Author/Illustrator Website Design Process

When it comes to creating a platform and setting up my social media, I feel it's been well overdue. In my spare time, I want to write so I am a little behind on getting my websites up. What is social media without a website? There seems to be a lot of places to connect and network and I want to allow my audience a place where they can learn about all the information I can make available. So, I'm setting out to design my site finally.

Initially, I am self-taught with Dreamweaver. I have basic knowledge of coding. With two months of studying Dreamweaver back in 2004, I managed to gain some skills and enough know how to begin using the software and found it useful to just create my layout in Photoshop and import to Dreamweaver and make further modifications there. So I am no expert coder. I'm right brained, too much coding makes my head spin. I just want to do the designing.

First, I make a sketch of the layout I desire as a foundation of what I want to create and I do this for each page. Next, I go into Photoshop and start the design process. I am able to design an entire personal website within a week, a simple personal/portfolio site.

It has been a while since I last design any websites so I may take more time when I work on my site. I can't wait to have it complete then it's just updating from there.

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A New Children's Writing Course: The Pleasures and Craft of Poetic Techniques

I have taken several writing courses through the Children’s Book Academy and have absolutely loved and enjoyed the materials, meeting other writers and illustrators, and learning a great deal on improving my writing as well as my understanding of the craft and the publishing industry.

Dr. Mira Reisberg, the founder of CBA and literary agent, is running a new course, “The Pleasures and Craft of Poetic Techniques. She is giving special discounts up till May 5th.

If you have a love for writing and especially desire to refine, improve and learn more about Poetic Techniques, this is the course to take. In fact, probably the only online course out there regarding this specific area.

I urge you to at least stop by this link and read all what is offered and if it fits your goals of a writer, sign up! And while you are there, check out any of her other courses!
Children's Book Academy

Mad Bunnies

Since it is Easter, I wanted to share what one of the creatures are like in Fablelands:

The Mad Bunnies
I have drawn a quick sketch, please see below:

Ok, these are not your regular, cute bwaunies. They are adorable at first. You wouldn't want to pet them. They do bite. Their eyes glow red and they make a really strange vibrating sound when they are pissed off. I swear it almost sounds like they are laughing. They have white fur that shimmer in the moonlight.

They live at the bases of trees where they like to dig holes beneath. I believe they enjoy eating poison mushrooms. That would explain why they are a bit on the mad side. Their bites are known to be leathal because of the poison lingering in their mouths. If a person is infected by one of these suckers, the reaction of such a bite result with something kind of like rabies in your dimension.

So, that it's for today.

Btw...Happy Easter!

:)

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Writing Tip: Pacing

PACING in Writing Art by Laura Pace

I think of pacing in my writing somewhat similar to tempo in music. I used to play the flute, clarinet and piano. While playing the piano, I learned about tempo and depending on the music, you would slow down, speed up, play softly or loud, hold a note long or short, that creates emotion and feeling into the song being played.

Well, I feel doing this with writing is not that far from the same if used as a technique. If you have a lot of action going on, you shorten your sentences and are more quick to the point. In scenes where you are layering details and building up characterization, these tend to be more detailed and visual. So there's a bit more written in the sentence.

So, depending on your story, you can add tempo to your writing effectively.

Here are some helpful articles on how to use pacing in your novel:

7 Tools For Pacing A Novel & Keeping Your Story Moving At The Right Pace
5 Ways to Pace Your Story
How to Nail Your Novel Pacing WIthout…

Julia Stilchen

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