A Writer's Week #24: Chhhhanges

Okay, so as you may or may not remember, I made my final school visit of the year last week. It was a great visit--the kids were great and very enthusiastic. During the visit, the teacher, Mrs. Brenning suggested to her class that they could visit my blog and leave comments for me and I could write back. That's true. I always welcome comments and would love to have a bunch of conversations going on.

But it got me to thinking. Why would kids want to visit my blog? Well, I've got some good character interviews, little known facts, and my kids do book reviews. That's a good start. But what else could I do to make it a little more kid friendly? I also thought that maybe I should weave in a little more information about The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel. After all, the land of Calendria and the people who live there have a lot to offer, and they're pretty interesting.

So I've made some changes to the blog. You may have noticed them if you've been stopping by regularly.  First of all, I changed the typeface of the headings to a fancier, more colonial Calendrian-like script. Ooooh, fancy. Then, I collected some pictures--many of them my own--to form a video tour of Calendria & the Lands Beyond to give visitors a little feel for the book (and besides that, it's fun!). I changed the name of a few pages to reflect this new Calendrian feel as well.

But I didn't stop there, I added a page about Sharky and the pirates of Calendria (Here Be Pirates). In there, kids can find out a little bit about what makes pirates tick, as well as a few links to kid friendly sites about pirates.

Another new page, Dwarf Kingdom History, is just that. It includes a brief history of their underground world as well as a few pictures. There are also a few links to kid friendly sites about geology and minerals for those who, like the dwarves, are interested in rocks and jewels.

Not to be outdone, Kate insisted that I set aside a page to highlight Calendria. So, in the Calendrian History page, I review that village's history. Kate wrote the introduction. I also have some links to a few places that are decidedly Calendrian.

I think these changes make the blog a lot more fun and interesting I'd like to know what you think, please take a look around and post a comment or two.

Now for this week's rundown on the Deliverers sequel. I had unraveled a bunch of problems, but as soon as I started moving forward last week, I hit another roadblock. I think I panicked a bit to be honest, because this week I came up with an answer that was laughably simple.

In the problem section, Eric, Kate and Hallo are helping some other characters evacuate some families through the sewer (stinky, I know). I had them in the middle of the party. When the whole party is attacked, I could not figure out how the three of them could be captured from out of a group of about 200 people. I thought about it for a week, off and on, and could not figure it out.

Then, it hit me. Instead of placing them in the center of the group, why not put them at the end? They allow the rest to escape and get captured along with one or two other people. Problem solved. With that, I was able to write over 1,000 words and move things along. It's easy when you can think straight. Unfortunately, thinking straight is not always an easy thing to do.

Oh my, this post has turned out longer than I thought it would. Oh well. If you made it this far, perhaps you'd enjoy this little snippet of the 70's. I'll update you again next week!