Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts

{ Just a little deconstruction }

Well, I've gone and played around with the blog's layout again. Still the same basic images and color scheme, just a more streamlined appearance. The base coding of the layout was created by the wonderful Katrina over at Pugly Pixel. She has tons of tutorials on creating great-looking blogs. For this one, I've gone the minimalist route, which is crazy because I'm not a big fan of minimalism. But I thought the blog should focus on the posts, not the 'other stuff'.

Since I'm not really in 'author mode' here anymore, I feel okay not focusing on my books on my blog. I figured once I got anywhere near publishing, I'd do another revamp and update it with a theme that matched the cover of my book. In the meantime, I'd like to stick with something I don't mind looking at.

I might as well tailor it to my preferences, since I'm the only one who reads the darn thing...


photo // Theo Gosselin

{ Well, there went my evening. }

Source, via Pinterest
Right, so that whole 'work on it a little bit at a time' thing was a bust. I'm not completely finished with messing around, since I don't have a navbar at the top anymore and I haven't done anything with the sidebar. I'm working on using imaged-based ones instead of text-based. Should be loads of fun. *Please note the sarcasm*


So, I totally need to thank Katrina at Pugly Pixel for her wonderful blog tutorials. I'm finally starting to get the hang of this CSS thingie. I got all fancy with a Typekit font and everything. Not that you can tell, but hey...A for effort!

Dear blog,

From here, via Pinterest

I don't like your face.

Just kidding. Well, sorta kidding anyway. I'm not liking the look of it anymore (so BORING) but I'm not feeling the time and commitment that's required to make it perfect. Perhaps I will work on it a little at a time and do a massive update.

First however, I should actually start blogging again. It's been over a month. Oops.

Summer has been kind of hectic between work and my (un)social life. Spare time has been spent playing Assassin's Creed on my friend's PS3 and watching awesome summer TV. This season's new favs: "Suits" on USA and "Teen Wolf" on MTV (don't judge me!!). I also took a staycation from work and painted my room. The color is nothing crazy, just a nice creamy mocha, but it is a drastic change from the old color which was a dark red. I'm still working on putting the room back together, so the walls are still naked. I bought new linens from Ikea, but I'm actually not that pleased with them. The cottage-loving freak in me wants to do a cream-white-blue color scheme, but that totally doesn't match any of the decor items I have besides a random sailboat and a crap ton seashells. And I totally do not want a nautical bedroom. Oh well, like everything else in my life, it is still a work on progress.

Oh dear, now I have an urge to give
Nathan stubble every once in a while...
Writing has been touch and go. Instead of agonizing over coming up with a third book for my Jane Austen series, I decided to just cram the first two together into one book. It's a completely viable idea, but I do need to work on whittling down the story. It's a little unwieldy now. As far as "Ghosts of Fallen Leaves" goes, I'm mostly waiting to hear back from my beta. She has such wonderfully observant things to say that she's really helping me pinpoint the weaknesses in my writing. I've already come up with some great changes improvements based on her comments. I'm constantly updating the project on Inkpop, swapping out old and new chapters as I go along.


Anyway, I haven't been too internet-active recently, but I have created an account on Pinterest and I'm using it for my author stuff. I've got a board, which features some images that make me think of "Ghosts of Fallen Leaves". They're a whole mishmash of different 'inspirational' photos, ranging from spooky ghost stuff to Queen Anne style houses that give the reader an idea of what the Historical Society house looks like. There's also a bunch of photos of hot guys in great clothes that mostly represent Nathan in my head. None of the guys look like Nathan, but they're wearing clothes that I image Nathan would wear. I used to say he dresses like  J-Crew model, but their style has changed as of late, so that no longer applies. Nathan definitely doesn't have that 'male model' look (he's too baby-faced, the poor guy) but he does dress nicely and somewhat expensively. A few of the photos are Ciaran-related images, as well. And a few are of Scott. 

Well, there's an random update for you. I hope I'll be back more regularly in the future. In the meantime, I'm watching "Psych" from the beginning in an effort to justify the money I pay Netflix. Unlike some people, my head didn't explode when they changed their contracts and fees. Instead, it exploded when it realized that I never freaking use it and yet I still pay for it. 

Exactly what is it that I do with my life?

And to wrap things up, here is my new favorite band, The Head and the Heart. It's such a lovely summer album. They got me through painting my room. On a side note, they were playing with my perennially favorite band, The Decemberists, in a show within driving distance of my home. I am more than a little peeved that I couldn't go see them. The Decemberists play with bands that I love, but never when I see them. This needs to be corrected during the next tour. 


Spring Cleaning



Here's another quickie for you. I didn't have much time for working today because I had an eye exam and they dilated my pupils. I'd never had it done before and it was kind of weird. I'm near-sighted so I'm not used to things being blurry up close. Driving home was an adventure. I'm glad I managed to navigate the beltway without killing anyone, including myself. 

My cats howl at the door
whenever I go outside
.
Well, as the rain and pollen have been telling us for the past few weeks, it's finally spring time here. That means spring cleaning! Here at Chez Moi, that means I'm press-ganging my dad into planting tons of pretty flowers outside. I made a deal with my mom: she could pick the flowers for the front yard and the deck and I get to choose the ones for the backyard and the patio. Since I get to see the backyard and the patio the most, this is a super win for me. 

On the author front, I've been thinking about doing a little spring cleaning around this blog. When I threw it together earlier this year, I wasn't 100% convinced I would stick with it, so I didn't take that much care into the design. I've been poking around and (re)learning myself some basic HTML and CSS, so hopefully I'll be able to debut something a little more awesome.

In the meantime, I fully intend to work on more of the outline for "Loch Raven" when I can see properly again. The computer screen is still a little blurry as I'm typing... I finished rereading what I've written of the manuscript and I don't think I'll have to make too many changes. Every time I read it, I'm reminded of why I liked the story so much. Not to toot my own horn, but god I love those characters. They just took on a life of their own.