Pictures and Linkies and Fun Stuff, Oh My!

If there were a prize for writing-blog-posts-in-your-head-then-never-posting-them, I can pretty much guarantee I'd be a winner. In the past week, I have written blog posts on looking for happiness, learning stuff from marking, why exercise is like writing, and of course, the two posts I've been writing and rewriting in my head for over a month, investigating self publishing and Holly Lisle's courses. Oi. *facepalm*

It's now like an hour and a quarter past my ridiculously early bedtime (hi, bump-who-drains-my-energy *significant look*), but I was DETERMINED to say SOMETHING today, so here I am, saying... something.

Actually, I have something I think is exciting to say :o) I've been messing around with the blog and the website trying to actually make the website look something like something I like. What that looks like, I'm still not 100% sure, which is part of the problem. I know what I want ON the site, just not how to prettify it, and it's driving me nuts o.0 Anyone know a cheap web designer out there? Apparently I'm in the market *eye roll*

ANYway, as part of this, you'll notice (if you click through) that the linkage across to the top of the blog has been updated, and there's this handy-dandy section called 'readers' now. Long time readers may remember that some time ago, I had a companion site that had projects I was working on, excerpts, totally illegally pilfered images, etc :P

Well, it's back! Only this time, it's legal! Ah ha.

Seriously, though, I have about 8 shorts up on Smashwords now and another couple to pop up there soonish, and the Dog Book (33 Worst Mistakes Writers Make About Dogs) is undergoing a major and gruelling revision in preparation for being re-released, and I thought it was about time I threw up some of the extra stuff I have for all these things. I have images, inspiration-trivia and deleted scenes/excerpts for the shorts, and the Dog Book will have a MASS of extra stuff: photos, appendices, linkage, video clips... All sorts of Really Awesome Stuff.

None of this is up yet, but I'll start putting it up in the next week (around marking, my favourite!) and sit back and let you all devour gleefully. Or maybe just devour. Or, you know, nibble around the edges. Either way.

And on that note, I'm really, truly, honestly, I-promisely, off to bed. *snore*

Shoe Now Available!

Whee! After many months of procrastination, Shoe is finally available for download from my website :) Huzzah for free stories! *confetti*

Hope you're all having a great weekend :o)

Quick Splash

Sooo, it's 9:30pm and still no blog post. Oops O:) On the other hand, I wrote over 3k yesterday, and over 4k today. So you know. You win some, you lose some.

Thus, quick and fun stuff today! Whee! Fun! Splash!

...Yes, my brain is broken due to massive word counts this weekend. Your point? :P

Fun bit #1: My short story With This Ring is out! You can find it at Tower of Light Fantasy Magazine, and you can also vote for it as the best in issue! (Please do; why yes, you're looking lovely today! Oh do, do have a cookie. Have another, here!) With This Ring is an Australian twist on classic selkie mythology, introducing a creature of my own creation: platykies. I think they're cute O:) Bwa ha.

Fun bit #2: We all know about NaNoWriMo, that month of insanity wherein writers around the world band together and try to write 50,000 words in the thirty days of November, but do we all know about NaNoEdMo, National Novel Editing Month? It's a fantastic endeavour, inspired by NaNoWriMo but unaffliated, and I encourage you to give it a shot if you haven't already! Are any of you out there participating in it?

Why do I mention all this? Because (and I feel extremely honoured about this) they asked yours truly to provide one of the pep talk letters for this month B-) If you're interested, you can find my article on Train Proof Suits and Why You Need One here :)

Fun bit #3: The final fun bit for the day is, I think, very exciting. I'm extremely excited to announce that my website is finally up and functional!! I'm still adding content (and will continue to do so for the rest of the foreseeable ever), but on the whole it's there, which is a Very Good Thing. You can find it either by following the link in the tabs at the top of the blog, or by heading straight to www.amylaurens.com :)

And if you do head over there, you'll notice there's a shiny little tab at the top called 'Free Stuff'. Under this are two sections: one where you can find all sorts of writerly resources, like outline sheets, spreadsheets for keeping track of your word count, and the first third of Holly Lisle's fantastic Create-a-Plot Clinic. In the other you're now able to download in pdf form some of my short stories!! Yay! Sea Foam and Blood is up presently, and Shoe will be coming soon.


Finally, if you weren't already aware, I have a LiveJournal which I use to update the specifics of my writing progress. It's sporadic and probably not sane, but hey, I have fun :o)

Wasn't that fun? A whole bunch MORE places where you can find me on the web. Just what you always wanted B-) I know, I know, I'm too kind.

But seriously, I had a tremendously productive (three-day) weekend. How was YOUR weekend?

Website & Web Frustrations

If you're reading in google reader or some such, you'll need to highlight the following text to read it. Blogger's being stupid, so I have to manually colour my text white, which I believe means it won't show up in feed readers properly. Argh!

Okay, that's it. I've had it up to here with my blog templates randomly throwing fits. I don't know about you, but right now I can't read any of my previous posts unless I highlight them, because the text seems to have decided to become the same colour as the background. Grr!!

All of which means, I am renewed in my resolve to get my website up and running. Yes, that's right, I have a website! www.amylaurens.com, in fact. It's been sitting there for several months now, but I haven't directed anyone there yet because it doesn't look pretty. In fact, I don't like the look of it at all, which is why I haven't been working on it.

Yes, I am strange O:)

However, again, this irregularity of blogger template-ness has become most irritating, so I now officially hereby hencewith do offically declare (did I say officially twice? O:)) that I am GOING to get that website up and running. Gah!

*checks calendar* Okay. Would it be a total cop-out if I said by the end of the year? O:) Hehe.