Did Worldwide Wallow Day go wrong for you? Kids fell sick, family intervened, didn't visit the blog until it was too late (naughty, naughty)?
Reclaim the Wallow!
All Wallows must add up to a full day, which in my calculation means 16 hours of bliss. I lost my evening thanks to Family Event, so tonight as of 6pm I will be resuming the sofa and recommencing the Wallow from the precise point where I was cruelly forced to leave it.
The calorie rule still works.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Worldwide Wallow Day
We have an extra day this year: Friday 29th February. I hereby declare it to be Worldwide Wallow Day. Here are the rules:
If at home: send kids to school as early as possible. Proceed to sofa. Lie on sofa. Read and watch tv while drinking tea/coffee and eating cake and chocolate. Around 1pm half of a bottle of wine should be consumed for fortifying purposes. Nap. More tea, cake and chocolate. (NB Because this day itself does not actually exist, neither do the calories). When kids return from school the television and electronic games may be turned on instantly and may remain on for the rest of the evening. Finish fortifying bottle of wine. At some point during the evening, feed kids any poor-quality frozen food you have on the premises. No actual cooking is permitted. Open second fortifying bottle of wine. Resume sofa position. Persuade husband, grandma or pet to wash and tuck up kids. Send husband, grandma or pet out for takeaway and romantic comedy on DVD. More fortifying bottles of wine may be opened if required. On no account move from the sofa until bedtime, other than for hygiene purposes. This is Severe Breakage of Wallow Pact, punishable by disdain of more wallowful friends.
If at work: follow above plan up until 'proceed to sofa'. Proceed to work, purchasing favourite breakfast en route. Turn on computer. Browse your favourite websites and find new favourites. Do no work other than work you enjoy. Leave everything else until Monday. I mean it. Nothing is more urgent than your wallow. Include extended coffee break with cake and chocolates, see calorie note above. Leave early for lunch, which you will take sitting down in a restaurant. Lunch at your desk is Severe Breakage of Wallow Pact. You may take a friend to lunch. Feel free to open more than one fortifying bottle of wine. Return to work. Afternoon to proceed as morning. Leave office early. Upon return home immediately turn on all electronic distraction devices for children, and then follow instructions above starting from: "At some point..."
Computer access is permitted from time to time in order to compare Quality of Wallow notes.
Sign up now!
If at home: send kids to school as early as possible. Proceed to sofa. Lie on sofa. Read and watch tv while drinking tea/coffee and eating cake and chocolate. Around 1pm half of a bottle of wine should be consumed for fortifying purposes. Nap. More tea, cake and chocolate. (NB Because this day itself does not actually exist, neither do the calories). When kids return from school the television and electronic games may be turned on instantly and may remain on for the rest of the evening. Finish fortifying bottle of wine. At some point during the evening, feed kids any poor-quality frozen food you have on the premises. No actual cooking is permitted. Open second fortifying bottle of wine. Resume sofa position. Persuade husband, grandma or pet to wash and tuck up kids. Send husband, grandma or pet out for takeaway and romantic comedy on DVD. More fortifying bottles of wine may be opened if required. On no account move from the sofa until bedtime, other than for hygiene purposes. This is Severe Breakage of Wallow Pact, punishable by disdain of more wallowful friends.
If at work: follow above plan up until 'proceed to sofa'. Proceed to work, purchasing favourite breakfast en route. Turn on computer. Browse your favourite websites and find new favourites. Do no work other than work you enjoy. Leave everything else until Monday. I mean it. Nothing is more urgent than your wallow. Include extended coffee break with cake and chocolates, see calorie note above. Leave early for lunch, which you will take sitting down in a restaurant. Lunch at your desk is Severe Breakage of Wallow Pact. You may take a friend to lunch. Feel free to open more than one fortifying bottle of wine. Return to work. Afternoon to proceed as morning. Leave office early. Upon return home immediately turn on all electronic distraction devices for children, and then follow instructions above starting from: "At some point..."
Computer access is permitted from time to time in order to compare Quality of Wallow notes.
Sign up now!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Email wipeout!
Gremlins got into my email and devoured all my address details, and all my old messages, so I'm starting afresh. Oh, how liberating. Oh, how irritating. If I had your email address, then now is your chance to escape me. On the other hand, if you still want me baby, please send a message to the address in my profile so I can put you in my shiny new address book. Lovin' you all...
Real life update
I was ready to wallow, as prescribed. I finished my work to deadline yesterday; I spent the morning on admin. All done. I collected the library book, made a cup of tea and a sandwich. I was going to start by reading on the sofa. One bite of the sandwich. The phone rang. It was the school. It was The Call. I spent the rest of the afternoon ministering to a sick and grumpy Cricket Boy.
The rest of the family clearly need to get with the Wallow Program.
Real life update
I was ready to wallow, as prescribed. I finished my work to deadline yesterday; I spent the morning on admin. All done. I collected the library book, made a cup of tea and a sandwich. I was going to start by reading on the sofa. One bite of the sandwich. The phone rang. It was the school. It was The Call. I spent the rest of the afternoon ministering to a sick and grumpy Cricket Boy.
The rest of the family clearly need to get with the Wallow Program.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Precie in print!
Just wanted to highlight Precie for her great story today in Every Day Fiction. I think it's a really well-constructed piece and the ending is just perfect. Conduit had a standout story in Every Day Fiction a couple of months ago, so a late high five to him as well.
Precie is a fellow blogger with a secret blog whose address I once had, but can't remember (Precie, that's a hint). She hangs out a lot with Evil Editor and Chris Eldin, but don't hold that against her.
As for Every Day Fiction, it's a great way to read a new story every day - subscribe and they will send one by e-mail every morning. Heaps of different styles, lengths and genres - the quality is just as varied, but there are some real gems (and the gems include the contributions from Precie and Conduit needless to say).
Precie is a fellow blogger with a secret blog whose address I once had, but can't remember (Precie, that's a hint). She hangs out a lot with Evil Editor and Chris Eldin, but don't hold that against her.
As for Every Day Fiction, it's a great way to read a new story every day - subscribe and they will send one by e-mail every morning. Heaps of different styles, lengths and genres - the quality is just as varied, but there are some real gems (and the gems include the contributions from Precie and Conduit needless to say).
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Itchy and Scratchy
I'm spending some time with Itchy and Scratchy at the moment.
Itchy is my desire to scrub up my grubby house of appallingness now that both kids are at school. Scratchy is my desire to ramp up more work and earn more cash. (Guess which DH thinks is more important?)
Itchy is my desire to throw myself into the latest idea the Idea Salmon has flicked my way. It's not all that new, it's been bubbling since before Christmas and I'm pretty sure it's going to be my next new project. On the other hand, Scratchy is my desire to re-edit Maureen and get her into the best possible shape. I read a page or two the other day and I still love what I've done; but it will take time to sort out, including rewriting the last third.
Overweening all this is my desire to spend some time for myself now that both kids are in school. The seems to show itself in constant procrastination and not actually achieving anything; mooching about, cleaning this and that, (a little bit of Itchy) but nothing systematic. Reading a chapter of a book, then feeling guilty and going off to half-do something else (a little bit of Scratchy).
I'm broken! Fix me! What's the right brand of oil to sort me out and get me going properly again?
Itchy is my desire to scrub up my grubby house of appallingness now that both kids are at school. Scratchy is my desire to ramp up more work and earn more cash. (Guess which DH thinks is more important?)
Itchy is my desire to throw myself into the latest idea the Idea Salmon has flicked my way. It's not all that new, it's been bubbling since before Christmas and I'm pretty sure it's going to be my next new project. On the other hand, Scratchy is my desire to re-edit Maureen and get her into the best possible shape. I read a page or two the other day and I still love what I've done; but it will take time to sort out, including rewriting the last third.
Overweening all this is my desire to spend some time for myself now that both kids are in school. The seems to show itself in constant procrastination and not actually achieving anything; mooching about, cleaning this and that, (a little bit of Itchy) but nothing systematic. Reading a chapter of a book, then feeling guilty and going off to half-do something else (a little bit of Scratchy).
I'm broken! Fix me! What's the right brand of oil to sort me out and get me going properly again?
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Advice from a master
Over at Oxyjen, the very lovely Goblin asked us to post any lines from books that had inspired us. I interpreted this a little loosely, and offered my all-time favourite writing advice: 'if you don't know what to write, just write it'.
This was a piece of advice I was given when I first started out working in Public Relations. Oh, how I hated PR. Really, really hated it. The only part of the job I enjoyed was the writing part - news releases, letters, brochures - so it did get me started in that it showed me what I should really be doing (I moved on to become a copywriter). So while putting in the hours trying to presuade journalists to write articles about boring widgets and discussing lack of articles on said widgets with irate clients, while not mentioning the word boring and pretending it was all my fault nobody would write a story on boring widgets but my boss hadn't told them that their widgets were boring and nobody would write a story about them, because he wanted their money....where was I?
Back to the start. I worked with a very experienced PR consultant, who was fed up with writing. She was good at it, but she was fed up with it. So she sent it all over to my desk. I loved it. Flowery stuff here, flowery stuff there, make it all sound artsy and lovely and tremendously significant. One day she read a particularly florid piece of mine, looked over her glasses at me and said: 'you're fired'.
No she didn't. She said (you knew it all the time, didn't you?): 'if you don't know what to write, just write it.'
OK, so it's slightly enigmatic, but that's what I love about it. At the time she was telling me I was an idiot and I needed to call a spade a spade, not a gardening implement. I still have this phrase in my head at all times, but now in addition to trimming the blooms off my flowery language, I also use it as an incentive.
If you're stuck on something, just write it down. To me that can mean either 'skip this bit it's too hard, but e.g. write down a placeholder'get Martha to the lorry depot', and then move smoothly on with the bit that inspires you - worry about getting her to the depot later when you're feeling inspired about that. Or it can simply mean, whack whatever you can down on paper before the baby wakes up.
I can also interpret it to mean, stop procrastinating.
Or, don't worry about not having an idea about where this story is going, just write something down and the idea will come.
It all adds up to one thing, though. Just get out your pen and paper and write the damn thing down.
Real life update
You're not going to believe this. Princess had a damn good try and knocking out her new best friend's teeth on Friday night. She definitely needs a new name. Fangkiller? The Dental Recruitment Officer? Suggestions welcome!
This was a piece of advice I was given when I first started out working in Public Relations. Oh, how I hated PR. Really, really hated it. The only part of the job I enjoyed was the writing part - news releases, letters, brochures - so it did get me started in that it showed me what I should really be doing (I moved on to become a copywriter). So while putting in the hours trying to presuade journalists to write articles about boring widgets and discussing lack of articles on said widgets with irate clients, while not mentioning the word boring and pretending it was all my fault nobody would write a story on boring widgets but my boss hadn't told them that their widgets were boring and nobody would write a story about them, because he wanted their money....where was I?
Back to the start. I worked with a very experienced PR consultant, who was fed up with writing. She was good at it, but she was fed up with it. So she sent it all over to my desk. I loved it. Flowery stuff here, flowery stuff there, make it all sound artsy and lovely and tremendously significant. One day she read a particularly florid piece of mine, looked over her glasses at me and said: 'you're fired'.
No she didn't. She said (you knew it all the time, didn't you?): 'if you don't know what to write, just write it.'
OK, so it's slightly enigmatic, but that's what I love about it. At the time she was telling me I was an idiot and I needed to call a spade a spade, not a gardening implement. I still have this phrase in my head at all times, but now in addition to trimming the blooms off my flowery language, I also use it as an incentive.
If you're stuck on something, just write it down. To me that can mean either 'skip this bit it's too hard, but e.g. write down a placeholder'get Martha to the lorry depot', and then move smoothly on with the bit that inspires you - worry about getting her to the depot later when you're feeling inspired about that. Or it can simply mean, whack whatever you can down on paper before the baby wakes up.
I can also interpret it to mean, stop procrastinating.
Or, don't worry about not having an idea about where this story is going, just write something down and the idea will come.
It all adds up to one thing, though. Just get out your pen and paper and write the damn thing down.
Real life update
You're not going to believe this. Princess had a damn good try and knocking out her new best friend's teeth on Friday night. She definitely needs a new name. Fangkiller? The Dental Recruitment Officer? Suggestions welcome!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Do you have photos of yourself in your house?
In most of my friends' homes there are many photos. Kids, husbands, dogs, relatives, friends.
Guess who the one person is who is usually missing.
Then tell me about the photos in your house. Are you in them? With family? On your own? Big? Small? Framed? On the wall?
Why are they there and what do they mean to you or somebody else in your family?
Real life update
Princess may need a new name. Not satisfied with kicking out one of Cricket Boy's teeth two weeks ago, this week she managed to knock one of the dog's out. She may look cute, but...
Heaps of work on, which should help me adjust to the empty house pretty fast. It's just me and my keyboard and a stack of website copy.
Guess who the one person is who is usually missing.
Then tell me about the photos in your house. Are you in them? With family? On your own? Big? Small? Framed? On the wall?
Why are they there and what do they mean to you or somebody else in your family?
Real life update
Princess may need a new name. Not satisfied with kicking out one of Cricket Boy's teeth two weeks ago, this week she managed to knock one of the dog's out. She may look cute, but...
Heaps of work on, which should help me adjust to the empty house pretty fast. It's just me and my keyboard and a stack of website copy.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Out of the slush pile!
Thank you to everyone who took the time to come and visit and leave so many lovely messages on my agent post. I know some people want more details, so here's the story.
Sealsong is a contemporary fantasy for young adults. It's built on one of the great Scottish myths I loved as a child, the selkies - the half seal, half people of the seas. When I started to think about sending it out to agents, I figured out that my ideal agent would be a person who would not only read the story and think 'sales potential', but also a person who would actively enjoy the novel for themselves; somebody who would throw themselves into that world. I thought this person would probably be young, female and working in a smaller agency. It turned out I was right about that.
Around the middle of last year I found an article, which I have never found again, extolling the virtues of young, enthusiastic agents. One of the agents named was Kate Scherler of Fletcher & Parry, so I sent her off my query by mail. A few weeks later she asked for a partial. She came back and said she loved the chapters (ahhh) and asked to see the full. At the time I had other partials out and another agent asked for a full a week or so later, so I was starting to think I wasn't a complete idiot - and getting a little bit excited.
Kate sent me a few e-mails in the next couple of months letting me know that she was still interested in Sealsong. In October she sent a more detailed message explaining some areas that she thought could be improved and said she would love to read a rewrite. A few weeks later I sent her a new version and in early December she came back and said she would like to submit it!
I had a ton of questions, most of which were probably very silly, but we spoke on the phone and she cleared them all up with ease. Kate was extremely pleasant and also had a very pretty voice - I love pretty voices! She then sent me a copy of the agency letter of agreement by e-mail and that was such an exciting moment - seeing my name on the top of that document! That kind of made it real.
Christmas then slowed things down a little, but we exchanged some e-mails in the meantime, and, as most of you know, I went a little crazy setting up a website. Kate suggested that as I was so far away from US editors and readers it might be a good idea to have more information readily available - something to show that I wasn't really that far away and that would offer people a way to contact me.
So it's really real and now we're moving on to the next step of sending the novel out to publishers. Fingers crossed for me!
Sealsong is a contemporary fantasy for young adults. It's built on one of the great Scottish myths I loved as a child, the selkies - the half seal, half people of the seas. When I started to think about sending it out to agents, I figured out that my ideal agent would be a person who would not only read the story and think 'sales potential', but also a person who would actively enjoy the novel for themselves; somebody who would throw themselves into that world. I thought this person would probably be young, female and working in a smaller agency. It turned out I was right about that.
Around the middle of last year I found an article, which I have never found again, extolling the virtues of young, enthusiastic agents. One of the agents named was Kate Scherler of Fletcher & Parry, so I sent her off my query by mail. A few weeks later she asked for a partial. She came back and said she loved the chapters (ahhh) and asked to see the full. At the time I had other partials out and another agent asked for a full a week or so later, so I was starting to think I wasn't a complete idiot - and getting a little bit excited.
Kate sent me a few e-mails in the next couple of months letting me know that she was still interested in Sealsong. In October she sent a more detailed message explaining some areas that she thought could be improved and said she would love to read a rewrite. A few weeks later I sent her a new version and in early December she came back and said she would like to submit it!
I had a ton of questions, most of which were probably very silly, but we spoke on the phone and she cleared them all up with ease. Kate was extremely pleasant and also had a very pretty voice - I love pretty voices! She then sent me a copy of the agency letter of agreement by e-mail and that was such an exciting moment - seeing my name on the top of that document! That kind of made it real.
Christmas then slowed things down a little, but we exchanged some e-mails in the meantime, and, as most of you know, I went a little crazy setting up a website. Kate suggested that as I was so far away from US editors and readers it might be a good idea to have more information readily available - something to show that I wasn't really that far away and that would offer people a way to contact me.
So it's really real and now we're moving on to the next step of sending the novel out to publishers. Fingers crossed for me!
Friday, February 08, 2008
A tiny child starts school
Thank you so much for all the good wishes on my agent post. I promise I will post a more detailed story, but time is a little short at the moment. One of the reasons is in this photo - at the age of only four and a half, Princess has started school. And she's doing great. She even won an award this week - her first week! Which means that we have now finalised her place and we are about to rush off to the school shop and equip her properly - note lack of school shoes and regulation bag in the photo! I kept her school kit minimal until we were sure we were doing the right thing. Scary though it is, it does seem to be the right thing. She's ready.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
My little secret
I have a secret. I have been keeping my secret since just before Christmas.
I have an agent.
Why have I kept this secret? Mostly, I think, because I didn't believe it was really happening. I needed the agreement to be signed and sealed before it would be real.
That's all done now.
My first YA novel - Sealsong - is going out to editors this week.
OMG! There's a party going on in my head!
I have an agent.
Why have I kept this secret? Mostly, I think, because I didn't believe it was really happening. I needed the agreement to be signed and sealed before it would be real.
That's all done now.
My first YA novel - Sealsong - is going out to editors this week.
OMG! There's a party going on in my head!
Monday, February 04, 2008
Of the 11 resolutions...
...only these remain:
5. Finish half-done rewrite on Maureen. Consider whether or not it needs third total rewrite (she's my problem child). No deadline. I want to get it right, as long as I'm working on it and progressing I'll be satisfied.
6. Try and find a mag that might be interested in the two short stories I am happy with.
7. Write more short stories.
Some of the others require year-long attention, such as continuing to blog and doing Church Lady's writing exercises (or do I get out of that one now that she's changed her name - vote here!). After years of resistance, I'm liking this resolution thing. It's really focusing my mind and giving myself deadlines has been fantastic. I completed the website one ahead of time, which gives me another golden opportunity to give myself a pat on the back.
Now, of course, I have to focus on the rest. Life is as little fragmented at the moment so I'll leave Maureen for now. I think I'll concentrate on short story markets and maybe on writing some more stories. I'd like to expand on one of Church Lady's writing exercises, namely why Calcutta servant Bir Singh is looking through his employers' windows. I think I typed it directly into her blog so I'll have to go on a find and rescue mission through her archives. Some research will be needed into India in the time of British government, so it will be a slow writing process, but I know who Bir is and what he's about to do. My mother's family were in India, so I've got a little background in my head about expat life in those times, but I want to make it as accurate as possible.
Real life update...
Princess has started school at the age of only four and a half, but brimming with confidence and a desire to learn. We think it's going to work out; but what will happen when she's sixteen and her classmates are eighteen? We've had to leave that question for the future to resolve. Padlocks and chains could be a good answer.
5. Finish half-done rewrite on Maureen. Consider whether or not it needs third total rewrite (she's my problem child). No deadline. I want to get it right, as long as I'm working on it and progressing I'll be satisfied.
6. Try and find a mag that might be interested in the two short stories I am happy with.
7. Write more short stories.
Some of the others require year-long attention, such as continuing to blog and doing Church Lady's writing exercises (or do I get out of that one now that she's changed her name - vote here!). After years of resistance, I'm liking this resolution thing. It's really focusing my mind and giving myself deadlines has been fantastic. I completed the website one ahead of time, which gives me another golden opportunity to give myself a pat on the back.
Now, of course, I have to focus on the rest. Life is as little fragmented at the moment so I'll leave Maureen for now. I think I'll concentrate on short story markets and maybe on writing some more stories. I'd like to expand on one of Church Lady's writing exercises, namely why Calcutta servant Bir Singh is looking through his employers' windows. I think I typed it directly into her blog so I'll have to go on a find and rescue mission through her archives. Some research will be needed into India in the time of British government, so it will be a slow writing process, but I know who Bir is and what he's about to do. My mother's family were in India, so I've got a little background in my head about expat life in those times, but I want to make it as accurate as possible.
Real life update...
Princess has started school at the age of only four and a half, but brimming with confidence and a desire to learn. We think it's going to work out; but what will happen when she's sixteen and her classmates are eighteen? We've had to leave that question for the future to resolve. Padlocks and chains could be a good answer.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Back up to speed
Yee-haw! Ride 'em bandwidth, cowgirl!
And, tarantara, the website is up. Needs a smidge of correcting (blows kisses to the beta readers), but job pretty much done. Wow. It was a challenge, but yanno, it was fun too. Now I have to try and remember everything I learned while I was doing it, so I can make changes and add pages as time goes on.
Last, but not least, Cricket Boy resumed his place on the cricket pitch today. 'There's no way I'm playing cricket next year,' he informed us in the car on the way to the game. 'I'm playing summer soccer.' With that gung ho expression of enthusiasm he took to the field like a duck to treacle and dreamed his way through fielding. However, when he bowled he got a wicket - first ball! (American friends, that means he knocked the stumps over and sent one of the batsmen back to the dugout, although we have no dugout, just a line of mums in folding chairs holding jackets and water bottles and pretending to watch).
On the way home in the car he reminded us again to sign him up for summer soccer next year. Five more weeks and then his cricket career is over!
Drama on the sidelines when Houdini Polly Dog wriggled out of her harness and ran away from Husbad. She was just looking for me. Aw. Thankfully she found me before she found the road.
And, tarantara, the website is up. Needs a smidge of correcting (blows kisses to the beta readers), but job pretty much done. Wow. It was a challenge, but yanno, it was fun too. Now I have to try and remember everything I learned while I was doing it, so I can make changes and add pages as time goes on.
Last, but not least, Cricket Boy resumed his place on the cricket pitch today. 'There's no way I'm playing cricket next year,' he informed us in the car on the way to the game. 'I'm playing summer soccer.' With that gung ho expression of enthusiasm he took to the field like a duck to treacle and dreamed his way through fielding. However, when he bowled he got a wicket - first ball! (American friends, that means he knocked the stumps over and sent one of the batsmen back to the dugout, although we have no dugout, just a line of mums in folding chairs holding jackets and water bottles and pretending to watch).
On the way home in the car he reminded us again to sign him up for summer soccer next year. Five more weeks and then his cricket career is over!
Drama on the sidelines when Houdini Polly Dog wriggled out of her harness and ran away from Husbad. She was just looking for me. Aw. Thankfully she found me before she found the road.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Back to the stone ages
I've exceeded my data allowance for this month so my broadband is now narrowtwistyband at dial up speed. Grrrr. So you may not see much of me for the rest of this week until it speeds up again and there's no way the web site will go up yet. Double grrr.
In the meantime, I was too slow to sign up to help Patry Francis, an author who needs a little extra help, so I'll make my contribution by pointing you to Church Lady's very cool post about her: http://abenchpress.blogspot.com/. And what's more, it's competition time over there with the very lovely clergy supporter!
In the meantime, I was too slow to sign up to help Patry Francis, an author who needs a little extra help, so I'll make my contribution by pointing you to Church Lady's very cool post about her: http://abenchpress.blogspot.com/. And what's more, it's competition time over there with the very lovely clergy supporter!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Web site hitching to completion!
It's not that I've been obsessed with it, but I've been obsessed with it. If you know what I mean.
The kids are on holiday here, which makes it hard to get involved in projects which need large chunks of time. Tinkering with the website for an hour here and there has been perfect and now it's nearly done. The words are now written and I've got over my issues with images by downloading a free graphics program which does the things I was hoping to do. Now there are images in the top left corner and also across the top of the screen. They are different on each page, which adds a lot more visual interest.
The only thing I need to finish off is fixing up a link to e-mail, so that if you click it automatically brings up an e-mail screen with my address. I'm hoping this will be straightforward, but I can't actually do it just yet, because I'm not sure what my e-mail address linked to the site will be. I'd like to use my domain name, but I can't set up any addresses at the moment until my web site host gets back to me.
Pay attention now, here comes the technical bit. For me, sorting out my domain name and site location has been a two-part process. It turns out I could have done both things with one company, which would have been much more straightforward. What I did was register my domain name, let's call it www.cricketboysmum.com with a domain name registration company. All that did was reserve the name for me (dollars had to be provided). Now I have chosen a host - the company that will actually give me the space on their servers for my information - the web site - to appear (more dollars were provided).
The hitch in my case is that I now have to 'delegate' (move) my domain name from my registration company to my hosting company. It seemed straightforward, just a little electronic form to fill in with info from my hosting company. It's supposed to take 2-4 hours to work and then my host company would send me an e-mail letting me know everything was all set up and ready to go. However. I did this yesterday. 24 hours and no e-mail. And this, of course, is a holiday weekend here, so there's no point in harassing anybody, because there is nobody to harass.
Grrrr. I'm impatient now!
Coming up soon:
Will princess start school next week? At four and a half? Will the school take her? Is this wise or are we going to mess her up for life? On the other hand, will staying home for another year when she is clearly insanely ready for school mess her up even more? What about when she's 16 and her friends are 18? Why oh why can NSW not legislate more clearly on these matters so we don't screw up the life of our child?!!!
Will Cricket Boy's team ever win a match? Cricket starts again next weekend after a holiday hiatus so check in for more updates! (Caveat: soccer registration comes up in a few weeks and I suspect Cricket Boy will be more than happy to hang up his bat as soon as possible.)
Does Cricket Boy really have promise as a swimmer, as suggested by his teacher when he promoted him by two classes this week? Why, when he's actually good at something, does he hate it so much?
Why is Princess coming up the stairs and crying? Guess I'd better go and find out...
The kids are on holiday here, which makes it hard to get involved in projects which need large chunks of time. Tinkering with the website for an hour here and there has been perfect and now it's nearly done. The words are now written and I've got over my issues with images by downloading a free graphics program which does the things I was hoping to do. Now there are images in the top left corner and also across the top of the screen. They are different on each page, which adds a lot more visual interest.
The only thing I need to finish off is fixing up a link to e-mail, so that if you click it automatically brings up an e-mail screen with my address. I'm hoping this will be straightforward, but I can't actually do it just yet, because I'm not sure what my e-mail address linked to the site will be. I'd like to use my domain name, but I can't set up any addresses at the moment until my web site host gets back to me.
Pay attention now, here comes the technical bit. For me, sorting out my domain name and site location has been a two-part process. It turns out I could have done both things with one company, which would have been much more straightforward. What I did was register my domain name, let's call it www.cricketboysmum.com with a domain name registration company. All that did was reserve the name for me (dollars had to be provided). Now I have chosen a host - the company that will actually give me the space on their servers for my information - the web site - to appear (more dollars were provided).
The hitch in my case is that I now have to 'delegate' (move) my domain name from my registration company to my hosting company. It seemed straightforward, just a little electronic form to fill in with info from my hosting company. It's supposed to take 2-4 hours to work and then my host company would send me an e-mail letting me know everything was all set up and ready to go. However. I did this yesterday. 24 hours and no e-mail. And this, of course, is a holiday weekend here, so there's no point in harassing anybody, because there is nobody to harass.
Grrrr. I'm impatient now!
Coming up soon:
Will princess start school next week? At four and a half? Will the school take her? Is this wise or are we going to mess her up for life? On the other hand, will staying home for another year when she is clearly insanely ready for school mess her up even more? What about when she's 16 and her friends are 18? Why oh why can NSW not legislate more clearly on these matters so we don't screw up the life of our child?!!!
Will Cricket Boy's team ever win a match? Cricket starts again next weekend after a holiday hiatus so check in for more updates! (Caveat: soccer registration comes up in a few weeks and I suspect Cricket Boy will be more than happy to hang up his bat as soon as possible.)
Does Cricket Boy really have promise as a swimmer, as suggested by his teacher when he promoted him by two classes this week? Why, when he's actually good at something, does he hate it so much?
Why is Princess coming up the stairs and crying? Guess I'd better go and find out...
Monday, January 21, 2008
The Evil One Takes Over the Church!
The ever-beautiful Church Lady (just check out her photo on her blog, she's a stunner!) is hosting a blog party dedicated to the release of Evil Editor's book 'Novel Deviations 3'. Check out her blog between 9am and 9pm on Thursday, January 24, to commune with the Evil One, his minions and his weredingos. It's sure to be hilarious, sorry, highly educational.
The Evil One does not allow the public to see any photos of himself, but after much begging and pleading, he did finally release one to me. It explains much about his obsession with weredingos.
The wise words of the Evil One can be found here.
The Evil One does not allow the public to see any photos of himself, but after much begging and pleading, he did finally release one to me. It explains much about his obsession with weredingos.
The wise words of the Evil One can be found here.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Home page
This was a tremendous fiddle, but if I've managed it, this should be the home page of my web site:
What do you think? All critique welcome! This will have my real name on it, but I don't really want any links to my real name from this blog, which is why I've popped in McK. I'm also thinking black and white photo for the top left hand corner for the home page. That photo will change on every page, as will the title in the top bar.
What do you think? All critique welcome! This will have my real name on it, but I don't really want any links to my real name from this blog, which is why I've popped in McK. I'm also thinking black and white photo for the top left hand corner for the home page. That photo will change on every page, as will the title in the top bar.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Turning myself into a web monkey
I'm having fun! When I started researching HTML I rediscovered the fun I had had in creating a family web site many years ago. Then I got halfway into HTML and discovered a new thing - CSS! So I started to teach myself that, too. More fun! Maybe I was a computer programmer in a previous life, although in my previous lives a computer probably consisted of three stones and a stick.
Conduit clearly knows heaps more about this than I do, and I'm kind of hoping he'll jump in, but these days it seems that rather than writing, and then cutting and pasting, hundreds of HTML codes, you create a style sheet in CSS and simply attach it to a much simpler HTML document. More fiddlework up front, but as I add pages it's going to go very fast. It will also make it easy to make changes and add pages in the future. So it looks like I'm doing this myself, from scratch.
I've already created the front page; complete with menu, which means I have roughly structured the content, and am about to try and master inserting images, then I will move on to actually adding the pages the menu points at (links are working, but linking to nothing at the moment). I like the design (well, of course), but may mess with fonts. I'll post a lookie-see for you at some point, but I'll see if I can get some images first.
There's not much in the way of words on it yet - want to help? I'd like to put up a FAQ, so can you think of any questions that should be on there? I'll answer 'em, promise! Remember, I write YA, guys, so nothing too, um, well, yanno, no smut!
Conduit clearly knows heaps more about this than I do, and I'm kind of hoping he'll jump in, but these days it seems that rather than writing, and then cutting and pasting, hundreds of HTML codes, you create a style sheet in CSS and simply attach it to a much simpler HTML document. More fiddlework up front, but as I add pages it's going to go very fast. It will also make it easy to make changes and add pages in the future. So it looks like I'm doing this myself, from scratch.
I've already created the front page; complete with menu, which means I have roughly structured the content, and am about to try and master inserting images, then I will move on to actually adding the pages the menu points at (links are working, but linking to nothing at the moment). I like the design (well, of course), but may mess with fonts. I'll post a lookie-see for you at some point, but I'll see if I can get some images first.
There's not much in the way of words on it yet - want to help? I'd like to put up a FAQ, so can you think of any questions that should be on there? I'll answer 'em, promise! Remember, I write YA, guys, so nothing too, um, well, yanno, no smut!
Friday, January 11, 2008
Back to the resolutions
I'm kind of liking this resolution thing. Keeping them very specific is helpful - it's easier to get started and, of course, easier to finish. My resolutions could have been summarised as 'keep writing' - but then I might start counting things like writing birthday cards, or forget about it all together.
So, I have 11. I won't bore you with them again, but, suffice to say thanks to some speedy beta readers I sent out Ghost Boys yesterday, so yippee and goodbye to resolutions 1, 2 and 3. The Christmas drinking is over, alas, so number 9 is gone. Ah, happy, but vague, memories. Did one of Church Lady's writing exercises today, so there's number 8 gone, and I'm managing to keep blogging with remarkable success, so I think I'll cross out 10 as well. See, this is going great!
However, it's time to get started on number 4: 'Get a website up and running - by the end of February, sooner if possible'. This might be the stumper. I wish I'd broken this one up a little, so I might do it now:
4a - register domain name (done!)
4b - research some HTML sites to see if I can be bothered teaching myself HTML again
4c - research some easy-to-use web creation, Mac-friendly sites/programs to see if that would be a better option - must combine a certain amount of creative freedom with idiot-proof simplicity
4d- structure web site (kind of done; I know most of what I would like to have on there)
4e - write copy (should be easy; I do this for a living along with other types of marketing copy, but, as we all know, doing it for yourself is, oh, a million times harder, than doing it for anybody else)
4f - source photos
4g - knuckle down and design website
4h - consider whether or not design is so pathetic that I should hand it over to one of my friendly design agencies to do for me - disadvantage is the megabucks it will cost
4i - test thoroughly in all programs and fix hitches
4j - choose host and get up and running
Did I miss anything? More experienced web folk please pitch with advice! I know December is partway through the process, as is Church Lady, anyone else ever tried this/feel like coming along for the ride?! Or, can anyone recommend any good writer web sites for me to snoop around? I like simple, edgy design. Simple is important if I'm doing it myself!
I think resolution number 4 is going to take a little time, but I want to create something that will last me for some time.
So, I have 11. I won't bore you with them again, but, suffice to say thanks to some speedy beta readers I sent out Ghost Boys yesterday, so yippee and goodbye to resolutions 1, 2 and 3. The Christmas drinking is over, alas, so number 9 is gone. Ah, happy, but vague, memories. Did one of Church Lady's writing exercises today, so there's number 8 gone, and I'm managing to keep blogging with remarkable success, so I think I'll cross out 10 as well. See, this is going great!
However, it's time to get started on number 4: 'Get a website up and running - by the end of February, sooner if possible'. This might be the stumper. I wish I'd broken this one up a little, so I might do it now:
4a - register domain name (done!)
4b - research some HTML sites to see if I can be bothered teaching myself HTML again
4c - research some easy-to-use web creation, Mac-friendly sites/programs to see if that would be a better option - must combine a certain amount of creative freedom with idiot-proof simplicity
4d- structure web site (kind of done; I know most of what I would like to have on there)
4e - write copy (should be easy; I do this for a living along with other types of marketing copy, but, as we all know, doing it for yourself is, oh, a million times harder, than doing it for anybody else)
4f - source photos
4g - knuckle down and design website
4h - consider whether or not design is so pathetic that I should hand it over to one of my friendly design agencies to do for me - disadvantage is the megabucks it will cost
4i - test thoroughly in all programs and fix hitches
4j - choose host and get up and running
Did I miss anything? More experienced web folk please pitch with advice! I know December is partway through the process, as is Church Lady, anyone else ever tried this/feel like coming along for the ride?! Or, can anyone recommend any good writer web sites for me to snoop around? I like simple, edgy design. Simple is important if I'm doing it myself!
I think resolution number 4 is going to take a little time, but I want to create something that will last me for some time.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Blogging words of wisdom
No, not from me, sillies. Somebody much wiser. The sexy overcaffeinated one known as Sex Scenes at Starbucks, possibly the best blogging name in the entire world. Anyway, she's been doing this blogging thing for a while and this week she posted some of her tips as to what makes a good blog. Let's see if I can do a fancy link: Wise Words from a Master
I break many of these rules on a regular basis:
1. See a** below. Duh! Just call an ass an ass you slacker koalie
2. I don't visit many new blogs; just keeping busy with the ones I already visit is enough for a slacker like me
3. I'm a posting slacker
At last I know why I don't get 150 hits a day! And I'm not sure I ever will. See use of word 'slacker' above. However, this is all great, practical advice and I insist that the rest of you go off and follow it to the letter.
I love the visits I do get, so please keep checking in and I may even post more often (I've done well this week, haven't I?)
I break many of these rules on a regular basis:
1. See a** below. Duh! Just call an ass an ass you slacker koalie
2. I don't visit many new blogs; just keeping busy with the ones I already visit is enough for a slacker like me
3. I'm a posting slacker
At last I know why I don't get 150 hits a day! And I'm not sure I ever will. See use of word 'slacker' above. However, this is all great, practical advice and I insist that the rest of you go off and follow it to the letter.
I love the visits I do get, so please keep checking in and I may even post more often (I've done well this week, haven't I?)
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Is it all over for Robin?
At the start of the year, well, a few days into it, one of my regular commenters, Robin was challenged to Fight The Smut over at Evil Editor - the link is at the side of this blog.
Alas for Robin, some of Evil's regulars had noticed a tendency for...um...innuendo in some of her posts. Or plain, honest smut. She was challenged to keep it clean for as long as she could. Evil Editor, who is a harsh taskmaster, thinks the jig is already up.
To follow the tale scroll down to 'The pool' where the challenge is set, then for a giggle read the comments trails to Fight Scenes numbers three, five and nine. Then check out Fight Scene fifteen and see if you agree with the Evil One.
It's been fun and Robin's been a good sport, but I can't believe it might be over so soon!
Alas for Robin, some of Evil's regulars had noticed a tendency for...um...innuendo in some of her posts. Or plain, honest smut. She was challenged to keep it clean for as long as she could. Evil Editor, who is a harsh taskmaster, thinks the jig is already up.
To follow the tale scroll down to 'The pool' where the challenge is set, then for a giggle read the comments trails to Fight Scenes numbers three, five and nine. Then check out Fight Scene fifteen and see if you agree with the Evil One.
It's been fun and Robin's been a good sport, but I can't believe it might be over so soon!
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