After a slack period over the summer I’m trying to bring back some discipline to my life. And more particularly into my writing. Just at the moment I’m busy reorganising my Internet sites. It won’t be so very obvious just yet, but I hope the work behind the scenes will begin to show on the different sites during September.
Having bought myself a “smartphone” I realised how very unresponsive my Internet sites are to the requirements of modern technology. I use WordPress and so I’m looking for new WP themes that will improve my sites for all visitors. Whether you’re using a computer, a smartphone or a surf pad the visit should be a smooth experience. If you want to see how I’m getting along I’ve started a new photo blog, GBG365, to try out one such theme. Do drop by!
Ultimately my plan is to hive off several of my categories at TheSupercargo into separate blogs. To have TheSupercargo main site more as a showcase for current entries. It feels … tidier somehow. [It wasn’t.]
Adel Publishing
Apart from working on the websites, the other big thing holding my attention at the moment is Elin’s Story. In my last few entries “At the Quill” I was taken up with the British-based writers’ Internet site YouWriteOn. I posted two versions of the first 7000 words or so of Elin’s Story there. Though I twice failed to win their bi-monthly competition (that is to say, generate enough approbation for one the extracts to come into the site’s top 10 by the end of the month), I did strike up an acquaintance with another competitor, Nigel Leech. Through Nigel I came in touch with a soon-to-launch co-operative publishing house, Adel Publishing. (That’s their website banner to the right.) I’ve had a deal of contact with Adel Publishing and Nigel over the summer.
The upshot is that Elin’s Story is changing once again. I’ve now shelved my 2011-2012 plan for a 120,000+ word novel set in 1576 with the previous 10 years told in flashbacks. I’m now looking to tell the story in the form of several shorter books (c.70,000 words) and I’m working on a detailed synopsis of the first now.
The Long Way to London
The working title is Elin’s Story Part 1: The Long Way to London, clumsy but descriptive. This will tell the 1564-1565 story of the remarkable journey that Elin took, as a maid-of-honour in the court around Princess Cecilia Vasa, when she travelled to England from Sweden via the Baltic, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands. In fact, though the ultimate destination is London the story will actually only get them all as far as Dover. This could be published sometime in the first half of next year as a part of Adel Publishing’s public launch. [Or not. As it happened.]
Elin’s Story Part 2 will take the story further. Through the Princess’ sojourn in London and the courtship of Elin by Lord Parr which eventually led to her remaining in England when the Princess, hounded by her debtors, fled at the end of April 1566.
I am also planning to start a website dedicated to Elin’s Story. This will collect some of the facts and fiction about her and the people and places she comes in contact with … but that’s a subject for another blog entry. And after I’ve found the perfect software to present it!
Revisited and revised for spelling and SEO fine-tuning 29 Dec 2016.
Blog optimisation:
I also use WordPress for my blogs despite a few issues because it makes life so much simpler. I haven’t done a proper check of available themes, but am happy with their Atahualpa theme. It offers enough customisation options for me.
The web sites are a different matter. I’m currently using Serif WebPlus X6, which is a quite powerful and easy to use WYSIWYG app. When I can afford it I may move to Adobe Dreamweaver, partly for compatibility with Adobe InDesign which I’m using to prepare material for print and digital publishing. For most people the Serif App offers more than enough and s way cheaper 🙂
I’m no expert, but I’ve found a range of factors which influence load speed for web sites (and WordPress blogs are just a type of web site). Perhaps I should write them up as a blog post on Adel Publishing.
Thanks for this, Nigel.
I’m currently using the Atahualpa theme for this site, and I was very satisfied with it up until seeing how much better photos could be presented with a responsive theme like Eclipse (the one I’m trying out for the photoblog site).
Text, however … I’m not sure. I’m looking at the Pinboard theme which a friend is using but I have issues with the readability of theme colours.
Perhaps all I really need to do is redesign what I’ve got (But I’m thinking about the new site for Elin’s Story too.)
TheSupercargo in its original incarnation was created with Dreamweaver (the version just before Adobe bought it and the price went through the roof 🙂 ). I still have that old software and a computer it runs on, but I shall happily take a look at Serif. The problem is (for me) that I don’t think “code is poetry”. I think of it more as “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing” – except without the tale, or the sound, or even the fury (if it’s not mine). I can just about batter my way through HTML coding (HTML3 that is!) but PHP, Javascript, Ajax, CSS and all the rest leave me mostly frustrated. WordPress is a great solution … when you don’t have to change anything, but changing things often brings me back to screaming. Atahualpa has a very friendly, helpful community, but even there I find they tend to forget they aren’t necessarily addressing programmers.
As far as speed goes, living in Sweden where the majority of people with Internet access have broadband of some sort, speed hasn’t been something I’ve worried about for many years. Thanks for reminding me that reaching out to a wider audience it might be a good idea to take it into consideration. (Visiting England – even London – Internet connection can sometimes feel like swimming in treacle.) I for one would like to read what you have to say about factors influencing load speed.
Cheers!