Here a Picture, There a Picture

Ugh ... pictures.  Spent hours to get the GoDaddy scenery pictures up, thanks to the helpful people in customer service.  They represent the landscape of the Marches my Half-Elven play in ... but am still waiting for the original artist to get back to me.  I need to get some specific pictures up that show my characters.

Think I'm getting an object lesson about working with "family".  Still, I like his style ... and hope to get something soon.  If not, I'll proceed without him ... and let him keep the down payment.

Found another possible artist at AW Water Cooler.  We've exchanged emails, and she's interested.  Surprising thing, she works in markers.  I'm thinking markers fade, but if I get the pictures scanned ...  We're working for a picture for The Foiling of Gorsfeld.  

Am thinking I may have to change my planned schedule for posting stories.  I keep coming up with backstory and infodumps instead of story.  I've never really been able to do short stories, and I seem to be reverting to form.

Somewhere, I saw a comment to the effect:  What happens when your characters stop talking to you.  In this case, Renna's talking too much and to little purpose.

Waiting ....

So I got my part of the website up ... without the artist art.  I think I just learned why you don't hire "family" to do work projects for you.  You can't growl when you think they're late.  Giving him another week to come up with some ideas ... aka proofs.  I may have to impose a deadline.

On a positive note, I did get some notes on the next Renna's Tale jotted down.

The Foiling of Gorsfeld

Did it.  The first installment of Renna's Tales about Mariah, Ashton and Linden is up and readable ... I hope.

Link's on the side.

Trudging Along ...

Slow progress.  Maybe work is moving so slow on the site, you can't see it.  Today, I'm calling GoDaddy customer service.  Maybe you might soon see a picture ... but not the ones coming from the artist.

Spent most of the last week working on a short story.  The core ideas had been done months ago from another point of view.  Decided gossip about the characters would come better from a secondary character (Renna)  rather than one of the main actors (Mariah).

Had a major panic moment.  I knew I had saved the story, but couldn't find it when I went looking for it.  Fortunately, NYC daughter had saved it where she could retrieve it.  Her reward?  She got the revise version to critique.  Others are critiquing it too ... but I still may fall on my face into a pool of criticism because I don't follow the normal short story formula.

One other point.  The AW Water Cooler denizens have pointed out -- there's no artwork on the site.  Hopefully, the artist I'm working with will come up with some ideas soon.  I'm faced with the dilemna:  "to nag or not to nag".

A mile stone.  Someone returned to look at the site.

Continuing Website Saga

Still no pictures of my Half-Elven yet.  Hey, don't think I can nag my artist.  Oh, I could, but he might get mad.

Am still dinking with the website, changing this and that.  Did mention it's existence at the AW Water Cooler and got lots of insights on what writers expect from a website.  Saddest comment.  Some thought publishers provided websites for their published writers, and I should wait for my publisher to provide.  

My reading says different.  Comments from several mid-list authors whose publishers left them to hang in the ether.  For me?  I'm setting up to promote an e-published novelette by a micro-publisher [WolfSinger Publications].  I think I'd wait a looooong time for a publisher website to appear on the web, though I hope to get some suggestions once next year's publishing schedule is set.

The consensus of AW comment pointed to one big problem with my site -- lack of content.  So, I went digging through my files Sunday afternoon looking for the story I thought to rewrite and place as the first installment of "Renna's Tales".  I couldn't find it.  Worse, I can't remember the trick Mariah played on her unwanted suitor ... though I think it had something to do with pigs.

Then, my NYC daughter came to the rescue.  She found a copy of the story in her email files.  Now I have to rewrite to fit the new format.  Mariah will no longer be gossiping about Half-Elven characters, but Renna.  It's not entirely far fetched.  Renna is a mentioned character in Taking Vengeance.

Doing the Media Thing

At this point in time, it's all abut building a platform for the Half-Elven of the Far Isles.  A big distinction since there are active forums on Tolkien's elves and their human alliances. Marriages?  Gaming forums also have half-elvish characters.  Bet none of them have a grandmother as a main character.  [No I am not a grandmother.]

So the progress report:  Waiting.  Waiting to get the copyediting done on the short story for Smashwords.  Waiting for the artwork.  Then, maybe I can do some polishing on the site.

Website in Process

Done Done It!

The Half-Elven of the Far Isles website is under construction -- and the home page's on line.  Now I have to get my guru to help me get all the buttons in place.  Learning how to edit text would help too.  Spent over 3/4 an hour trying to add "under construction" to the site.  It didn't take even though I hit all the "save" buttons I saw.

One of the first things that'll go up is a short story:  Caverns Between Worlds.  It doesn't involve the main characters, but answers a question Linden can't figure out -- "Why the blazes did Hattenel ring-mate Voron?"