in order to review and mark up changes to a document and all the related reports. These sessions are usually from 6am to 6pm and occur about 3 or 4 days a month during my busy periods. During the working week, I am usually logged in to my email and Skype from 6am to 8pm in case there are emergencies or ‘urgents’ that I need to deal with. I pick up emails and deal with them while I read or blog and sometimes when I write if I’m working through the weekend. I am trying to do this less often lately due to the high levels of work stress I experienced during the C-19 lockdown period which was bad for my health. I worked every weekend for 3 or 4 hours a day for 5 months.

I am quite fortunately in that I can split my focus to a certain extent if I want too. This enables me to listen to a meeting and do other ‘light’ tasks such as checking changes to documents at the same time. My son said this is impossible until I made by point by repeating the a work conversation word-for-word, having listened while I reviewed changes to a work document. I can’t write a story, read a book, or review complex spreadsheets or legal agreements while doing other things. These tasks do require my complete focus and attention. Being able to use all my time efficiently by frequently doing two things at once does help me do things much quicker and gives me more time for other things. I always read both my blogs and twitter accounts at the same time. I have two computers and alternate reading posts and tweets on the two machines. I am also fortunate in that I read very quickly and retain most of what I read.

Back to focusing on writing, I usually write in blocks of not more than 3 hours for the simple reason that this is all the writing time I have in a day. From Monday to Friday, I try to squeeze in 1 hour of writing; I often don’t manage it every day, especially during busy periods. I usually write for 3 hours on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday so that makes for between 9 and 13 hours of story writing a week. I am not supposed to work on a Friday as it is my off day, but I usually work until 1 pm. I spend additional time editing what I’ve written but that doesn’t require as much focus as the creative process. I often edit on a Saturday afternoon. I also spend extra time doing research and reading as it is easy for me to disappear down a ‘rabbit hole’ when I am interested in a topic that I am writing about.

I write approximately 6 blog posts a week and this time is additional to the above, as is the time I spend writing book reviews. Reviewing a novel takes me between 45 minutes and 60 minutes and I usually write 2 or 3 reviews a week.

I don’t do anything to retain my focus. A colleague was shocked recently when I said I don’t drink any coffee or fizzy cooldrinks. I find drinking lots of water and limiting tea to three cups a day allows me to work at a optimum level. I also try to go for a 20 minute walk around my garden every day as that is good exercise and releases the tension a bit.

How do other writers manage to keep focused? Click on the link below to find out.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter

Giveaways

(1) $25 Amazon Gift card & (10) e-book copies of the “shorts” in the Enigma Series

Our cyber-crime learning curve

We thought it would be fun to share how much we have learned about cyber-crime since we began writing the Enigma Series.

Breakfield and Burkey learned early that there is no shortage of ideas to take into the next stories. Breakfield had suggested a trilogy when The Enigma Factor was nearly completed. Burkey, however, insisted on a series. Technology evolution is so fast and so prevalent that each day brings a new way to position the risks in stories.  Add in our travel, relationships, intrigue, good and evil character universe, with a splash of humor, and you will discover a fun story.

What we find unsettling is seeing ideas or threats we felt were possible but unlikely showing up as current cybercrime exploitation, front-page headlines. We hope we are not giving the criminal element any ideas of what to try next!

Parts of what we see with digital evolution is ugly and terrifying, which is another lesson. For instance, we came across some real-life examples of using software programs run on high-end graphics computers to produce deep fakes. These films, videos, etc., are the result of deep learning or a desire to create fake media. These types of applications use deep fakes to distort legitimate information and weaponize it. 

Case in point, a manufactured video was used to ruin a political career in Malaysia.  Using enhanced audible engineering, a convincing voice mail was constructed using the voice of a U.K. firm’s CEO demanding a targeted CFO transfer nearly 200,000 British pounds to a Hungarian bank account.  Social engineering powered by AI & ML. Outrageous and yet prevalent!

We used the concept of deep fakes in our story threads in our newest techno-thriller, The Enigma Threat, which leans heavily on this latest attack vector from the Darknet. Readers might recall what Obi-wan said in the original Star Wars. “Your eyes can deceive you, don’t trust them!” Of course, it’s a little impractical for us running around in this galaxy using a Jedi masters’ lightsaber to defend ourselves from the bad actors of the Darknet. Plus, our stories are more Science / Technology facts rather than Si-Fi. However, if that is the only way to win, we might reconsider.

Amazon, Netflix, and smart cities such as Barcelona, Spain all have artificial intelligence and machine learning baked into their operational models. These elements help drive sales, suggest the next streaming media series, or help efficiently locate an open parking spot downtown. Many see the positive benefits, but we are in a race with bad actors from the Darknet to survive their predatory onslaught.

We agree artificial intelligence and machine learning have many positive use cases. The benefits of using visual perception, speech recognition, language translations, pattern-extraction, and decision-making capabilities support several different fields and industries. Sadly, these digital inroads are often abused for criminal and malicious purposes.

Therefore, it is urgent to understand the capabilities, scenarios, and attack vectors that demonstrate how these technologies are exploited. By working toward increased awareness, we are more prepared to protect systems, devices, and the public from sophisticated attacks and abuses.

In 2016, we published book 7, The Enigma Gamers. We envisioned ways cyber thugs could capitalize on artificial intelligence and machine learning enhancements for extortion and profit.  Imagine two criminal masterminds, each with their own enhanced supercomputers hammering multiple businesses and governments for sport and profit. Picture a wholly automated mining operation when all of its computer-driven equipment turns on itself after the organizational management rejected the call for blackmail monies to be paid.

What if a fully automated distribution center ruined every product in the warehouse?  Utilizing a space the size of an enormous sports event venue, or downtown of a small city, with automated programs piling all the consumer products for sale in a heap. We created several scenarios where our cyber heroes dispatched personnel to locations to stop the digital carnage. Then the heroes needed to discover the identity of the evil masterminds of this global mess.

Does this sound farfetched?  The Trend Micro, the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), and Europol people don’t think so. Many folks in technology agree with the possibilities and provide the documentation on their analysis to back up the cases. Breakfield and Burkey continually scan the technology horizon looking for interesting facts to adapt to intriguing and possible storytelling.  You might enjoy looking at our Kickstarter campaign for The Enigma Threat to see the book trailer and other exciting details on this book releasing January 2, 2021.

Blurb: The Enigma Threat

In the new digital world, there is no tolerance for privately owned supercomputers. Globally, computers are hunted and destroyed for the greater good, by the new cyber police CESPOOL. The information this group receives is manipulated by subversive hidden machine learning devices, the MAG running on the dark net.

Judith and Xiamara are freebooters who steal machine time for their PaaS, porn as a service business. The machine they chose for delivery is the last untapped supercomputer not in the hands of a sovereign. Their activity is spotted by the MAG, but the renegade R-Group steps in to alter the outcome. Leroy teams up with Zara to help these opportunists escape prosecution. They are drafted as reluctant participants in the fight.

Jacob and Quip are trapped in the Chihuahuan Desert trying to reconstruct the base of ICABOD’s logic core. The stress of their isolation is taking a toll. Their wives and children are safe in Brazil for the time being, but Interpol is prowling for answers.

The R-Group has assembled a way to communicate with orphaned satellites. While the next R-Group plans the ultimate honey pot to trap their nemesis who is driving their corrupted agenda. The odds are against R-Group’s success, but they have creative surprises on their side.

The stakes have never been higher. The R-Group young and old must rise to defeat the MAG.

Author biographies

Breakfield is a 25+ year technology expert in security, networking, voice, and anything digital. He enjoys writing, studying World War II history, travel, and cultural exchanges. He’s also a fan of wine tastings, winemaking, Harley riding, cooking extravaganzas, and woodworking.

Burkey is a 25+ year applied technology professional who excels at optimizing technology and business investments. She works with customers all over the world focusing on optimized customer experiences. She writes white papers and documentation, but found she has a marked preference for writing fiction.

Together they create award-winning stories that resonate with males and females, as well as young and experienced adults. They bring a fresh new view to technology possibilities today.

Contact Breakfield and Burkey

Email:            Authors@EnigmaSeries.com

Website:      www.EnigmaBookSeries.com

Blog:              https://EnigmaBookSeries.com/the-enigma-chronicles/category/blog-statement/

Connect and follow on Social Media: 

LinkedIn:      https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlesbreakfield  and

https://www.linkedin.com/in/roxanneburkey

Twitter:        https://twitter.com/EnigmaSeries  

and https://twitter.com/1RBurkey

Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/TheEnigmaSeries/

YouTube:      https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Vz4x5ctTnx3yUhZk1OJkw

Pinterest:     https://www.pinterest.com/enigmseries/

Instagram:   https://www.instagram.com/enigmabookseries/

Bublish:        https://bublish.com/author/breakfieldandburkey

RRBC:            https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/about-breakfield-burkey-enigmaseries-rrbc-rrbc_community/

To follow along with the rest of the tour, please visit the authors’ tour page on the 4WillsPublishing site.  If you’d like to book your own blog tour and have your book promoted in similar grand fashion, please click HERE. Thanks for supporting these authors and their work!

We took the boys to EuroDisney for four days the week before Christmas in 2009. That year saw heavy snow in the UK and France and I was thrilled by the white world, taking dozens of photographs. Here are a few that include doors, of our trip to the station to get the Eurostar to EuroDisney and in the park.

Thursday Doors is hosted by Dan Antion at No Facilities blog. This prompt is on its annual haitus but I decided to do it this week anyway because these photographs remind me of great Christmas and New Year’s past. You can find out more about Dan Antion and his fascinating blog here: https://nofacilities.com/2020/12/31/looking-back-ahead/

Wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Hope is everywhere

Within each unfurling bud

In the sun’s hot rays

And winter’s bitterest chill

Morning always dawns

By Roberta Eaton Cheadle

This poem is written for Colleen Chesebro’s #Tanka Tuesday Weekly #Poetry Challenge. You can join in here: https://wordcraftpoetry.com/2020/12/29/tanka-tuesday-weekly-poetry-challenge-no-209-last-challenge-of-2020/

She’s multicoloured

While he’s solid black and white

She’s a bright rainbow

He’s plainly comfortable

A perfect combination

By Roberta Eaton Cheadle

This poem is written for Mindlovemisery Menagerie’s photo challenge. You can join in here: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2020/12/22/photo-challenge-346/

‘What is one thing you would like to learn?’

This is an interesting question and one I had to reflect on today.

When I finished school, I did an aptitude test and studying accountancy was recommended. It was quite an irony as my biological father was a chartered accountant. I never knew him as he died when I was three months old, but his abilities were clearly passed down. I studied for years to qualify as a chartered accountant and that has been my day job for over twenty years.

In 2012, I decided I had an interest in economics. As mentioned previously on this blog, the firm I work for gave me the opportunity to research, write, and publish a series of publications about Investing in Africa. My research covered a myriad of topics including the ease of doing business in Africa, Corruption in Africa, the African stock exchanges, the African mining and mineral exploration environment, the African debt market and the fourth industrial revolution and Africa. I also researched and wrote articles about other stock exchanges and investment environments. This satisfied my interest in economics and enabled me to ‘study’ the parts that interested me without being bogged down in the stuff that doesn’t interest me which is what would have happened if I’d undertaken an economics degree.

History and literature have both always been interests of mine and I get to indulge both of these passions with my reading and writing hobbies. I read everything and anything including classics, children’s books, graphic novels, poetry, plays, non-fiction, and many other genres and types of books.

My writing allows me to dive into historical research as my books and stories nearly always have a historical thread. While the Bombs Fell is about World War II in the UK, Through the Nethergate explores a number of historical periods and some famous historical people too and A Ghost and His Gold [coming out in January 2021] is about the Second Anglo Boer War.

Many of my short stories are also based on real historical events. I have two South African frontier stories in Spirits of the West anthology, a story about the Inca child sacrifices in Spellbound anthology, three historical stories in Death Among Us, and a story about the destruction of the pink and white terraces in New Zealand in forthcoming anthology, Wings & Fire.

I am also interested in genetic engineering and the fourth industrial revolution and my writing has also enabled me to expand my interest and research in these two areas. One of the result short stories will appear in Wings & Fire and another may be in another forthcoming anthology.

My conclusion is that both my work and my hobbies have enabled me to dive deeply into all areas of study and research that interest me. As a result, I don’t feel there is any particular thing that I would like to have studied that I haven’t already investigated or won’t have the opportunity to look into in the future.

What would other blog hoppers like to learn. Follow the link below to find out.

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

InLinkz

Thank you to author, Stevie Turner, for nominating me for this award. You can read her post here: https://steviet3.wordpress.com/2020/12/17/the-mystery-blogger-award/

The Rules:

• Display the award logo on your blog.
• Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
• Mention Okoto Enigma, the creator of the award.
• Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
• Answer 5 questions from the blogger who nominated you.
• Nominate 10 – 20 bloggers.
• Notify your nominees by leaving a comment on their blog.
• Ask your nominees 5 questions of your choice, including 1 weird or funny question.
• Share the link to your best post.

Do you find it difficult to come up with interesting topics to blog about?

I am a bit of fly by the seat of my pants blogger. On this blog, Roberta Writes, I participate fairly regularly in a couple of writing prompts, a photograph challenge, and a blog hop, I share extracts and news about my writing and latest books, I share book promotion posts and book reviews, and anything else that grabs my fancy. I am not a planner and very rarely schedule posts ahead of time.

Where do you find inspiration for your blog posts?

As mentioned above, I am a pantster blogger. If I see a writing prompt and inspiration strikes, I write for it. If it doesn’t inspire me, I don’t write for it. I never try to force my creativity. I read a huge amount and I post one review a week on this blog and another on my children’s writing and baking blog. I also share photographs of my garden and my travels as and when I think of it or feel inspired. I am a very unplanned blogger which is why it is a total relaxation for me. My work and writing life is very structured so I deliberately keep my blogging hobby unstructured and fun.

What’s the best thing about Christmas?

In South Africa, Christmas falls during our hot summer. It is the time when we have our main holiday period for the year. The schools and universities close for approximately five weeks and businesses that are not involved in retail or entertainment, close for between three and four weeks. I love being on holiday at this time of year as my clients are also on holiday so it is peaceful and I can relax.

Christmas is a big family time for me. All three of my sisters and their families live close by and we all visit each other and host each other over this period. I usually host Christmas, Hayley hosts Christmas Eve and Catherine hosts New Year’s day. My sisters and their children drop by frequently over this period and the kids all swim and entertain each other.

I am a summer person so this time of year is my favourite and I love my beautiful and colourful garden.

Would you eat a worm if you knew you would be a millionaire after you’d eaten it?

Sure, mopane worms are a delicacy here in South Africa and a lot of people eat them. I have tried them once and they’re not that bad although I wouldn’t make them a regular feature on my menu.

A TV dinner or caviar and champagne?

Neither of these fits me. I have never eaten a TV dinner in my whole life. In my family, someone cooks every night unless we go out for a meal. We never go out for ‘take away’ meals, but always to a sit down restaurant which offers a wholesome menu. We cook a lot of stews, casseroles and pasta dishes as well as some roast meat meals which include roasted potatoes and vegetables. My dad is the king of roasting potatoes so that is his job. My mother is very good at stews and goulashes, my husband is great at curries, stir fry’s and risotto and I do all the baked dishes like pies, quiches, pizzas and such like. Michael is starting to cook now too, so everyone gets a break from cooking.

As for caviar and champagne, I don’t drink champagne, only the very odd glass of wine or a brandy and coke [plebey I know]. I don’t like fish very much either so caviar will never be on my menu. I don’t like fussy food, but prefer the wholesome home cooked meals I grew up with.

I am going to be lazy and not nominate any bloggers for this award. If you’d like to join in, please do so and link back to this post so that I can visit and comment.

Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing your link in the comments below, anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time).

Here are a few pictures of the doors at Hobbiton in New Zealand. I think they are so cute.

You can join in the Thursday Doors Challenge here: https://nofacilities.com/2020/12/17/2020-in-review-thursday-doors/