With Danke’s help, I’ve tweaked the site yet some more: updated the header image, put in the site description under the title, moved the comments link at the bottom of each post (where it really belongs–having it at the top is confusing), etc. Now, the site is even better than ever!
All this playing around with CSS and the site code is making me wish I had majored in computer science or graphic design–this stuff is kind of fun! I’ve also noticed that there seems to be a ton of job opportunities for graphic design (though I haven’t really been looking)–maybe this is something I could teach myself and figure it out while on the job? It sounds like fun, but where to start?
Speaking of which, I need to do something useful with my photoblog. I’ll bet I could make money off of it, I’m just not sure what the best way to approach it is. I’m thinking a “tip the artist” button somewhere unobtrusive, a “buy this image” kind of thing, perhaps some kind of a print-on-demand coffee-table book…well, probably the BEST place to start is to drive more traffic to the site. 30 unique visitors per day isn’t all that impressive. =P
In miscellaneous updates, I picked up a book by David Gemmell at the library. Gemmell writes some amazing heroic fantasy, and I’ve realized that that’s kind of what I’m shooting for with Bringing Stella Home. I’m reading some other novels, too, but none of them have really grabbed me (in fact, I put a couple of them down just out of disgust and content issues).
This Gemmell book I picked up, however, is awesome! Hooked me on the first page, with some fast action, engaging characters, and interesting philosophical reflections. Unlike the other stuff I’ve been reading, most of which I’ve been reading over the past few weeks, I’ll probably finish this Gemmell book in a few days. Good stuff!
And…it’s past 2am. Bah.
EDIT: Oh, I forgot to mention that I decided to pick up Hero in Exile and revise it.
I’ve completely revised my outline (translation: I threw it out wholesale and decided to play it by ear, with a vague idea of the ending instead of a firm plan) and decided to give one of the side characters a viewpoint, since I don’t think the main protagonist has enough of a story to drive the entire novel by himself. Renamed him from “Tristan” to “Cavin,” and I’ll probably change the title as well.
The first chapter is still shaky, but meh, it’s good enough for a first draft. I’ll probably throw it out once I’ve written the ending and start somewhere else.
There are two reasons I decided to pick up this project–three, actually: 1) I enjoy writing in the universe of Bringing Stella Home, and Hero in Exile is where I got most of my setting ideas for that novel; 2) I need practice writing endings, so I didn’t want to leave this as an unfinished project, and; 3) I feel I need a second project to work on when I get exhausted with the first one.
Hopefully, instead of getting tripped up, can recharge my creative batteries for the one while working on the other. At least, that’s the theory; we’ll see how it translates into practice.
