Time to Re-do the Website

My 50day/50blog VEXING THE VISCOUNT tour was supposed to be at Melissa Alvarez's site, but the last I heard from her, she'd was experiencing some technical difficulties and has been ill. (I sympathize and wish her exceedingly well!) But, the blogtour must go on. Soooooo . . . .

Welcome to my house once again.

Please excuse the dust and for heaven's sake, don't open any of the closets! I've been a little busy for the past month with the blog tour and finishing up my Christmas novella. And recovering from surgery. (Doing well, thank you!)

And in my spare time, revamping my website.

Once I sold my first manuscript, one of the things my agent told me was that I was expected to put up a website. I could have hired it done, but it's quite a spendy proposition. And I wouldn't be able to change it at will. Besides, I have an uber-techie DH. How hard could it be?

Right.

Have you ever remodeled a kitchen or bath? Same thing--only with little 1's and 0's.

I didn't consider that my DH's expertise is with much larger platforms (like airline reservation systems!) and neither of us had any design experience. But, my DH muscled through my first Diana Groe website and though it wasn't fancy, I had a web presence.

Then I discovered the wonders of website templates. My poor DH was pressed into service again. Only this time, he had to play teacher, schooling me in the wonders of Frontpage and Photoshop and Filezilla. And when it comes to technology, I am NOT a quick study. But my DH is very patient (Well, he lives with me. He'd have to be, wouldn't he?)

So now I have a website I can tinker with to infinity and beyond. It frequently grows like a Brazilian rainforest and I have to pare it back. Right now, it needs a trim and I'm tired of the colors. Check out my current homepage and then my new homepage. (This is the only way to view this pages since it's not 'live' yet, so none of the links work.) Let me know what you think. I'm trying to keep the index page from running on and overwhelming visitors. What do you think about having the navigation bar along the side?

It's still a pretty simple website design. I look at CL Wilson's or Jessica Andersen's flashy sites and wonder if I could learn how to use DreamWeaver . . .

Gotta go. Think I hear my DH tearing his hair out.


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