Wow. Joomla! sucks. It’s very, very, very, very complicated to use, and for what it puts out, it’s certainly not worth the effort I had put into it a few months back. (It was so much trouble I decided against writing in the blog instead of dealing with it.)

Fortunately, getting content out of Joomla! is a lot easier than getting it in, so I’m already moving things back to trusty ol’ WordPress. The main site will be powered by Silverstripe, a very simple content system for what I need. And, for once, I can use a similar template on both the blog and the main site.

Comments (0) Apr 15 2010

The ending of “The Empty City” has long bothered me. It’s just, well, a stretch. Too fast. Too unbelievable. Really, not that good.

And while I thought about what to do about it, I realized something else: I just don’t like the whole story. Of course, it’s my first fiction work, and I accept the fact that very few people are good at something the first time they do it publicly. But the story just has a few too many holes in it and its sci-fi elements are just a bit too campy.

So I’ve unpublished it from Amazon and Smashwords, with one big intent: starting over. The protagonists will stay, but the story they’ll be in will be a little better. And I’m combining in elements from “At a Distance,” the as-yet-unpublished sequel to the now-unpublished “The Empty City,” and another story I just came up with.

I’m just starting writing the reboot, so it’ll be a while before I publish it.

And to the one person who bought “The Empty City:” Thanks for your purchase, and I hope it wasn’t too disappointing.

Comments (0) Mar 31 2010

I guess it’s been a little while since I blogged, huh? Well, part of it is the holidays and some other busyness in my other life, so I haven’t had a whole lot of time to sit down and write or edit.

But, I just completed a day and a half of writing (yes, even as midnight struck this morning), and I’ve finished the first draft of the sequel to “The Empty City,” which, at least for now, I’m calling “New World.” I also got a start on the next story, still untitled, that goes back to the personal kind of story that I’ve been trying with “Salazar.”

And, speaking of that story, I haven’t gotten a whole lot of work done on the editing process. I’ve always had trouble editing my own work, but hopefully I’ll get “Salazar” done within the next couple of weeks.

Comments (0) Jan 01 2010

I realized the other day that it’s kind of silly maintaining a WordPress blog and a hand-coded HTML Web site for Section 51 (yup, folks, that was hand-coded). I mean, just yesterday I redesigned the main section51hq.com site using Photoshop Elements, Taco HTML Edit and (eek!) tables, only to discover I didn’t know enough HTML to make it do what I wanted it to do.

So, less than 24 hours after the table-based homepage went live, I’ve switched the whole kit ‘n’ kaboodle over to Joomla!. (The exclamation point is part of the name. Seriously. Like Yahoo! and Jeopardy!.) And, before long, this blog will be Powered by the Joomla as well. (As soon as I can find a working way to convert entries from WordPress to Joomla, since the one plugin Joomla hosts doesn’t work for me.)

Oh, and also in the last 48 hours: a new logo design and graphical look for the trailer. I’m also rendering some new animations for a longer trailer.

Not a whole lotta writing, but that’s OK so I can look at the stories with fresher eyes and make them their best.

This is likely my last entry on this particular blog, since I’ll be blogging over on the main site soon.

Comments (0) Nov 28 2009

Okay, for working on my own for Section 51, I have quite a bit going on:

• Novel 1 (“The Empty City”) – now on a second revision/rewrite
• Short Story 1 (“Salazar”) – on a bit of a break before editing
• Novel 2 (unnamed) – a few chapters into the first writing
• Music – a few GarageBand songs written as a bit of inspiration, plus some new background music for the TEC ad I showed you earlier
• This blog

And that doesn’t count the “Salazar” ad I’m starting to think about or the cover art I still need to design.

I don’t really mind the fact I have so much going on with Section 51, since it allows me to be creative in several different avenues, but it certainly makes it a bit harder to get the next draft of TEC done.

On the plus side, I’ve added to the length. Earlier, I mentioned I was worried about the story being around 9,000 words, making it an awfully short novel. Now, with quite a bit of revision still to go, I’m up to more than 15,000 words, and the story is more colorful. And when you add in the 8,500 words of “Salazar,” I think the first book will be pretty satisfying.

Comments (0) Nov 16 2009