Thursday, December 18, 2008

Odds and Ends

Well, folks, this is my last scheduled blog post until after the new year. I'm officially going on hiatus until then. Unofficially, of course, I'll still come back and post if I have anything to rant about or share, but I'm not going to be sticking to my regular schedule for the next few weeks. Too much going on, both for me and for you, I imagine.

One of the things I'm going to be doing is working on a new website. I've narrowed it down to a couple of layouts/designs, and need to pick one and get started. It's a little--okay, a lot--scary, because I'm going to be doing it myself (I had planned to pay to have one designed, and still hope to at some point, but for the moment I just can't quite justify the expense, and since I'm not sure exactly what I want anyway...sigh.)

So, does anyone have any suggestions for what you'd like to see on my website? What do you like to see on any writer's website? I'll have excerpts and release dates (what release dates I have, anyway, which isn't any at the moment, sorry), and FAQs and stuff like that. But I'm trying to think of other fun features and things to put in there. I do have one thing planned which I'm not going to share at the moment, but if it goes well it will become a regular feature and should be pretty cool (at least I think so.)

Another thing I may do--something I've been thinking about for quite a while--is switch my main email from the December account to the Stacia account. Right now emails sent to Stacia get forwarded to December, and I may switch that. Because Stacia gets more email.

And also...because I've been thinking of phasing December out entirely.

See, here's the thing. In another corner of the internets, I mentioned--quite without thinking--that I haven't written any new erotic romance in over a year. And it kind of hit me a little later that day, that that was correct. I haven't written any new erorom in over a year. Accustomed to his Fangs was the last December release for at least some time; I don't have any new erorom ideas percolating. It's not really where I'm focused these days.

And I'm not really sure what that means for me or my career, honestly. But at some point, unless I start writing erorom again--which is entirely possible, I'm not saying at the moment that I never will, just that as of now I don't have any real plans to--there's no point in keeping my erotic romance pen name.

So I'm not really sure what to do about that. I imagine it's something I'll make a decision on in the next few months; I'm not worried about it right now. But it is a concern for me, or rather, it is something I'm thinking about.

And on a totally different note, hubs and I were very interested to see the Broward County PD has now officially closed the Adam Walsh case, and declared Ottis Toole to be the guilty party. We're not really sure how we feel about this, given that Toole has long been a suspect but has also long been doubted as The Guy.

And here's the thing. Of course it's not bizarre for us to be interested in the Adam Walsh case--really, who among us who were children in 1981 doesn't remember it? But we have a particular interest in it, which is a little chilling. See, while in 1981 I was safely tucked up in the suburbs of St. Louis, the hubs was living in Davie, FL. And the Sears from which Adam was taken was less than fifteen minutes from his house. And of course, hubs was the same age as Adam. And, in fact, just a day or two before Adam was stolen from that Sears, hubs's Mom had taken hubs to that exact same store--and left him alone in that exact same toy aisle while she did her shopping. Kind of chilling, isn't it?

I know, it's hard to remember now that there was a time when parents used to leave their young kids unattended in the toy aisle. But they did, all the time. We used to stay in the car, too; I have lots of memories of reading in the car while my Mom ran into one store after another. Nobody thought anything of it, or worried about it at all; it was perfectly normal. Whereas now... It's a very sad commentary on what the world has become, isn't it?

On a cheerier note...I got my coat back from the dry cleaner's today, thus ending my weeks of substitute-coat misery. (Remember, I fell on my ass in Tintagel mus?) My coat is nice and clean, and they fixed the rip in the lining too. Yay coat!

And, BFF Cori sent us a package, which arrived today, so we now have the entire first season of The Big Bang Theory on DVD. This makes me very happy, because I adore this show. Yay DVD!

And I guess that's basically it. I keep thinking I had another topic to bring up today, but I don't.

So I will be here, but only sporadically (the good news is this means I can spend more time *visiting your blogs* than I normally get to have), and if you have any thoughts or ideas or suggestions for my nifty new website--which I will NOT be using GoDaddy's horrible WebSite Tonite program for, thank you very much--please, share them! I'd love to hear what you guys like to see in a website.

Have a wonderful holiday, everyone, no matter which one you celebrate. You all have made my days brighter over the last year, and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your comments, emails, and thoughts. Mrs. Giggles did a post on her blog not long ago about my blog readers, and what a great variety of clever, cool people I have (no, seriously, she did!) and I can't agree more.

12 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

Wow, that is chilling about your husband when he was young. As for the website, I like to find out about the "writers" on such sites myself. Their history, habits, etc.

BernardL said...

Merry Christmas, D. I wish you and your family good health. It's better than a Playstation 3. :)

Seeley deBorn said...

Happy Christmas, D. call yourself what you will, you'll always be December to me. :)

Yay coat, and yay BBT!! Love that show. The Boy does too. I'm raising a proud little geek. ;)

Robyn said...

Merry Christmas, D!

I used to work in a toy store. This one single father got his kid every weekend, and Friday night had no idea what to do with him. He would send this 7 year old boy to wander around in the store (at a mall) from 6:30 until the store closed at 9. I don't know where the father went. I finally called the police on him. Douchebag.

laughingwolf said...

just freaky, that sears incident with your hubs! :(

for a look at how another author handles her several noms de plume on her website, click on cs harris [candy proctor] on my page, it may spark some ideas for your own

season's blessings to you and yours....

Angie said...

I like easy-to-find lists of everything a writer has in print, with links right to the places I can go buy whatever strikes my fancy. Writers who just say, "Oh, I'm with so-and-so publisher" and leave me to find the publisher's web site and search the site for their books are less likely to benefit from my impulse-buys.

Other than that, links to your blog(s) are good, and to any free fiction or DVD commentary material you might have up. I'm much less interested in random writers' bio data; unless I feel like I know someone, I really don't care where she went to school or what jobs he had or how many children of what genders. It's pretty much a mandated page for any writer with a web site, though.

Maybe links to favorite or popular posts on your blog? It's hard to do that sort of thing on Blogger, but on a web page you can do a Popular Posts List, or an If You're Into X, I Wrote About It Here sort of directory. Just to brainstorm a bit. [ponder]

Angie

Stacia said...

Isn't it, Charles? *shiver* I almost had a heart attack when he told me about it one day; we were driving past that Sears (it's been closed for a few years) and he mentioned it. That was actually another reason his mum was so eager to get out of Florida.

Thanks for the thought about the site!


And to you and The Man and The Boy, Seeley! Ha, Princess loves the show too. And she can name pretty much the entire Justice League. :-)



You too, Robyn!

Oh that poor little boy! See, I have to admit though, I wonder what the dad's deal was. Maybe he had to work late on Fridays and wasn't allowed to bring the boy, but the kid's mom refused to work around his schedule? Doesn't excuse it of course. But it does make me sad all around for everyone.



Thanks Laughingwolf! I'm keeping the DQ site separate for the moment but one day I may consolidate them, so that's helpful, thanks! :-)



Thanks Angie! Yeah, a bio page is pretty mandatory, but mine will be very short. I hate bios and are no good at them, bleh.

I have been thinking about that; a page which is like an index to the blog, with links to the various series and some of the most popular posts. I may do a contest or poll of some sort to determine which posts should be linked as "Best of". Both websites currently link to the Publishing series. Hmm. I'll have to think about that.

Thanks for the other suggestions too! I will definitely make sure there's links to Amazon/B&N/Powells pages for all the books. As they get listed, anyway. :-)

Anonymous said...

"And also...because I've been thinking of phasing December out entirely."

That would be a sad day indeed. What Seeley said. -V95

Marian Perera said...

Hey December - or Stacia, not sure what to call you now :)

One thing I love to read on writers' websites (or almost anyone's websites) are funny or enlightening or inspiring stories of something that writer did WRONG. Joe Konrath does that pretty well.

I think that's often an effective way to inform other writers - we all perk up when we think we're about to hear Cautionary Tales of Doom. Of course, if you don't have any such real-life stories, don't get any on our account. :D

Stacia said...

Aaaw, thanks V95. I'd still be writing sex in my books, of course, just not erorom. And I don't know for sure. It's just a thought. {{hugs}}


Oh, I've got a few, I think, Marian. There's always my tale of meeting Sherrilyn Kenyon and implying that we could share a publisher and become bestest friends, like a big sipshit. Well, okay, it wasn't quite that bad but I still acted like a moron. The story is here on the blog; search for Kenyon and you'll find it. I think it was June 06...?

kirsten saell said...

Yup, what Seeley and V95 said. You'll always be December to me.

And we are all rather clever, aren't we, lol! If i don't make it back here between now and Friday, have a Happy Christmas. Hugs.

Stacia said...

Hugs back, kis, and yes, we are all very clever. *smug* Lol. Seriously, though, I think I have the coolest online pals ever.