Website Revisited

So, after the hubbub of the book launch died down, I figured it was time for me to do some work on my website.  A writer’s website is a curious beast.  You create it.  It sits on the internet forever. And it slowly becomes outdated.  Not so outdated that it’s absolutely wrong. But sufficiently outdated so that it causes confusion.

Raven & Skull book launch

My website kept mentioning a radio show I used to host.  Back in 2014.  The website also promoted the first book of a trilogy I’d written (but made no mention of the two titles that followed).  And it made no mention of the short stories I’d written or the novel I’ve collaborated on, or the horror title I’ve been flogging this past month: Raven and Skull.

So, knowing it was out of date, I gave myself a couple of days to work on it.

I hate working on websites.    

I remember someone on FaceBook took exception to me using the word ‘hate’ in a status update and said, “Hate is a very strong word, don’t you think?” 

My response was, “Condescending and patronizing are even stronger words, don't you think?”

They took the initiative on that one and unfriended me.

And I don’t think HATE is too strong a word for how I feel about working on websites.  Rather than creating a piece of fiction, or developing a narrative, website content needs to be focused on presentation.  It’s not just about providing relevant information and single-click links.  It’s also about writing the material so that it’s SEO compatible and looks pretty.  It also means refamiliarising myself with ftp programs, the complexities of html, and the nuisance of finding my passwords for various domains.

Nevertheless, I think the finished product looks pretty neat.  It has links to poetry I’ve written and recorded, as well as clickable links to books and stories.  If you're interest, you can check out the website by visiting here.  If you think it looks OK, please tell your friends and share the link.