Writing on Og Maciel's Journal

What We Carry

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

What We Carry

I ran my fingers across the table’s surface, gathering a thick crust of ash that crumbled and slipped off once I reached the edge. I wiped the residue on my trousers, adding one more stain to an eclectic collection that already included blood— not mine —snot, rust, and worse. Hard to believe the fires had been burning for nine straight months with no respite in sight—judging by the cloudless sky and the air’s almost nonexistent humidity.

Who Wrote This? (Spoiler: Apparently Me.)

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Who Wrote This? (Spoiler: Apparently Me.)

Photo by Ali Bakhtiari on Unsplash

I’m not a pack rat. At least, not in the way people usually mean it. But the first memory I have of being interested in collecting anything goes back to when I was around eight or nine, and I first learned about stamp collecting—philately. I was fascinated by the idea that these tiny pieces of paper had traveled through towns, across states, over oceans. They were carried by people, planes, and ships, and each one arrived with a little bit of another place attached to it. Through stamps, I felt like I could glimpse other cultures and countries in a way books hadn’t yet offered me.

Murder Hornet: Chapter Seven

Sun, 16 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Murder Hornet: Chapter Seven

Photo byTatiana Tochilova on Unsplash

💡 This story is part of my ongoing series,Murder Hornet, a novel-in-progress unfolding one imperfect chapter at a time.

Chapter VII

I’d known Derrick all my life, best friends since I could remember. Come to think of it, there’s no single memory of my childhood without him in it. Derrick and Allen; Allen and Derrick, we were always together, inseparable friends.

Murder Hornet: Chapter Six

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Murder Hornet: Chapter Six

Photo byTatiana Tochilova on Unsplash

💡 This story is part of my ongoing series,Murder Hornet, a novel-in-progress unfolding one imperfect chapter at a time.

Chapter VI

“So, it was already close to the very end of the second half–”

“How many halves are there again?”

I gave her a look of disbelief. “Are you kidding me you don’t know how many halves there are in a game?”

A Writer's Best Friend: A Proper Keyboard

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A Writer’s Best Friend? A Proper Keyboard

I’m a bona fide computer geek and have been one for quite some time. I guess the fact that I started using Linux back when just getting the X Window Server up and running (for those who don’t know, that’s what lets you have a graphical interface instead of a blinking command line) was considered unnecessary—but still required what felt like a PhD to configure—instead of simply using Windows “like everyone else,” might have been a dead giveaway.

NaNoWriMo, We Meet Again

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

NaNoWriMo, We Meet Again

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

It is November, and one of the traditions this time of year is to take part in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), where people are encouraged to attempt writing a novel—or roughly 30,000 words—during the month. The idea is simple: if you write a little bit (or a lot) every day for 30 days, and you average around 1,000 words a day, you’ll end the month with a solid draft of a novel.

Murder Hornet: Chapter Five

Sun, 02 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by Tatiana Tochilova on Unsplash

If you’re new here, this is part of my ongoing experiment where I’m publishing raw, completely unedited chapters of a novel I’ve been writing (and rewriting… deleting… swearing at… and rewriting again) for the past couple of years.

If you’d like to catch up first:

This week, I’m sharing Chapter 5. As always, your feedback keeps this little experiment alive—so if you’re still enjoying the story, please let me know.

Murder Hornet: Chapter Four

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by Tatiana Tochilova on Unsplash

If you’d like to catch up first:

This week, I’m sharing Chapter 4. As always, your feedback keeps this little experiment alive—so if you’re still enjoying the story (or even if you’re just here for the chaos), drop a comment. Should I keep going? Post more frequently? Stop immediately for the sake of literature as a whole? You tell me.

Murder Hornet: Chapter Three

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

If you’re new here, this is part of an ongoing experiment where I’m publishing raw, completely unedited chapters of a novel I’ve been writing (and rewriting… and doubting… and rewriting again) for the past couple of years.

If you’d like to catch up first:

Prelude + Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:

This week, I’m sharing Chapter 3. As before, I’d really like to hear what you think—should I keep posting new chapters every week? Drop a comment and let me know what’s working, what isn’t, and whether I should keep going or retire quietly into a cave somewhere with coffee and doubt.

Back to the Page: Finding My Way Into the ICQ Sequel

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A couple of days ago, I wrote about getting back into the writing swing of things and adding a few paragraphs to a novel I want to write—a sequel to my book ICQ. It’s kind of funny because when I went to save what I’d written, I started looking for a place to put it and discovered that I had already put something together, probably earlier this year. It was a pleasant surprise to realize that I had already captured some ideas, but it also shows just how much is going on in my life lately that I couldn’t even remember starting it.

From LAMP Stacks to Large Language Models

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

According to the whois command, I’ve owned the domain ogmaciel.com since January 21, 2001, and I believe it was the very first domain I ever bought. Since then, I’ve purchased multiple domains for all sorts of ideas and projects, but this one I’ve kept — and renewed faithfully — since day one.

Over the years, I’ve self-hosted (cutting my teeth on Linux by building and maintaining LAMP stacks) and used paid hosting services to run my personal blog. I used WordPress back when it was the coolest blogging platform out there, and I’ve hand-crafted HTML sites — and everything in between. I wrote prolifically about anything and everything for many years, and I’ve lost more posts than I care to admit as I switched platforms (and occasionally forgot to back things up).

Murder Hornet: Chapter Two

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This post continues from the previous installment, where I shared the Prelude and Chapter 1 of Murder Hornet. If you haven’t read it yet, I’d recommend starting there to get the full story so far. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts — let me know in the comments if you’d like me to keep posting more of the unpublished chapters.

Chapter II

“Hey, what’s up, Roddy?” I said nonchalantly, trying to hide the fact that he scared the crap out of me.

Too Much Spanglish, Not Enough Story

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Call it a pet peeve of mine, but I see absolutely no point in writing paragraph after paragraph sprinkled with words from another language—liberally, even proudly—when it adds nothing to the story or style. A word or two here and there, especially terms of endearment, sure.

But when every paragraph has a handful of non-English words dropped in—say, five to ten per page—that’s hundreds of instances across a typical 300-page novel. It starts to feel less like creative flair and more like a recurring speed bump, pulling you out of the story every few lines just to reorient yourself. The constant code-switching becomes the story’s background noise, making you aware of the language instead of the emotion, pacing, or plot.

Introducing Murder Hornet: Prelude + Chapter One

Sun, 05 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Author’s Note: This is a work in progress that I’ve been writing sporadically over the past couple of years. I’m sharing it unedited and unfinished. The story follows Thomas Conrad, a new student in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and his encounter with a mysterious girl on a yellow Vespa.

Prelude

I knew I was going to regret what I was about to do. The certainty of it sat heavy in my chest, a weight I couldn’t shake. But knowing didn’t stop me. It never does.

Hello 2023

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 17:03:29 -0500

It seems that my last post was from September 03, 2021, so perhaps at the “risk” of starting up this blogging thing once again, here’s what I wrote down as I sat down to ponder on what I’ve accomplished this past 2022. In no particular order:

2022 in Retrospective

Writing
- Both “I.C.Q.” and “The Big Score” were translated and published by Brazilian publisher Editora InVerso and can be found at my Books page.
- I started writing another Young Adult novel tentatively titled “Murder Hornet” (around 7,000 words so far).
Reading

The Big Score Barnes Noble

Fri, 03 Sep 2021 11:54:55 -0400

I’m still trying to come to grasps with the knowledge that my upcoming YA book “The Big Score” is now available on BARNES AND NOBLE (and Amazon too, but still, BARNES AND NOBLE!!!) for preorder!!!

The Big Score Pre Order

Sat, 28 Aug 2021 14:52:11 -0400

I’m pleased to announce that you can now pre-order the ebook for my latest Young Adult novel “The Big Score” at the following places:

I hope to have the print version available very soon!

The Big Score - First Draft

Sat, 12 Jun 2021 12:07:20 -0400

This past May 31st, I added the final touches to the first draft for what should become my third book and second Young Adult novel.

Temporarily titled The Big Score and currently, at approximately 44,000 words, you could say that this book was the hardest I’ve written so far. While my previous book, “I.C.Q.,” took me around thirty contiguous days to complete the first draft, The Big Score started our back in November 1st as part of National Novel Writing Month 2020, and was only completed seven months later.

Pre-Order My Book "I.C.Q." on Amazon

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This past July of 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, I managed to finally get started on a project that had been shelved for a while: write my second book.

From July 13th to the middle of August, I wrote fevereshly every day, working on what became “I.C.Q.,” my very first piece of fiction, which you can pre-order right now.

“Auggie Benson is a high school senior boy who freelances as a software developer and hacker after school to improve his skills and make some money on the side. Expanding his clientele from AOL to I.C.Q. users led him to meet Clarissa, a high school senior from nearby Scarsdale, NY, beginning a love story that took place in the summer of 1997.

Writing a Book: Check!

Thu, 23 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Growing up my dad used to tell me that there are three important milestones on a man’s life (though I feel that the same could be said about any gender):

Plant a tree
Have a child
Write a book

Through my life, I have planted quite a few trees, including a lemon and papaya tree I used to treat as my imaginary friends :)

I have also had the highest honor to be the father to three amazing girls!

Software Quality Engineering: Tales From The Trenches

Tue, 14 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000

First of all, I have to say that I absolutely love being a Quality Engineer, something that I have been doing for a living for the last 11 years of my life! During these 11 years, I have had the pleasure (yes, pleasure!) of being tossed around, torn to pieces and thrown at a lot of scary and difficult situations in the world of software testing!

Armed only with a strong desire to learn and excel at my profession, I have seen, heard and gone through a multitude of experiences, challenges, and opportunities. Have I ever been scared shitless or doubted my decision to become a Quality Engineer? Heck yeah! Have I ever felt like the dumbest person in the companies I have worked on? The answer to that question is a resounding “yes!” Have I ever cried? You can bet your bottom dollar I have!

On Reading and writing

Tue, 27 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This week I started reading On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King, a book that has been mentioned a few times by people I usually interview for my weekly podcast as something that is both inspiring and has had a major impact on their lives and careers. After the third or forth time someone mentioned I finally broke down and got myself a copy at the local bookstore.