Category Archives: Website

Workin’ on it

Getting ready to head back to the word processor after a little break.  I’ve been smiling at the returns from my latest in my third name, and finishing stage 3 of testing and coding for my automated contest tracking software.

Up to the point where I can grab all the necessary information from the contest page, then grab the score and category from each individual author’s page, then grab the comments, views, and favorites from the story page itself.

Only one data set left, and that’s the votes from the toplists.  Once I have all my markers located, it’s a matter of putting it all together in a single program that actually saves to the database.  Hoping to complete the main testing during this contest, then give it a full alpha run during the Halloween contest.

If all works well, I’ll be ready to track full-on with the next Winter Holiday contest, and should be able to track all the contests to gather data from that point forward with little to no work on my part.

Yah, I know it doesn’t mean much to those of you who only care about my writing, but these little victories boost my feel-good factor, which is always good for creativity.

It’s also good to keep my hand in, so to speak, because I need to update the software that runs the site soon, and there’s likely to be glitches and corrections needed.  Plus, I’ll be expanding new sections of the site in time.  That at least should be of interest, because there will be a lot of behind the story info in those new sections.

Also need to fix the frikkin’ widget that displays the updates from this blog on the main site…  Grr… don’t know why it broke, but I think I’m going to eventually ditch the default feed grab and write my own.  That is, if the update to the software doesn’t fix the glitch.

Now, off to write.

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Those sticky points…

Both of the stories I’ve been working on have been nagging at me with sticking points.  They’re moving, but there was just something off about them.

The first ( in my third name ) I figured out yesterday.  The story was just getting too deep for tales in that name, but not nearly deep enough to develop into a larger story, which will usually get posted as Les Lumens.  I’m probably going to strip it down, speed it up, and leave it in my third name.

Blessing was giving me the same sort of problems.  In this case, the problem was the other way around.  Dara just wasn’t complex enough.  Her motivation going through the story wasn’t really strong enough to carry off what I want to accomplish without a much longer story.

She needed a flaw or a wound of some kind, and I came up with it today.  Meshes in perfectly with a character trait I’d already given my male protagonist, and I think I may just be in a position to go forward from here.  The young one appears to be bedding down for the night, so I’m going to put on some music, and see if I can’t get this rolling.

Oh, head over to the forum and check out the “Tales from the tabletop” thread.  I’ll be relating some stories there from my old gaming days that give you some insight into where my world and my characters came from.  The game and the people who played it were integral to the genesis of my writing, so you might find it interesting.  Many of them are quite funny as well.

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Hmmm…

I’m so bloody close to nailing down the next Wood story that I can taste it, but I’m just not quite there.

Frustrating.

I’m building up a lot of internal pressure, though.  My muse is working in the background most of the time.  I’m mulling over ideas at work, and everything I watch or hear is turning into a plot bunny.  Eventually, that turns into an explosion.  It always has.  It’s just a matter of how long it takes.

Holding off on part of the updates for the forum, because I’m hearing some reports about one element of the package that I don’t like.  That’s the element that runs much of the website, so until I hear that the problems have been resolved, I’m not going to risk it.  Getting some of this stuff working was a hellish nightmare.

Just thought I’d at least get back to something resembling regular updates, even if there’s not any groundbreaking news.  That in and of itself is a good sign, though.  When I’m in a funk, I can’t even bring myself to do this.

Climbing back out of this hole all the time is a pain in the butt :p  ( I know, I’m not the only one 😉 )

We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

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A little progress

Never know when I’m going to have one of these flame-outs, but they’re hard to get out of once I’m stuck in them.

I’m fiddling around with a lot of things.  Stories in my third name, ideas as Les, the stories I’m working on as Dark, the website, etc.

For one thing, I still can’t figure out what in the sam hell is up with the date on my blog front page widget.  I know it was working properly before, and now it’s not.  I haven’t changed anything ( other than updating WordPress ) so I have to assume it’s in the new version of WordPress, and how it creates the RSS feed.  Annoying as hell.

Finally managed to dig myself up a new fedora, so I’ll snap some recent pics when I go to do the “about” page on the website.  I felt like I absolutely had to have one, because I want to recreate my “standard” pic that I use everywhere.

More specific on stories:

I’m trying to get the next “of the Wood” to congeal in my head.  I know who it’s about ( Dara, Wade’s sister from Kindred ) and who she is, but I’m still trying to figure out everybody else in the story, and the larger things going on around them.

I know exactly where the next chapter of SOTM and Lowborn are going, but I just can’t seem to get in the right frame of mind to immerse myself in the world.  Lots of real life intrusions lately, and that makes it hard to open myself up to fantasy.  I’m hoping that if I can get the little brainstorms I’ve been having on the next Wood to come together, that I can transition from that real/fantasy mix and get back on these as well.

Had this wild idea as Les for the longest time, and I’m steadily building it.  Have a good premise, but I just don’t know exactly where it’s going.  I need a conclusion that’s at least somewhat plausible in a Sci-Fi-behind-the-scenes setting.  Think Men In Black, where there’s all the advanced tech and such, but most of the world is spinning along with no knowledge of it.

Most of the movement involving words on paper is coming in my third name.  Those are a lot easier, because they really don’t have any major plot.  They’re all set-up and sex.  I just need a hook, and I can usually run with them.  Even those are running slow, though.  I can’t seem to concentrate when I sit down to write.  I can get a few paragraphs out, but then I have to do something else for a little while, and I find it hard to open Wordperfect back up.  If I convince myself to do it, about half the time, I can get right back into the story.  The other half, I have to go back to doing something else and try again.

It seems I’m forever doomed to bursts of productivity and dry spells.  Can’t seem to stay on even a light, steady track.

I’m opening things up regularly, but there’s just nothing getting any real word count down worth reporting.

Wish I had better news, but I am trying.  I almost feel like I need a collaborator or something.  Anybody want to toss ideas at me? *laugh*  You can always use the forum if you’d like.

I already know what scene I want to post as the teaser for Ch. 18 of SOTM.  Problem is, I haven’t written it yet!  Once I get that done, I’ll probably post it up on the forum.

Have several ideas ( plus a Danica “Arts Ardane” that’s stalled two years in a row now ) for Halloween.  Maybe that’s my next major burst?  I hope to have something rolling before then, but at least there’s some potential light there.

Well, I’m rambling.  I’m going to go peek around the forum at Lit, relax a bit ( I’ve been going through the code for that front page widget and I’m frustrated as hell ) and see if I can open up anything and write.

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Finally feeling it

Guess I just needed the break.  I’ve been writing on SOTM 18 all morning, and I’m about to hit the 1/4 mark.  There’s some big things going to go down in this chapter, though they may not all be immediately obvious at the time.  Other things are going to start moving, bringing things to a boil.

I also need to go back and fix the very end of the last chapter.  I don’t know what the hell I was thinking when I had Ebonar openly talking about Zoraster ( if not by name ) in front of Thanatos.  Brain fart is the only way I can explain it — that and something else that’s about to break that I don’t want to spoil.

Anyway, I’m working on that, and thinking about opening up Lowborn while I’m at it as well, for a little variety.  Trying to finish a story in my third name as well for the Nude Day contest ( the only one of the three ideas I had that’s working for me )

I’ll likely work on mapping out my fictional location in the BWCA soon, because I’m planning a summer story in the Wood universe.  I want to get the region in a visible form as I have the area around Xantina’s wood, because those two locations are the hotbeds of the universe.

Been mulling over the website as well, and there will probably be some changes to the front page and the overall navigation — primarily, there’s going to be a sidebar for everyone.  For those who choose to have it on, the floating menu will remain, staying readily available no matter what part of the page you’re viewing.  Otherwise, it’s going to default to a sidebar.  Both menus will be the same.  It will just be a matter of whether it stays in place or scrolls with the page.

The reason for this is that I’m trying to create easier navigation.  Too much of the way I was planning out the pages revolved around using back links, which is just too primative.  Some pages ( such as individual maps ) will still be locked into this, because I need to expand the default viewing area to handle those, but everything else will have quick links to all major sections of the site on the sidebar.

How many links are there will be determined by how many I can fit on my default resolution ( which seems to be equal to or lower than 99% of visitors )  I’ll get as much easy linking as possible in that space.

That’s what’s been bothering me and keeping me from moving forward with the maps and character sections of the websites.  Once I have that fully roughed out, I should be in a position to start cranking out more content.

Going to grab something to eat and get back to the scene I was working on in SOTM.  There are still quite a few chapters to go, but a lot of things are going to come to a head in the near future.

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