New Look!

Hey! I’ve updated three of my blogs! What do you think? I went on Google and searched for Free Templates Blogger, and this site had what I was looking for: http://blogspottemplates.blogspot.com/. When you get there and click on “Get Template” it asks if you want to open or save, and I opted for open. It gave me two pictures and a text of the HTML to copy and paste in your blog template area. They explain that they no longer keep the images on their own Photobucket* site, but tell you how you can get your own account, (I already had mine and it is very essential if you have a website or blog). I copied and saved their pictures in My Pictures on my computer, then went to Photobucket and downloaded them so they can have their own URL address. Then I went back to the text, and replaced that URL with theirs, which is very easy to find because they have the word “replace” right in their address. And look what came up! Gorgeous! I used the same template for Giggling Grandma and simply replaced the feather pen with my own picture. I had to resize to 1000 ppi and I lightened it and made it slightly blurry, and voila! I love the effect! Go to http://gigglinggrandma.blogspot.com to see the result. I downloaded a different template to my stories and devotions blog: http://storiesanddevotions.blogpot.com, and the only thing I don’t like about it is the type seems pretty tiny, and I couldn’t see in the template where to change it.

So, check these out and see if this template site may work for you. I got very bored with the standard templates in blogger.

A word about Photobucket*, http://www.photobucket.com: This is a convenient site to place your own pictures to get an URL address. When you put pics on your Website, depending on your program, you may need a Web address for it to pull from. I use Go Daddy, (yes ACFWers, even despite the raunchy ads. I had it before they started this campaign,) and it allows me to pull pics straight off my computer. If you mess with templates, like I did with Blogger, you’ll need a URL to do anything fancy.

Hope you enjoy!

Nifty Trick With Unseen POV

Guess what! Guess what! I’m done with the chapter by chapter synopsis (first draft). I found a nifty trick that I want to share with you. As I was writing out what was happening in my synopsis, I realized that I needed to figure out what the villain was doing at the same time. Now, I had already started color coding so I could keep track of whose POV I was in. Pink for the Heroine and Blue for the Hero. So, I used Brown for the villain and started following her/him throughout the story. This way, I managed to keep the timeline from jumping all over the time space continuum. No Delorean’s in my wip, no siree-bob! I also needed to follow the heroine’s sister when they separated, so I put that in orange. Now, when I turn in my synopsis, it will be a pared down version of what I’ve written, and I’ll take out the villain’s and sister’s POVs so the editor doesn’t think they’re in the story as written. Of course, they are there, but behind the scenes, and I’ll reveal that through my POV characters. I’m pumped! Now, I hope I can write the thing with this skeleton I’ve created. I’ve done this on a smaller scale with my novellas, so I ought to be able to do it with a 65K novel. Right? Please tell me I’m right!

I’m on my own deadline with this. The daughter-in-law is moving her entire household here, (minus hubby who is leaving to Korea,) and I’d love to have this off to the editor before they arrive - in three weeks! Yikes! What I need to accomplish now is some final research and write the first three chapters. Can I do it? Please tell me I can!