Up to 1500 words on Sanctuary. The old version was over 4k, but it was just moving too slowly.
Odds are that after I release the final draft, I’ll post that original on the Unpublished Work page.
Me and my scene transitions. That’s what was holding me back. I’m such a stickler for smooth transitions that I won’t accept good enough. I end up stubbornly fighting until I get it perfect. That’s exactly where I was stuck on this one for a couple of days.
I’m still concentrating on Sanctuary, but I also have the next chapter of SOTM moving, and I’m doing some work on Lowborn as well.
Work continues on the LST3K section of the website, and as warmer weather ( and a vacation ) creeps up, I’ll be able to do some of the expansions of the About page as well.
I’ve added a section to the forum to submit stories and audition to be a riffer on LST3Ks. That’s part of the work on the LST3k section, but can be used right now, if you wish. It can be used for talking about the series, though you’d be better off going with the main “discussion” forum for now.
All of this is leading toward the “My Worlds” section, which will have the most content that people are interested in for behind the scenes info.
If anybody has a website, twitter, facebook, or anything of that nature, links are much appreciated! I know that linking to an adult site isn’t something most people would do, but if you’re not bothered by that, it’s a nice draw for new eyes on my stories. The feedback is what I’m all about.
I’ve been in a bit of a low-motivation run the last few days. I’m getting the itch back now, but I think I needed some downtime. As I’ve mentioned before, Sanctuary of the Wood has priority because of my long-standing tradition of always putting out a new story in the series for Earth Day.
Beyond that, I’m also working on adapting the code for the anti-spam measures I’ve implemented on the forum and blog to apply to my contact forms. This is important because the LST3K section will have a couple of initial user interactive features, and eventually have many more. I want to be able to check for the spammers there and block them from coughing up spam in these sections as well.
The code to check isn’t that complicated, really. Neither is the code to automatically update the database, but I’ll probably skip that part and just save a log of any spammers caught in the other areas of the site so I can manually add them.
I’m also throttling back the plugin on the blog, because the standard spam blocking has always worked before to keep the actual posts from showing up. What the new plugin does is keep the spammers from registering and clogging up my database. However, it also blocks spam comments completely.
When I give more leeway in the new plugin, it lets more stuff through. However, the original plugin still catches all this. It also saves the spammy links when this happens, though. That allows me to submit “evidence” of the spam as well as the fact that I’ve encountered a known spammer. Eventually, that will be far more valuable information as the databases expand to start checking for spam and malware links as well as the data they already provide.
Can’t do that on the forum, because right now, the spammer attack is too concentrated there. If it ever slows down, I may throttle that back as well, for the same reason I’m throttling back on the blog. I want my website to be a source of protecting other websites from these spammer scumbags by providing every ounce of data about them I can.
Naturally, there’s a lot of story ideas and partial work floating around. There’s just not enough progress to really deserve a report here. I just want to keep the blog updated so that nobody thinks I’ve dropped off the face of the earth when I’m in a bit of a lull with forward progress.
As I’ve said before, the forum/shoutbox is another source of information. Some things get posted there at times when the blog isn’t getting updated. This may be because they’re just small things that don’t deserve much more than a quick post on the Shoutbox, or because they’re forum specific, or because that’s just where I happened to be when I thought about something *laugh*
Think I’m going to code up a “Holiday” page that will display with a little widget on the front page around holidays ( and the associated contests on the sites where I post )
It will link all the holiday-themed stories for that season I’ve posted, giving you easy access to some holiday cheer 🙂
Probably won’t work on it today, but the idea hit me so hard that it will probably happen. The widget will probably be directly below the link bar on the main page, and will only have a link to the holiday page + a little image that fits the season.
I’m planning for the Holiday page itself to be dynamic by adding an entry to my database for holiday themes. That way, the page can automatically generate just by me flipping a switch on the backend of the site. I’ll probably have the main image also be dynamic, changing according to the appropriate season.
Putting more work on the artist’s plate *laugh* At least it can be a gradual thing over the course of the year 🙂
Back to working on Sanctuary. That’s my priority right now, with such a long-standing tradition.
Chugging along on Sanctuary of the Wood when I can. Had some longer hours at work and a lot of other stuff on my plate, but it’s coming along.
I’m concentrating on it for the time being because of the contest deadline ( which while still quite a ways in the future, can be a problem if I encounter muse issues ) and the tradition I have of posting one every year. I don’t want to break that.
I’m enjoying the change-up from the last few. I mentioned it a few blog posts ago, but this one is a different type of story, though it will still be easily recognizable as part of the series. I’m just blending the more recent stories with the first in the series.
Thought I’d drop a line. I also make posts on the forum and sing out on the shoutbox there, so there may be stuff there even when I don’t update this blog. If it looks silent for a day or two, check those other places and see if there’s something going on 🙂
