So, it’s almost November. That means new monthly spotlights. It also means the entire writing world online is about to be consumed by NaNoWrimo.
For those not in the know, NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. Basically, it’s to challenge yourself to writing a 50k word novel in 30 days. Sounds hard, right? But thousands and thousands of people do it every year, with most coming back year after year to try again.
I’m so happy to be posting here again! I’m stealing some wifi right now so I can update you guys on what’s going on around here, and I’ve been saving up lots of stuff to update. Here’s a list of what’s new:
I think that’s everything. I also have a new hostee moving in soon, but I’ll save that announcement for when she’s actually got her page all up and running. Not to mention a new section I’m working on, but more on that too when I get the kinks ironed out.
I love the fall! It seems like the hanfic world is coming back alive this time of year, too, which makes it even better. Taking the Leap is just finishing up posting all the new stories written for it, and Trick or Treat is wrapping up signups soon, so hurry up and get yourself on the list. Then, of course, NaNoWrimo is coming in November and Christmas Time right after that. It’s going to be a good autumn, that’s for sure! I hope you guys feel it, too.
I just wanted to fire off a short post to let you guys know why I haven’t been updating and won’t be updating for the foreseeable future.
My laptop crapped out a week ago but luckily didn’t take any files with it; it was only the battery and the hard drive was fine. I’ve traded with my dad and am working from a nearly brand new HP now. However, this computer doesn’t have a port for a phone line so unless there’s some sort of (hopefully cheap) converter, I can’t use the internet at my mom’s. Mobile broadband has just become available there, but it’s a bit out of her budget. I’ll be able to get online once a week when I can steal some wifi at her doctor’s appointments.
However… I don’t know how long this will be the case. I’m moving in with mom indefinitely while I search for a job in a nearby town to hers. Once I’ve found a job, I’ll be moving into my own apartment soon as I can. Getting my own internet, and the fastest I can, will be my number two priority for the apartment — ranking just below a bed and mattress.
What this all means is that I won’t be putting up spotlights for September, but I will try to get October’s posted as near to the beginning of the month as I can. Possibly sooner, since I’ll be in Nashville on September 29 to see HANSON. My third concert — fourth if you count an in-store acoustic thingy.
So there’s my news for now. Stay tuned for some updates to the layout of Extemporaneous while I’m briefly able to.
Just what it says on the tin, folks. I’ve got lots of awesome new stuff to share with you.
First up, I’ve spent the last two weeks doing a major overhaul on the directory. The big things you’ll notice are the new layout and the massive amount of new sites, but I’ve made lots of other changes as well. Here’s the breakdown.
A lot of those changes seem pretty minor and I imagine most of you don’t really care, but I just felt like sharing. There’s so many little things that go into coding these pages to give you guys the best experience possible and sometimes I just feel like bragging sharing.
Next up on the list of news! New hostees!
Jesse-may, the author of the month, recently closed her domain and admitted in the interview that she was starting to regret the decision. She didn’t like transferring everything to LiveJournal but also couldn’t justify paying for a domain that wasn’t seeing much use. I had the perfect solution — hosting on my domain! So click here to visit The Truth In Lies. She’s still moving in, but soon you’ll be able to read such stories on the site as Last Summer and Fire and Ice.
The second new hostee has a similar story. Just a few days later, Diamond tweeted that she was closing down her domain and only posting to LiveJournal from now on. I suggested that if she ever missed having a site, she was welcome here. She quickly took me up on the offer. You can visit her site, Mirage, by clicking here. On it, you’ll find such stories as Ships and The Consequence of Feeling.
As for my own sites and stories, there are updates coming soon. I’m doing some reorganizing on Extemporaneous and I plan to upload all of that once I can steal some wifi. I’m also working on another new layout for this site, as I haven’t been nearly as happy with this template as I hoped I would be. But that’s not going to be coming soon for quite some time.
Hope you guys enjoy today’s updates. If nothing else, it ought to give you plenty to read for quite a while.
I am no bueno at coming up with creative titles for these blog posts. But I suppose that’s okay. Informative is good, right? I think so. And hopefully legible, considering I’m uploading and updating blindly. Oh dialup, thou art a fickle mistress.
So, as the title says, I’ve posted the monthly spotlights for August. They are as follows:
As for the more new stuff later part? I’ve got a new design and a huge 100+ site update for the directory, but I’m holding that back for a few days…
…because I have new hostees who are in the process of moving in! More about those in the future, when their sites are ready for viewing.
I hope I’ve created some sort of suspense by dangling all this awesomeness over your heads. Check back soon when all will be revealed, haha.