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 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.

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.

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!

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.

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?)

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!

Getting up off my blogging a**

Here's the final list of resolutions, numbered for efficiency and satisfying crossing-offability:

1. Finish editing Ghost Boys - by early Jan.
2. Find Beta readers who can read and return by mid-Jan:-)
3. Make any sensible changes and send out by end of Jan.
4. Get a web site up and running – by the end of February, sooner if possible.
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.
8. Do more of Church Lady's writing exercises and keep visiting her blog. (As requested by Church Lady)
9. Break the Christmas habit of two glasses of wine every night - by the end of the first week of January!
10. Stay in touch with your blog friends, and keep your persona going strong where we can all enjoy your refreshing self. (As requested by Robin, and pretty much in her words, because it's my blog and I like the compliments, I do, I do, purr.)
11. We will definitely buy your work when it's published. Promise. (oh, hang on, I think that's Robin's resolution. But I'll buy yours too, Robin.)

OK, let's get going on the crossing off... What? Why did you think I was posting?!

Number one - it's done! Yippee! Well maybe it could do with another re-read, but I can do that while carrying out numbertwo... It's already off to one reader.

Number eight. I'm still visiting Church Lady. That's an easy one!

Number nine. Two nights ago I had a gin and tonic instead of wine. No, really, that counts. Oh, OK then. Last night not a drop passed my lips, just a lot of chocolate. It's a step-by-step process...

Number ten. I haven't written much here, but I've been flitting about the blogosphere in my breaks, so I'll take a yes on that one. Another easy one really. I think. Assuming I've been refreshing, which I will allow you to judge.

Not a bad start to 2008!

Make McKoala's New Year Resolution List

I never make one, so thought it might be fun for you to do it for me. Whatever you like - writing, food, bad habits (not that I have any, of course) - post 'em for me.

Try to keep away from the dark side, but knowing some of you, I reserve the right to pick and choose! If any of them are vaguely attractive to me, I'll give you monthly updates as 2008 moves on.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hogmanay!

I'm a Scot, so I will persist in my traditional greetings, however politically incorrect.

Many of you have posted kind festive greetings on the pickled brain thread, and thank you so much for your good wishes, but I thought I would pretend to be elegant by putting a special post up to return the holiday happiness.

It's been a fun year; I'm glad I started to blog at last and met so many nice people. Have a wonderful Christmas season, whatever you are doing and whatever you believe in. See you next year if you're taking a break! I'm not, so I'm happy to chitter chatter with anyone else who is just hanging out over Christmas.

I have pickled my brain

I do have some quite interesting, well, at least vaguely relevant things to blog about, but not today.

'Tis the day after the School Mums' Night Out. I missed almost all my other Christmas nights out due to illness, so I went to this one determined to have a good time. I did. Today is not so good. Funny how it's not until the next morning that you realise that last bar was a really, really bad idea.

I am so exhausted

Nonetheless, I dragged myself to my keyboard to share good news.

I finished the Christmas gift shopping today!

I know you're happy for me. Really, I do.

Where I am with my writing

Slightly on hiatus! This is my busy period for work - everyone wants copy for brochures and web sites they hope to have ready either before Christmas or in early January. So I'm writing thousands of words, but it's all commercial copy. There is simply no time or head space for anything else. The good news is that things slow down later this month and most of January is pretty dead so then I will have the opportunity to get back to some fiction.

My aim then is to finish redrafting 'Ghost Boys'. This is a young adult ghost story which I first drafted around the middle of the year. It's now in second draft after some great suggestions from Conduit who very kindly read the first draft. I did 'complete' a second draft, but I wasn't happy with it, so now I'm changing something very specific, which runs through the whole story. I've started doing it, but then the work pressure was on so I had to abandon it. I'm not too perturbed about having to back away from it for a while as I know what I want to do and how to do it. I hope it won't take too long to actually put it down in words!

I'd also like to write a few more short stories along the lines of 'Sand Baby' or 'Preparing the Body' - some of you may remember those from the Crapometer. I should be thinking about writing more womens' stories, as I seem to actually be able to sell those, but I have very little desire to do that at the moment. I want to explore other things. Writing womens' stories does take more effort than some people think and, like all other kinds of writing, you need to be dedicated to do it properly and I just don't have that dedication at the moment.

I also think I need a web site. Now there's a challenge.

So that's where I am with my writing. Where are you?

What's in a name?

In some ways, mostly daft, certain parts of my fuzzy brain are set in stone. One of the daftest Stonoids sometimes affects my reading.

It's my utter loathing for the name Gillian. I just cannot handle it. If I read a book about a supposedly sympathetic character called Gillian, I have no sympathy. To me, a Gillian is automatically the bad gal. I wait through the entire book for her to turn on every other character and if she doesn't I am utterly dissatisfied. And I still have no sympathy for her. Whatever happens.

That's probably the most extreme example of Name Stonoid Disease, but there are others. To me, the name Caroline exudes confidence. That means that if I run into a heroine called Caroline who is weak and soft, I simply lose all belief in her. 'Pah, Caroline, pull out those sharp bitch nails i know you have under your fluffy paws and give 'em hell!'

As for characters called Louise or Emma, I'm afraid I can't even pick those books up off the shelves. Nothing personal. There are just too darn many of them in too many books. Rightly or wrongly, to me it says 'bland'. Probably wrongly, but that's Name Stonoid Disease for you.

If this is the day I find out all my readers are called Gillian and have written books with heroines called Louise and Emma, not to worry. I'll just set Caroline on you. And, by the way, can I call you Jill?

I'm hoping this will be a photo...

It looks like a load of meaningless code to me, but hopefully it will magically transform into a photo when I publish this post. It's Polly the Puppy, by the way.

Robin asked how things were up the eucalypt... Frenzied is the answer. I worked five days last week. I don't think I have done that since Cricket Boy was born. This is always a busy time for me, with lots of clients wanting things ready to print for Christmas or early next year, but this year has been bananas. I could work three or four days this week too, but I don't think it's fair on Princess or Polly so I'm trying to squeeze everything into the few hours I have.

Also, my mother-in-law's aunt died - the last of her generation, so we've had to comfort Grandma. Plus the kids getting into Christmas performance mode, Cricket Boy's birthday coming up this weekend and one of my friends has just split with her partner - initially amicably, but now he's just tossed her out, so needing to offer support there, too, and practical help. So...yup...frenzied.

Over to you...

My last post about the weather (exciting topic, eh!) got a bit pretentiously writerly, I thought. That's because I was trying to write it without any visual description whatsoever. Did anybody even notice?!

So now...can you do it? Tell me about the weather where you are without using your eyes!

How's the weather with you?

It's spring here. The air is thick with the smell of freshly cut grass and cicadas hum to one another across the garden. In the middle of the day my skin is clammy with sweat and when I lick my lips they taste of salt. The puppy and the kids pant, slurping water, or crunching ice blocks. You can almost hear the rustle of new growth, of the earth relaxing under the gentle sun. In a few months it will become brutal, blasting everything brittle with dryness. But for now it caresses us, slipping its warmth under our goosebumps, coaxing us outside with its tender touch.

We have puppy!

It was a struggle getting her up the eucalypt, but we managed in the end.

She's a nine-week old cavoodle (they used to be called mongrels, but now they're getting all fancy); a Cavalier King Charles spaniel/poodle cross. In the shop she was 100% Cavalier, loving and smoochy and very mellow, but then we took her home and she turned poodle on us, dashing around the garden in a frenzy, playing with the kids. I like that she has both natures in her, it will keep us on our toes. As will the pee and the poo all over the laundry floor. I've got pads out, but Madam prefers to choose her own spot - a different one every time, although she does pee on one side of the laundry and poo on the other, so I suppose it's a system.

Her name is Polly, chosen by Cricket Boy.

Reading superstitions

As a child I think I may have had mild obsessive-compulsive disorder. If I took a drink, whether it be from a tap or a cup, I had to have an even number of mouthfuls, and preferably in multiples of two and then four etc.. Two, four, eight...and if I accidentally took that ninth swallow, I was up for sixteen, and then after that... well, it was a stretch for the bladder. I also could not stop reading on page or chapter 13 - or multiples of 13. That meant some late nights if I was reading a book with long chapters.

I'm over the water thing now (tg!) and over the multiples of 13 thing - but I still cannot stop reading on chapter 13, or any chapter before or after. So I still have to decide whether or not to stop at the end of chapter 11 or if I forge on to the end of chapter 14.

OK, so now you know I'm a complete freak, do you have any weird reading or writing superstitions or habits?

Cricket Boy Clean Bowled

Along with the rest of his team. Once again they ran into a team infinitely better than themselves. Seems to happen every week actually.