If you’ve spent any amount of time on the internet, you’ve at least heard of a VPN, or Virtual Private Network. They offer greater online privacy, safer browsing, or the ability to access websites and streaming services only offered to other countries. I knew that much. I’ve personally used a VPN before, but never really understood how it works.
As I develop new story ideas, I begin with the basics: research. When there’s something technical or unfamiliar I need to know, I look into it. One of those unfamiliar topics is Cybersecurity. Hopefully the research doesn’t alert the FBI agent assigned to me (every writer has one, you know).
A VPN is a way to create an encrypted (I’ll be researching more about that, too) connection between your device and a remote server. A typical visit to a website means:
Your device → Website (like keriwriter.com), routed through your ISP (Cox, Comcast, etc.), which gives your device a specific address that identifies it everywhere.
VPNs allow you to sit at home in the US and access your favorite British TV shows directly on the British streaming service by substituting a British address, but they’re for more than masking your address to watch a little television. They offer privacy and security a single connection can’t, making sensitive data (think credit card numbers, passwords, business data) harder to obtain.
Another but: they don’t make you invisible. While your internet service provider might not be able to see what you're doing through the encrypted connection, the VPN provider may have access to some of that information.
My biggest discovery: you can use more than one! Your internet traffic can travel through a single server, or it can pass through several in different countries before reaching its destination – in a matter of seconds. You could connect to a VPN server in Michigan, then, if the service supports multiple “hops,” route your connection through Canada, Switzerland, and Singapore before landing in England. The end website logs your IP address as being in England.
Imagine trying to trace that connection back to the person sitting in Michigan! It's not impossible, but it's more complicated than looking up a single IP address. Plus, depending on the VPN services involved, some of the information needed to trace the connection might not even exist anymore.
I'm not sure how much of this research will actually find its way into a novel for you to read. It’s definitely informing my writing. And I've probably given my FBI agent another reason to keep an eye on my search history.
Did you know this about VPNs? Do you use VPNs? Let’s talk on Facebook!
Midnight Splash is now a work of art! At least the cover is. The WHAM art gallery in Surprise, Arizona has chosen the cover of Midnight Splash to be a part of its “Walking Through Words” display. The gallery chose a number of Arizona authors and artists for this opportunity. Last Sunday I dropped off the framed poster and a framed description for display.
The installment runs now through November 28, 2026. WHAM is located at:
16560 N Dysart Rd,
Surprise, AZ 85378
If you happen to be in the area – stop by and have a look!
Hi, I’m Lincoln. You may have met me already, but in a very limited capacity. I’m a lawyer in the Glass area. I haven’t been practicing as long as some of the others. Violent crime isn’t usual for this town, so I was surprised to hear about the Glass Murders. Yes, I represented someone. It’d be odd to be a lawyer in the area and not have represented someone.
I could tell you stuff like education, work, and whatever else comes in a professional bio, but I hear this blog thing is about telling you about me as a person. So, um. Yeah.
I’ve been out of law school for three or four years now and work for one of the bigger firms just outside Glass. I’m not a Glass resident, so I really didn’t know the scale of this case and what it meant to the community.
Me as a person? When you go to law school and pass the bar, that’s basically your life. Law is what fuels you, and most of your old hobbies and activities get set aside. Because you’ve disappeared into your dorm room for hours of studying rather than going to the latest social events, your friends write you off as the nerd always doing homework. Eventually the invites stop. And after graduation, it’s hard to convince people you’re available again.
I’m not lonely or alone, it’s just that I don’t see friends or family very often. I’m single with no kids, so there’s no one even home when I get home. Except Souffle, my ten-year-old orange cat, and Lucy my black lab. She’s five. Taking care of them takes up some of the time I’d be spending with people – but it’d be taking up the same amount of time even if I did have a regular social life. Lucy still needs to be walked and let out for potty breaks, both of them still need regular food and water, and Souffle’s litter needs to be changed. Those things don’t just go away because I have a date or am meeting friends. Whether I did it before or after doesn’t change the fact that the thing needs to get done.
I did have a long term relationship for a while. Then she got an opportunity across the country she just couldn’t pass up. Since I couldn’t go – my priorities were here – we decided to split instead of doing a long distance thing. Neither of us was heartbroken over it and we both moved on. I saw on the Glass Creek Chronicles’ Life Events page that she got married.
Um. When I do get time to do the stuff I like, I like to play basketball. I was on my high school team, but I wasn’t the all-star or anything. I just like it. I read. I like sci-fi and fantasy. They’re an escape from the real world. I do have a small group of friends I hang out with. We do dinner every now and then, and one of them has a Super Bowl party every year. None of us are the club type, and a couple of them are married anyway. We’re beyond the clubbing years. When we really have the time, someone will organize a trip. But those aren’t very frequent. Who can travel these days? Let alone gather a bunch of friends at the same time.
Anyway. Now it sounds like I’m complaining when I’m really not. I’m just rambling about life while I think about what to tell you.
If you haven’t met my professional side yet, you can do that in the book by the writer of this blog.
I’m not just writing the next Detective Ellison book. I’m outlining new books – Ellison and maybe some standalone stories, too. Some of these are just an idea, a sentence or two in my notes app, and something I’m chipping away at forming into a fully-formed idea that’s worthy of an outline and a spot in my writing lineup.
That also means I continue to research some interesting and not-so-interesting topics, leading to deep dives on some of the strangest things I never thought I’d need to know about, or really care how they worked.
Like the term Internet of Things, and its more common abbreviation – IoT. These are all the ‘things’ – devices, appliances, and the like – that have an internet connection. There are things you may know about – fridge you can see into with an app, the robot vacuum that knows the layout of your house, or the thermostat you can control from thousands of miles away, are just a few of the things that are part of IoT technology.
But there are others that are less obvious. The new digital sales signs in stores – those are controlled remotely, so workers can tap a few buttons on the system rather than create new files and print new signs to slide into holders every week. Even the overhead lights at the store or the lighted sign out front announcing the store’s name might be part of it. Even door locks.
As I write this, there is news that a certain system that services at least 70% of the world’s – yes, the world’s – websites has become vulnerable. Technology professionals have rushed to patch the problem, while systems administrators at companies are similarly rushing to protect internal systems.
A savvy hacker can take down security measures in no time. While IoT devices can often make life easier – just log in to your fridge or freezer to check if you need milk, or check your app to make sure your home security alarm is on. If you can do it, so can someone else who may have bad intentions.
This isn’t to say that you should immediately cut the cord on everything. Just know that it could happen, and make sure you safeguard yourself.
