A Little Argiope Action

I actually had a fairly productive day yesterday, after a slow start.

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I collated different opinions on internet ads, and then did some reading. After that, I settled down and surprised myself by putting in a thousand words on Argiope. I hadn't worked on it in a while, and I felt inspired. There was a scene I had been intending on inserting, so I went ahead and wrote it out in one sitting and put it in.

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Not bad. I wish I could do that more often. I also need to decide if I want to publish Argiope under a psuedonym or not. I don't want to get know as the "spider" auther. And the "voice" of Argiope is very different than The Ways of Khrem. Adam is very different than Cargill. Oh well, I need to get the blasted thing written before worrying about things like that.

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Today, is Rowan's Tuesday therapy visits, so I'm gone for half the day. I probably won't get much done tomorrow, but we'll see. Monday, Thursday, and Friday are usually my most productive days. That's just the way the schedule works.

Fatty McFatbutt Prepares to Diet Again

Okay, so I lost twenty pounds over the course of the spring...and gained almost all of it back in April. So now I have to try again. I have to make a live appearance to sign and sell books at Apollocon, so I need to lose it again. It's either that or pretend I'm Orson Welles reincarnated.

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So, the cook is about to go on a diet.

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Sigh

More Boring Stuff

Well, Monday is upon me, and what have I done? I've spent the weekend working on advertising strategies and watching Zorro. Yeah...Zorro. The old black and white Disney seriel with Guy Williams. The guy who would later play Dr. Robinson on Lost in Space. Hey, for an old Disney seriel, it was actually a pretty cool show. We have both seasons on disc, and Sheridan likes to watch them. I'm not sure he has noticed they are in black and white.

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Other than that, not a lot to report. Sheridan and I both got over our illness at about the same time, and neither Karla nor Rowan ever showed any signs of it. So maybe it was something we ate.

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Anyways, I have a lot to learn about webpages and Amazon.com. So that's it for now.

More Ads

This is sized as a skyscraper ad. You see these along the sides of many webpages. I'm kind of pleased with the way this one turned out.

Here We Go Again

Another button ad comparison. In this one there are two things to evaluate.

One. The wording is different.

Two. A different type of yellow is being used.

Please let me know what all of you think on these two issues.

Thanks.

Update: Sunday Morning. I just reuploaded the images because the border on one of them had been wrong. Now it's fixed.

Plague

The plague has moved into our household.
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Poor Sheridan was throwing up all night, and now has a fever. I have almost been throwing up this morning, and don't feel very well. Poor Karla has to work. Rowan seems okay, but it's always hard to tell with her.
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I'll be spending the morning on the couch, being nearby if the kids need me, but semi conscious.
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Blech!

Productive Evening

I've got Sheridan off to his school party so he can enjoy time with his friends. I also got a good roast done, and saw to it that Karla and Rowan had a good dinner. On top of that, I finished the first draft of "The Ornament," a Christmas story I'm writing for a friend.

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So far, so good.

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I'll pick Sheridan up at around ten. Then I'll let Karla worry about throwing him in bed while I go for a late writer's night out with Cherri Galbiati, to brainstorm over things like promotion and stuff like that. She is also going to show me her Kindle. I've been kind of curious about those.

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Oh well, it looks like busy evening.

Rawr!

Ole Toothsome says "Hello." You'll have to read the book to find out who he is.
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The reason for the pic above is that I'm considering adding a beastary to the web page I'm planning for The Ways of Khrem. It would contain entries and artwork on monsters contained in, or mentioned by, the book. There would creatures such as Felk Spiders, Storm Wraiths, Barrow Wolves, Sarolisks, Stone Drakes, and several others. I haven't decided the format yet. One idea is using entries from a book that Cargill owns, called Crewells Beastiary. While he has volume two of the book, I could make the different creatures be listed like entries from different volumes of the book.. Oh well, it's just an idea at this point.
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I wasn't originally expecting the book to come out until late summer or early fall...then it got moved up to the first of June. Now it might be out even earlier. That's actually cool, but it means I didn't have the time I thought I would have to get some things ready...like the webpage...that I thought I would have. So I'm sort of scrambling. It will get done though. And I can always improve on things after the book comes out.
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I've also been doing more snooty reading today. I've been reading Geoffrey de Villehardouin's first hand account of the Fourth Crusade. The Gutenburg Project absolutely rocks. You can download tons of books that are public domain for free...many of them translated manuscripts from long ago. I highly recommend it for fantasy authors, who want to do a little research on the old ways of the world. Just something to build on.
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I think I'm going to sleep in today.

Updated Comparison

I haven't made a decision yet on the text, but I updated the graphics by giving the buttons a lighter blue border. I think that improves it and makes it look more professional...I hope.

I've also been doing a little work on a Christmas short story. Not a lot, since I ended up chopping out most of what I added. I'm used to my short stories being about five thousand words long, but some ideas simply don't require that. My first instinct is to start adding fluff to draw it out, then I have to go back and cut it all out...because let's face it, fluff is fluff.