Shorter hiatus since last time. I suppose that's a positive. Have discovered (in a DUH! moment) that when my computer is booted into Windoze, I can't see my Linux files. That makes things RATHER difficult. If Aptana can see my Dropbox folder, I could park everything up there and access it from any computer. Hmmm... food for thought.
Again, no excuses for the long hiatus in updates. Have done NOTHING with the site since last May, and not a lot of writing - a page or two on Catspaws. The site design is still valid, I think. I've not had anyone tell me they don't like it, can't figure it out, etc. Until that happens, it's going to stay this way. I'm not going to scrap the older updates here until I get everything caught up. At my present rate, that will be sometime around the turn of the next century.
Still gainfully employed, which is a good thing. Annual eval is due this week. Lots of turnover at work, which has been painful in some cases. It's a rotten shame to see a 24 year old kid toss his career (and his entire life) down the crapper for what can only be described as complete lapse of judgement.
Have reinstalled Linux on my home computer, which has the side effect of making me more prone to do productive things (translate: not play games). I'm no longer posting anything of consequence on Facebook, and have switched to Dreamwidth cross-posting to LiveJournal. Eventually I hope this will become my main site.
No excuses for the months since my last update. Golden Gain's first four chapters are now linked and available here.
After the better part of a month with no inspiration, I'm writing again. Finished chapter 7 of Varlet and sent 1-4 off to the beta-reader.
Today is MLK day here in the US. A holiday from work.
I've looked into converting the site to eFiction, but there are a couple of issues with that. First, eFiction hasn't been updated for over a year. That kind of makes me nervous. Secondly, it's not well-suited to a site that's not completely devoted to writing.
I've been thinking about adding a Fic Recommendations page to the site because there's a lot of really good stories "out there" that deserve to be read.
Happy New Year to anyone who follows my rather sporadic updates. I really am trying to get better at it.
Hope everyone had a good Turkey Day. I'm enjoying the last of a 4-day weekend. Then it's three weeks at work, followed by eleven days of vacation / holiday. I could almost wish that it was possible to spread the holidays out a little; it's always seemed a bit overloaded at this time of year.
Fanfic... I've acquired a beta reader, which is a good thing. I'm trying to get Ashwinder updated to the same level as TPP is. Once that's done, I'll try to get PPA and FFN updated as well. And I'll keep writing. Since my last update, I've done another chapter on The Varlet, and started what was supposed to be a one-shot, but seems to have taken on a life of its own now.
I'm not likely to make the second half of my NaNoWriMo goals this year. But at least I got SOME writing done, which is better than I did last year or the year before.
Last but not least: RIP Anne McCaffrey. The Dragonriders of Pern were my friends for many years.
Personal update: I've just closed my Google+ account due to their Real Names Only policy. For now, I can be found on LiveJournal.
Website / Fanfic update: still converting stuff to the new layout, but I uploaded a lot today. I hope to finish the last of the one-shots over the weekend and start on the stuff that's "in process". Half a chapter (more or less) done on The Varlet, which should make people happy.
Real life update: not much to say here. Just work and such. Have no idea who is or isn't reading my site here, but it looks like I might be picking up some readers on LJ again. At some point, I need to get a messageboard attached here - either that, or convert the entire site to eFiction.
Invictus is completely uploaded. I still need to go through and double-check formatting, as some of the puzzles absolutely depend on it. The first few of the one-shots are done as well. So it's been a productive day on the "get the website updated" front. I'm planning to get the completed stories done first, and then I'll work on the others.
I'm also validating my HTML (slowly) with the 4.01 Transitional standard and updating the footer of validated pages to reflect that. Generally (for me) this involves adding closing tags to lists and alt attributes to images.
Too wet and icky today to get the Harleys out, but we did drive over to a mall that we'd never been to before and checked it out. Bought a couple of things, so it wasn't a wasted trip.
TGIF. No real updates to speak of. Major epiphany last night that involves a mild redesign of the fanfic portion of the site, so I'm hoping to get that dealt with over the weekend. Also one of my plot-pond monsters woke up and has hit me with a "What if...?" idea.
If I haven't mentioned it before, I'm really liking Aptana for website work.
RIP Steve Jobs. No, I didn't know the man personally. But I think he's directly or indirectly touched pretty much everyone. Macintosh computers, Ipods, Ipads, Iphones, Itunes... I know no one who hasn't at least HEARD of these. I know very few people who don't own or use one of these. That's quite an incredible legacy.
Website updates: Let's see here... I spent a long time trying to get MS Publisher to do what I needed it to do. With minimal success, I might add. So I went back to using MS Front Page 2003. But honestly, being locked into a ten year old program that isn't supported any more is just setting myself up for long-term pain. So I went looking around the 'Net, and found Aptana Studio. Not only is it freeware and still being maintained, but it comes in Linux as well as Windows flavors. This makes the idea of scrapping Windows altogether quite a bit more attractive.
As with most changes, this has resulted in a redesign of the site. Part of this is caused by the learning curve associated with new software. Part of it is that I'm learning to use CSS properly. And part of it is that the site was due for major renovation anyway. So all previous blatherings and updates have been deleted and I'm starting over.
Front Page is easier to use in a lot of ways than Aptana. But Aptana is the far better tool for learning what you're doing. FP knows what CSS is, but Aptana has a CSS editor - it knows the proper syntax and will complain at you if you forget a semi-colon. I'm having some flashbacks to my days of Pascal programming.
Fanfic updates: Haven't done much for far too long. I did get another chapter of Golden Gain posted at TPP. Am completely stonewalled on Catspaws. I know where it needs to go, but having trouble getting there. And I don't want to take the whole thing apart and redo the last two chapters.
Internet Life updates: I've abandoned Facebook and deleted my account there. Have tried Google+, but I don't like it. Until I get my site here working properly, I am back to using my LiveJournal.
Real Life updates: Still gainfully employed, which is a good thing. Like most of my coworkers and for the most part, I like what I'm doing. Still have the occasional bouts of stupididity to deal with, but I think that's probably something that goes along with ANY job.
In the last couple of years, we lost our two oldest cats. It's difficult to shut the door on fourteen years of companionship. We've got new cats to follow them, but never replace them. The Doomspark Household doesn't run well with less than three cats.