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Happy birthday
Posted by Mistress of Feathers on Aug 19, 2010 in News
Hey, this blog is officially a year old today!
O_O
Has it really been that long…?
Like!New page
I have observed, through my mysterious webmistress powers, that “wands” and “artwork” are two very popular categories, always among the most looked at, and yet they probably have the least content. I’ve begun working on fixing that.
As you may notice, I’ve added a page on top with pictures of all the wands and such that I’ve made. Like the Projects page, I will be updating it from time to time as I finish new pieces.
I’m also going to add an Artwork page, but I haven’t quite decided whether to restrict it to art that’s related to my writing, or have it just be anything and everything. What would people like to see?
Some things that have little to do with one another
Posted by Mistress of Feathers on Aug 10, 2010 in Fiction (and Nonfiction) Reviews, News, Novels, Writing
I read The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau in one day, almost in a single sitting. My husband got kind of boggle-eyed when I told him that, and yeah, I guess that’s a bit quick, even for me. I mean, it usually takes me at least a whole day, maybe two, to plow through a several hundred page book. It was quite a satisfying read…I’ve seen the movie, probably a year ago now, and it was pretty faithful to the book. That sort of conciseness, common to the young adult genre in particular, is something I admire when I see it and something I need to do more. I have a tendency to write epically.
Right now I’m working on Inkheart, another book that I’ve seen the movie of. Pretty good so far.
I have a ridiculous weakness for M&Ms. In case the blog itself doesn’t give that away.
You might notice that I’ve tweaked the sidebar a little bit. That picture (and yes, that is me) is one the hubby took while we were in North Carolina. It was a nice foggy day, which made for some very neat photo opportunities. I also finally figured out how to eliminate the search thingy at the top. I never liked it there. I’ll probably put it somewhere else in the sidebar, so the blog is still easily searchable.
I’ve been thinking about the logistics of the coup Raphel is planning for the city of Aschera. Read more…
Tweaks
Posted by nightphoenix on Jul 27, 2010 in News
Did some tweaking to the Writing Projects page last night. Updated the Shades, Dragon Singer, and Waters blurbs to reflect more up-to-date ideas on where they are going. Added a spot for Sielu’syoja: The Soul Eaters…need to come up with a theme song. I also intend to add a spot for Raethe and Eolissa’s story (which needs a working title and a song).
However, in the midst of updating, I discovered the my song links weren’t working. I must have updated something which broke the wpaudio plugin I’ve been using. I tried to get it working last night, but alas, no luck. I’m just not code-savvy enough to really know what I’m doing, and unfortunately the site for the plugin is only so helpful if you don’t know what’s wrong. So, just letting everyone know that for the time being, music on the blog doesn’t work. If I have to, I’ll switch to a different plugin.
Meanwhile, keep watching the Projects page. I’ve also added a few more links to the right side, and am about to organize them a little better.
*Update* Music works! Yay for support forums.
High fives
Posted by nightphoenix on Jul 26, 2010 in News
Hey, let’s see how this works.
Now, if you like a post I make, you can give it a high five at the bottom.
P.S. And if you have a user on the blog and are signed in, it should list your username. Otherwise, it will list you as anonymous.
Bots, again
Posted by Mistress of Feathers on Jul 25, 2010 in News
So I finally found a resource with a massive list of known forum spammers, and went through my user list checking every email address. Wouldn’t you know it, most of them were on that list.
I’ve now gone through and deleted probably 3/4 of my user list. I left the ones whose emails didn’t come up on the spammer list, which I am assuming/hoping belong to actual people. (People that I don’t know in RL, that is. There were exactly five of you. Yay!) Again, if you’re human and somehow ended up being deleted, please email me and I can set you back up.
And please feel free to comment on the blog, if you like something/ don’t like something I say! I like feedback.
No, I didn’t drop off the face of the planet
Posted by nightphoenix on Jun 23, 2010 in News
Wow.
I haven’t updated in so long that the system had actually logged me out. That’s, um, bad.
I’ll admit, I’ve been distracted by some personal stuff I’ve been researching. And so, hopefully I’ll be able to compile a more thorough update in the next few days.
Mopping up, again
Posted by Mistress of Feathers on May 27, 2010 in News
I’ve deleted some more users out of the blog that look like spam. Again, if I’ve accidentally caught a real live person in my anti-spam zealotry, just send me an email and I can add you back.
And now, I go to clean up the kitchen.
Population control
Posted by Mistress of Feathers on May 13, 2010 in News
As in, no bots allowed. Humans, supernaturals, and other sentient beings are fine.
I went through and deleted a few accounts that looked like spam to me. So if one of those was you, I apologize…just send me an email or something. I only delete accounts that have really bizarre-looking emails, and even then, I find myself erring on the side of “Well, it might be a person, so…”
Book signing in Vero
So I went to see Holly Black and Cassandra Claire at a little book signing in Vero Beach last Friday. (Good thing I do check LJ every so often, or I might not have known about it). Vero’s only about an hour drive from where we live, so it was really great that they came that close.
Both of them read selections from their new books (Cassandra’s isn’t out yet, Black’s is), and then they did a Q&A. Some of the questions were more interesting than others…heh heh. Kind of makes me think about how they must have to answer the same questions over and over again, and that if my books gain enough of a following that I get to do a tour, how I’d have to do the same thing. Although, having people that interested in what I write would be awesome, in the long run.
I took my stele along, of course, being the ridiculous fan girl that I am. While I was there, I decided to give it to Cassandra Claire, since hey, she invented them, right? She said no one had ever given her one before, so that was kind of neat. I gave her a business card, too.
Let’s see, what else. I ran into a gal I had met at the writer’s conference, and we got to catch up. She’s a fellow fan of Susan Hubbard, and we seem to like the same sorts of books and movies. I had a lot of fun with her at the conference, so it was good to see her again.
But I think the crowning moment of the night was the earth-shattering burp that emanated from the balcony about halfway through the Q&A. Seriously, even the two authors paused long enough to acknowledge it.
Yeah, that was Eli.
Now, I don’t know what’s worse: the fact that my four-year-old son managed to belch loud enough for the entire building to hear…or the fact that I recognized his burp. I remember turning to M and saying “That sounded an awful lot like my son…”
Yeah…the hubby confirmed it later.
Me, Briefly
A. Dennison, fantasy writer and artist. I am currently working to finish my first novel.
