At the end of January I announced that I would be closing down this blog, and relocating.
Well, that time has come, and this is going to be my last post here. But I’m taking away a lot of great memories, and friendships that have formed while bringing you amazing books and authors.
But That’s Not The End Of Things
I still have so many wonderful authors and books to bring you, and will continue to do so over on my new site.
The journey continues over at http://timothybatesonauthor.com where you can sign up to get the latest posts direct to your email address.
So, if you’ve enjoyed seeing all the wonderful books and author interviews I’ve posted here, be sure to pop over to:
New Blog Slots Will Be Opening Soon!
For the authors among you, I’ll be opening up my “Author Services” pages very soon, and you’ll be able to submit your books, author interviews, and apply for one-to-one character interviews very shortly.
Please follow the new blog for an announcement on that front.
There are a number of reasons for my recent silence here on “Ramblings of an Author”, and I can only apologize for not having been able to give advanced notice.
Part of the reason is that over the holiday season I was very distracted by a couple of exciting projects.
More recently, it’s because I’m stepping into a new role for this year’s Brain to Books Cyber Convention & Book Expo.
This has turned out to be a much bigger project than I anticipated at first.
I had to decide on the appearance of the site, and I had way too many ideas at first.
Then I needed to check into the available WordPress templates, and decided I didn’t want to spent to much on getting one custom made for me. Instead I chose to spend many hours building my own – And I’m very pleased with the initial results.
Creating the basic pages for the site has taken some time, because it’s partly a migration from here, and my old Weebly site, and partly a major update of information and format.
I had (and still have) some interesting challenges with the formatting and indexing of the blog pages. This part of the site is still very much a work in progress.
Please feel free to check out the site, and leave me any notes, feedback, criticisms, navigation problems, etc. in the comments below.
For the short term I’ll be blogging on both sites, with slightly different content going out on the new site. Once I have that site settled in, and all the bugs worked out, I’ll be moving there exclusively.
Here’s the bonus homework. Visit the new site, and make sure you check out a blog post. Scroll to the bottom, and subscribe for email notification of new posts.
Reason #2 – Brain To Book Cyber Convention & Book Expo 2019
(Please note, the image is from the 2018 event, so the dates are wrong).
This year’s Brain to Books Cyber Convention and Book Expo will be running from April 12th through April 14th 2019, and I have agreed to take on a more active role than ever before.
Previously I’ve been a participating author, and then the Genre Manager for the Fantasy events. This in itself has been a lot of work, because it means coordinating blog tours, competitions, giveaways, live discussion panels, and a host of authors.
Well, this year, I’ve done something really crazy, and agreed to take on an overhaul of the event site, and much of the setup work for the event. But, I won’t be alone, because we always have a great team of volunteers t get everything running.
My wife and I have become hooked on the model kits from “Metal Earth”. Sandi loves to buy me the kits, and I keep making them.
They’re a fun challenge, with several levels of difficulty and size.
My wife brought me the Colosseum and the Parthenon for Christmas, and then we added another seven kits about a week ago.
I recently reviewed four of the Doctor Who themed kits, over on my new site. There is also a breakdown of how I found the assembly of the “Cyberman Head” kit (shown completed above).
Between all these projects, I’ve been so busy creating things that I actually ran out of material to post here.
But don’t despair, I have started working on a line-up of articles and posts for my new site, and I still have some guest posts to come on here.
Going Forward…
I’m going to allow the existing posts I have scheduled for other authors go out as planned through February.
After that I’m going to be moving all new posts to http://timothybatesonauthor.com, so please be sure to subscribe for updates. Over the coming weeks, I’ll post more reminders of what’s happening, and when.
Ever since I started writing short stores, I’ve been creating 3D models of the characters (using Daz3D). These designs give me a reference point to keep character descriptions consistent.
Then over at the old site I created basic character profiles, but was never happy with the design.
However, that’s all about to change, with the recent leaking of several files from the Seattle Police Department’s Supernatural TaskForce.
This Reporter Just Received Several “SPD:STF Classified Files” From An Anonymous Source.
Over the years, Seattle residents have heard rumors of things that defy explanation. From ghosts to real magicians, from vampires to creatures from ancient legend, there is apparently an agency that deals with them when they come to public attention.
These newly acquired files give us an insight into some of those who have allegedly saved the city from many unexplained threats, or caused them. Who knows what the truth of the matter is… But this reporter just gives the facts as he sees them, and it’s time the world knew about these threats…
— Silas Agnew, SeattleWonderer.Com
Click the profile images to access the secure documents…
I’m going to keep this week’s post rather shorter than usual. I’ve been busy working on my new author website, which has been a great learning experience.
I’m creating everything from the ground up, including:
Page designs
Revised versions of the reader content from the old site
A whole new blog design with different layouts for each blog post type
Updated Character Profiles
I had character profiles on the old website, but I was never really happy with their format. So, I tried something new. I’ll admit that I’m biased about the results.
But, because I’m so happy with the new format, I’m sharing a sneak peek with you. You’re seeing this before anyone else, because I won’t be linking the character profiles into the menu until they’re all done.
Richard Parsons is a wolf-shifter with a drinking problem, and the star of several of the “Shadows Over Seattle” stories. Check out his profile to see what kind of police record he’s built up…
There comes a point in every author’s career where they need to have a website that is entirely theirs to control.
Since I started writing I’ve had my blog hosted here on WordPress, and my website hosted through Weebly. And I’ve been very proud of the work I’ve done on both sites, but keeping a consistent look between the two sites has been difficult.
Even worse, if either site decided to delete my accounts I would lose everything I’d produced.
So now it’s time for a huge change, and that means I’m taking control of everything.
What’s Coming Up?
If you scrolled this far, you’ve seen a glimpse of the current state of development on the website. Here’s a few of the things you can expect to see:
A dedicated page for each of my books
A new author profile page
An author services page
A new home for my blogging
If you want to get a look at things as they develop over the next few weeks, you can see it at http://timothybatesonauthor.com.
That’s right, you read that right… Ramblings of an Author has surpassed 600 posts.
I can’t believe I almost let a momentous event pass by without comment.
My only excuse is that I got caught up in the whirlwind of the “31 Days of Halloween” event.
I Want To Thank EVERYONE Who’s Followed Me For Years!!!
Readers, Followers, Ramblers… Whatever you like to think of yourself, you’re the people I do this for. What started out as a means to get into the habit of writing something regularly has become something of a passion for me.
226 of you clicked that ‘Follow’ button, but so many more catch my new posts through Twitter and Facebook. I can’t thank you all enough for your continued support and interest.
And To My Fellow Authors…
Writers, Authors, Contributors, Friends… It’s a pleasure to have been able to work with every single one of you. I really love being be able to share your books, interviews, and guest posts. So many of you have invited me into your worlds that I can’t help but feel blessed.
What’s Coming Next?
After running the “31 Days Of Halloween” event for the last two years, I’ve come to see that themed months are a ton of fun.
That’s one reason I’m currently running my “Friday Insight”, which follows my NaNoWriMo 2018 journey. Each Friday you’ll be getting a taste of what I’ve been writing during the week. I hope you enjoy.
Meanwhile…
Let me know in the comments how long you’ve been following, and what features you keep coming back for.
October 1 st 2018 – “31 Days of Halloween” 2018 Starts
This is my third annual Halloween blog hosting event. I’ll be giving up much of October to my fellow indie authors, and hosting interviews, book spotlights, and a range of other guest posts.
Some of these amazing authors have already been guests on this blog, and others are stopping in for the first time.
However, I’ll still be contributing the occasional post, because…
October 26th 2018 – “Wolves In The Desert” Releases
This is the third short story in the “Shadows Over Seattle: Prequel” series, and the first to take place somewhere other than Seattle.
I’m excited to be bringing this story to you during the build-up to Halloween, because the first story in the series, “Under A Hunter’s Moon”, was a Halloween release, when it was first published.
To celebrate, I’ll be giving away copies of “Wolves In The Desert” as part of the “31 Days of Halloween” event, along with other prizes being contributed by my wonderful guest authors.
Keep Your Eyes Open For The “31 Days of Halloween Schedule”
I’m hoping to firm up some details before the end of this weekend, so I can post the full schedule ahead of the October 1st start date.
Those of you who’ve been following my blog for a while might have noticed some changes recently. There might even be more to come in the next few weeks.
WordPress is letting people try their new post builder, Gutenberg. It has a lot of features that the existing post builder didn’t have, and I’m excited to be testing it out.
In fact, this very post was created using it.
What Does That Mean For Readers?
Well, hopefully, it should mean that there will be more flexibility in how build each post. Already I’ve started to use it’s column feature as a way to solve some of the age-old problems with formatting text around images.
It might seem like a small thing, but there are a lot of new features coming with that will make embedding videos, etc into posts.
When his squad is deployed to Iraq, Gunnery Sergeant Garfield Feldman leads them in a series operations against forces loyal to Saddam Hussein.
Recently rumors have been flying around base that the enemy has learned a few new tricks, and found ways to ambush Marine units from buildings that had been declared clear.
Now Feldman’s team has received orders to conduct a snatch-and-grab mission deep in enemy-held territory. But what lies behind the walls, and what can Feldman do to ensure the success of the mission?
I’ve been running my Pinterest account for quite a while now, and I just passed 1,500 amazing followers. Here’s some quick stats on the site, before I give you a peak at what those followers are seeing…
59 Boards, including writing advice, story prompts, wildlife pictures, codes, magic, quotes, writing research topics, my latest blog posts, and more
187,300+ Monthly views, which if you consider things is a huge number for a small-time Pinterest user.
28,100+ Individual pins
And now 1,500+ devoted followers, and growing by the day.
Here’s a sample of my top boards.
Birds of Prey (5,143+ pins, with 6 topics) – For those who know how much I love falconry, and getting up close with raptors, or love these amazing creatures themselves.
Writing Prompts (6,219+ pins) – Looking for a story starter, or something to kick-start a scene? This is where you want to be looking.
Big Cats (1,400+ pins, still being sorted into topics) – Lions, Tigers, Leopards, Cougars… If they’re larger than a house cat, they’re here…
Bullet Journalling (1,910+ pins, with a whopping 29 topics) – If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you’ve seen how I use my Bullet Journal to stay organized. This board covers everything from starting your own bullet journal to hacks that can help you really personalize it.
Character Creation (1,140+ pins, still being sorted into topics) – This covers character building, character descriptions, fashion notes, and even a collection of character ideas.
Not only will you learn something about me personally, but you’ll be getting an insight into the kinds of research that I do for my stories… Who knows, you might just find clues to an upcoming plotline…
Timothy Bateson (ramblings of an author) 