Simplicity

As most of you have noticed, I've been MIA from social media for a while now. For the last couple months, I've been focusing on getting settled here in the Bay Area (Daly City) for the church plant we are a part of - (Canvas) - which should be launching publicly in late September. With all of this time away from my projects, I've had a chance to think about what direction I want my marketing efforts to go. And the one word that keeps coming to mind is...

Simplicity.

After months away from the old version of my website, when I did jump on to see what could be fixed, I was pained to see how cluttered and messy my website looked. The colors were all wrong, the graphics and text were a clustermess, and some of the links didn't even work. Aside from the website, my business cards have needed a facelift, as has this blog, and even my Facebook pages. I've even become unhappy with the face I've given to The Crossover Alliance, a social community I created for writers/readers of edgy Christian speculative fiction.

With the realization that all these facets of my author platform need to be simplified (and overhauled), I did something about it.

I am proud to introduce to all of you my brand spanking new website. This site has been rebuilt from the ground up. While I've somewhat enjoyed using WebEasy Professional for the past 8+ years to build my site, the time consuming glitches and issues within the program have forced me to find a different avenue through which to build my website with. So I turned over to Wix.com and came up with a fresh, new design that is easy on the eyes and simple to update...

On top of that, I created some new business cards which I am in the process of ordering...

I also updated my author Facebook page with a new graphic. More changes to all my FB pages will be coming down the line in time...

And, you have probably already realized that I also update my blog's theme. Simplicity is the common theme running through these designs. Solid brown color schemes to go with the soft blue of my tree and star logo. I've also changed the font that my name is written in to be a little less 'fancy' and a little more professional and writerly.

And last but not least, I created a brand spanking new logo for The Crossover Alliance. Something that resembles the edginess of our fiction but at the same time represents our professionalism in the writing community...

I'd love to hear what you think of the new changes!

New Compendium Entry - Cynthia Scarlet Ruin

This week I gave you all a glimpse into one of the most broken characters in my Black Earth series, Cynthia Scarlet Ruin, and I discussed sexual content in fiction and it's place in Christian fiction particularly. Today I'm happy to say that the first new entry to the website Compendium has been added: Cynthia Ruin's character profile.

For those who are curious what the Compendium is, it is a (ultimately) massive database that I am building from the ground up that will house information on any and all things from both my Black Earth and my Expired Reality series. Starting this month, new entries will be added to the Compendium every week. Each is free to view, and each entry will fall into one of the seven categories the Compendium is comprised of:

People
Worlds
Science/Technology
Artifacts
Businesses
Otherworldly Beings
Locales

If you get time, check out the Compendium and tell me what you think. I'm also open to taking requests of what you might want to see in the Compendium. Have a favorite character you want to know more about? Maybe there is a piece of technology or an artifact that is mentioned in the series that you want to explore. Or maybe you just want to know more about the different worlds in the Black Earth/Expired Reality universe. Whatever the case may be, drop me a line/comment and let me know, and I'll see what I can do.

Today though, Cynthia Scarlet Ruin has been added to the Compendium.

On Monday, we'll take a close look at the character of Alpha 1 from my Black Earth series, and on Wednesday we'll take a look at violence and its place in Christian fiction. I'll also be dropping my review of The Hunger Games (novel) in here at some point next week, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Until then, have a great weekend everyone!

The New Website Is Live!

After months of tinkering and toiling, my new website - www.davidnalderman.com - is finally up and running! I would love for all of you to check it out when you get a chance. There's lots of new content that wasn't found in the old site, and personally I think this is the best design I have come up with to date.

Some things to mention -

The website now houses the official Expired Reality/Black Earth Timeline. This Timeline encompasses certain key events in both series, giving a streamlined view at the chronology of events throughout both novel series. As more books are released, more information will be added to the Timeline.

One great thing about the Timeline, is that some of the entries tie in with the next big thing on the website -

The Compendium.

The Compendium is an expansive database of information from both the Black Earth and Expired Reality series, all contained in eight categories - People, Worlds, Science and Technology, Artifacts, Businesses, Otherworldly Beings, Locales, and Terms. New entries under these categories will be added to the Compendium each week starting August 1st.

Within certain entries you will find the Classified stamp. These are information panels that will be added at a later time.Some of the entries in the Timeline, such as Nathan Pierce's birthday, tie in with the Compendium, such as Nathan Pierce's profile. Both the Timeline and the Compendium will continue to weave information together seamlessly to give you, the reader, a more immersive experience in the worlds of both my book series.

Right now with the debut of the new website, there are seven profiles which have been added to the Compendium ready for your reading pleasure. These are:
Muriel's Box under Artifacts
Lysallis under Locales
Nathan Pierce under People
Vine Magnate under Otherworldly Beings
Pulse Science under Science and Technology
Sunshine Cola under Businesses
Calamiro under Worlds
And a handful of Terms 

Every new information panel or entry that is added to the Compendium will be announced on the home page of the website, along with major Timeline additions.

Enjoy!

Just a Few More Finishing Touches...

Sorry that I've been away from this blog for the last week. I've been celebrating my birthday, father's day, and trying to finish this website, and trudge through the edits to Black Earth: Dark Masquerade. The good news is I plan on setting the new website live by the end of this week - meaning by this Friday, or if I can't get the glitches worked out in time, this Saturday. And my goal with Black Earth: Dark Masquerade is to have the advanced review copy of the book finished and in the hands of those who are reading it before publication by the beginning of July. This means the next couple weeks are going to involve some very late nights. Good thing I have plenty of tea and coffee stocked in the cupboards!

Anyhoo, I'll try to post here and there in the next couple weeks, but if you don't see me around here much, you'll know why. And I promise I'll make up for the lack of posts on the other end of this. See you all on the other side! :)

Off the Radar

I'll be off the radar for the rest of this week, at least in terms of this blog. I'm going to be devoting most of my time to completing the website overhaul and the timeline. That way I can use next week to test the website and fix any glitches, and then my plan is to unveil the new website either end of next week or possibly the beginning of the week after that. I should be receiving the edits to Black Earth: Dark Masquerade somewhere in there too, which will prompt an editing marathon on my part so I can get the book to all of you as soon as possible.

See you all on the other side!

Website Sneak Peek - The Compendium

First off, I usually post on Monday's, so I'm sorry this is a day late. I went camping this last weekend and I usually use Saturday's to sketch out my posts for the week.

So, I've been working on the website the last couple weeks, redesigning some elements, omitting others. The main thing I've been working on though is what I'm calling The Compendium (formally named the Database). This will be a comprehensive guide to many of the characters, environments, technology and creatures found in both my Black Earth and Expired Reality series. Broken into categories, The Compendium will have profiles filled with information on some of your favorite 'things' from my stories. The whole point of building it into the website is A.) give you a reason to go to my website - The Compendium will be updated with new items every week or two, B.) explore my book series deeper, C.) give fans of my series what they want.

Building The Compendium isn't a small task though. After creating the categories, I have to sit down and write out the history, applications, stats, and other various realms of information for each of these items. And the information given will vary depending on what is being showcased. For example, if I am talking about a character, then I will go into their history, their interests, and any relationships (family or romantic) that they might have. For technology and science, I will go into the origins of the particular item and then list some of its current and/or future applications in the world.

Right now I am planning on starting out with a handful of items when the new website goes live (which will be in the next month or so), and then I'll add new items every week or two, slowly building The Compendium into a handy reference guide to those who want to dig deeper into my universe. Eventually, as I said before in a previous blog post, I have plans to turn The Compendium into a self-published book, but that will be later down the road when I have added enough material to warrant such a project.

Okay, so without further rambling, here's some screenshot sneak peeks I figured I'd share with you all. These screenshots are taken from the program I use to create my website - WebEasy Professional 9. I know the images look a bit small in the post, but if you click on them, you'll get to see the full size, which is significantly larger. These changes are still  a work in progress, so if certain things don't look lined up or something seems a bit off, it will more than likely be addressed before the site goes live. I just wanted to give you all a glimpse of what I've been up to lately.

This shot is of the new home screen design. As you can see, Carrie Green from my Expired Reality series is there to greet visitors to my website. I have columns set up to showcase featured books, relay important news like book release dates and updates to the website, and showcase Compendium additions.







This shot is of The Compendium main page. As you can see, right now I have seven categories: People (Characters), Worlds, Science/Technology, Artifacts, Businesses, Otherworldly Beings, and Locales.










This is a shot of The Compendium's People category main page. This page is the hub for all of the profiles I will have created for the site. They will be listed in alphabetical order by first name, because some characters don't have proper last names. All of the category main pages will be done similar to this format.








And this shot is of one of the character pages, specifically for Nathan Pierce from the Black Earth series. Each of these pages will look different depending on what category the page falls in. Since this one falls into the People category, there will be various facts on the person of interest in the left side of the page, and the main information (character history) will be in the center. I have a handy link underneath The Compendium logo that will take you back to the category main page that you came from, so you don't have to link back to The Compendium main page and go through that again.

That's what I've been up to lately. I have some of the profiles already sketched out: Calamiro (Worlds), The Vine Magnate (Otherworldly Beings), Rhodenine (Science/Technology), and Nathan Pierce (People). I'll have more than these when the new website overhaul actually debuts in the next month or so. If there's anything in particular from either of my series (Black Earth or Expired Reality) that you would like to know more about, drop me a line or comment and let me know and I'll see if it can be added to The Compendium.

Website Database

For the past few weeks, I've been working on some new elements for my website - specifically the story timeline that spans both of my fictional novel series. It's been quite a challenge trying to figure out what to put in the timeline without allowing for spoilers, and I've had to have friends and family restrain my desire to tell the whole world my stories through the timeline as opposed to the timeline being just that - a timeline. I am a storyteller, after all, and if given the chance, I will explain the entire plot of my book from front to back - in detail. An actual timeline shouldn't dive that deep, at least not yet. After creating a baseline timeline, I can slowly add deeper elements to it as the months and years pass and my series grow.

So now that I have a pretty good idea what needs to be done with the timeline structure - killing my darlings is never easy - I am free to slide over to another project directly connected to my website: the database. I'm only calling it that right now because I don't have a proper name for it yet, but essentially the database is going to be a collection of information from both of my series and the stories/novellas between.

At first glance, the database might seem like an over-glorified glossary, but I can assure you it will be so much more than that. Right now, my thought is to have the database be broken into categories: weapons/artifacts, people/creatures, environments/buildings. Each item in the database will be plugged into one of those three pairs of categories, whichever most closely resembles the entry.

So, for example, the database entry for SilverTech Industries would fall under environments/buildings. The entry will include information on when the company originated and the circumstances under which it originated, what it specializes in - current projects and experiments, possibly a roster of notable employees, and references to any stories SilverTech Industries can be found in.

Another example is pulse technology, which would fall under weapons/artifacts. I'll go into a bit of history as to where pulse technology originated from, what types of weapons currently use pulse technology, and maybe a breakdown of which stories contain various formats of pulse technology, for example pulse shotguns and pulse grenades.

Yes, I know it sounds very detail oriented. But I think each entry will add to the stories of Black Earth and Expired Reality as a whole. And my plan is to continually add new entries to the database every week or so, and also to possibly self-publish them in a compendium maybe at the end of the year or when I have enough items to warrant a book.

Black Earth/Expired Reality Timeline In The Works

For over a year now, I've been wanting to create a timeline for my website that incorporates events from both my edgy Christian speculative fiction series, Black Earth, and my young adult scifi/fantasy series, Expired Reality. About a hundred years spans the gap between both series, but they are connected in more ways than can be counted. Time travel and alternate realities run rampant through both series, so I figured it would benefit my fans if a comprehensive timeline was created to keep things straight and somewhat easy to understand - at least when it comes to the chronology of events.

The only thing preventing me this whole time from creating said timeline has been a good timeline program. I suppose I could have broken down and just created a timeline from scratch and slapped it together with crappy fonts and even crappier looking pieces of clipart, but luckily I stumbled upon a great website a couple weeks ago called - Tiki-Toki.

Tiki-Toki is going to help me take my timeline idea to a whole...notha'....leva'!

The easiest way to explain how Tiki-Toki works is to check out the very first timeline you see when you go to their homepage - www.tiki-toki.com.That specific timeline template is the one I am currently using to create the Black Earth/Expired Reality timeline. The boxes contain dates and a title of the event, and then when you click on the MORE button in the bottom right corner of the event box, a summary box comes up where I can include an image, video, and audio along with links to whatever I think is relevant to the story event.

My biggest challenge right now is trying to figure out what content should be in the timeline. When I asked this question on Facebook, a friend of mine asked me what I want to achieve with it - a reward for fans of the series or marketing tool to lure new readers? And my answer was that this timeline is being created with the fans in mind, although a side effect of the timeline would be for new readers to be drawn toward some of the events and maybe be interested enough to actually check out my books.

This being said, another challenge is being careful for spoilers. The great thing about this software is that I can create categories (the little tabs you see at the top of the event boxes). So I can create a spoiler tab to warn new readers that the summary box that comes up when the MORE button is pressed will contain story spoilers. Not enough spoilers to compensate for reading my novels, of course, but even that is a fine line. How much is too much? Should I just concentrate on major events, or add in the little details that can add to a fan's vision of my series?

The answer to these questions goes back to the question my friend asked: What am I trying to achieve with this timeline? I want to give fans a reason to visit my website and peruse the extra - and hopefully unique - content I'm planning on building into it. So yes, I'll appeal mostly to the fans, but the timeline will also be set up so that new readers can come by, peruse the space/time continuum, and maybe walk away with some curiosity - enough to pick up one of my novels to see what all the buzz is about.

For those of you who are eager to check out the timeline, I plan to release it - along with some other refreshing website additions - when Black Earth: Dark Masquerade is released this summer, so stay tuned!

Mid-Month Update

I can't tell you all how happy I am that it's Friday. I love weekends, mainly because my wife is home with me and my son, and I get more solid time to work on writing/self-publishing/marketing related projects.

Speaking of which, here's a little rundown of some of the things I'm currently working on.

For starters, I'm trying out a new schedule on myself to see if I can get be more productive. For a while now I've been trying to squeeze writing and other related projects into the time my son is down for a nap during the middle of the day. It works, just not all the time. As anyone who has a kid knows, they don't always follow the schedules you set for them. The problem with this, is that if my son decides to have an off day, my work suffers for it. I try to use my evenings to compensate, but most of the time my wife and I have plans.

So, to rectify this quandary, I've decided to do something some may think is drastic, but really isn't. I'm going to return to my night owl roots and set 2am as my working punch-out time. This means when my wife and I get done with our plans for the night - or even if we don't have plans at night - I'll have my butt here in this black leather office chair writing - or something relevant to writing - until 2am.

I've been getting up every day at 6am. Sometimes I'm woken even earlier if my son (who has club feet and constantly has issues with his feet hurting him) ends up having a particularly rough night. Mathematically, this means I am only - at best - going to get four hours of sleep. So, I'll be using the naps my son takes during the day to catch up on my Z's, instead of trying to get so much work done during those times.

In essence, I'm simply pulling a switcharoo with my work habits. I used to live and breathe night owl, so this won't be horribly difficult to slide into, but I have gotten older since those days, so it will take a little bit of getting used to - and maybe a bit of Mountain Dew. But it has to be done, because these books/projects HAVE to get finished.

One of the projects I'm working on, as everyone who reads my blog already knows, is Black Earth: Dark Masquerade - the third novel in my edgy Christian speculative fiction series. I've been getting more candid with my writing process and have already posted two major draft excerpts from my work on the novel:

Hortus Tenebris - The Dark Garden 
(a scene with Daisy and a surreal environment called The Dark Garden)

The President's Dark Advisor
(a meeting between President Amanda Stone and her dark advisor, the Man of Shadows)

This book is due in my editor's hands by the 15th of March. And when I send it to her on or before that date, it will be the first deadline I will have kept to without having to alter it because of my poor work habits.

Next project on the list is the Expired Reality Double Pack. Just like I took Books 1 and 2 in the Black Earth series and put them in an ebook double pack, I'm going to do the same for Endangered Memories and Lost Birth - the first two books in my young adult series. I just have to create a cover for it and do some formatting and then a release date will be revealed. I plan on it being soon though.

Another project (well, you can call it a project I guess) that I decided to take on is to be a contributing writer over at Tiffany Cole's website, Reader's Den. I am really excited about this because it will give me the opportunity to reach a crowd of readers/writers that I may not be reaching with my own blog. And I get to contribute to a wonderfully crafted website dedicated to readers and fans of writing. I plan on making my debut post over there in the next week or so, and I'll announce it here before it goes out.

I am also proud to say I am on track with my reading schedule for the year. I have 20 books on my to-read list on Goodreads, and I've already read two of them and am currently on my third. Here's a link to the review I posted for the first book in the Han Solo Trilogy, The Paradise Snare. I still mean to write a review on Awakening Evarun Part II by Thomas Barczak, but know that I gave it five stars. He is an incredibly talented author/illustrator that everyone should be watching very closely. 

The third book in my to-read list, which is the second book in the Han Solo Trilogy, The Hutt Gambit, will be finished and reviewed around February 25th. These Han Solo books are easy to review because I originally read them back in '97 and am rereading them because they were just that flippin' good!

One side note I'd like to include is in regards to my website, davidnalderman.com. I have some ideas running through my head on how I want to add some additional content to the website, like character profiles, exclusive downloads, and even a timeline/chronology that will fill readers in on where each of my books fit into the master timeline of both my series. I'll keep all of you updated on those elements via this blog and the email newsletter.

Well, there you have it. A little update from little ol' me. To boil it all down - I'm right on track with my projects so far. This makes me very happy. And I'm sure it will make those of you who have been waiting for more from the Black Earth series - and my writing in general - happy.

Great Tools For Self-Published Authors

In the past, I've posted here and there about the tools I use for my web design, marketing and audio projects and figured I'd bring them all together in one reference for others wanting to check them out. This is by no means a full list of all that is out there, just a list of what I've had success with. Some are free, some cost a minimal amount of dough. Overall, I know most self-published/indie authors are on a tight budget anyway, making it difficult to outsource some of the different jobs one has to do, so these tools will definitely come in handy if you're a do-it-yourselfer like me.

Gimp (www.gimp.org) is a great FREE design program if you don't have the cash to spare for a copy of Adobe Photoshop. I mean a legitamate copy of Photoshop. Gimp has great tools that I use for website, cover and logo design. There is a learning curve, but Gimp has a great online instruction manual, and there are innumerable tutorials online by other Gimp users. Once you learn the basics of layers and importing brushes, you're on the right track.

Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net) is a FREE program for recording and editing audio. I am currently using it to record myself reading my books instead of paying another company/group hundreds to thousands of dollars to do it for me. I am also using a basic Radio Shack headset with microphone to do it. It seems to work just fine since all I'm doing is reading.
I'll include some other links that go well with Audacity -
Lame (lame.sourceforge.net/download.php) - lets you convert your Audacity file to MP3 format (FREE)
The Levelator (www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator) - automatically balances out the audio level and volume of your audio file (FREE)

WebEasy Professional 8 (www.avanquest.com/USA/software/web-easy-professional-8-130293) is a web design program I have been using for years now. It is very user-friendly and relatively cheap - $49.95 last I looked - and gives you a great drag-and-drop canvas to work with, allowing you to include video, images, links, code, and other great items in your website. It has a relatively easy walk-through to help you get your website posted to the Web. If you want to check out what I've done with WebEasy, head to my website at www.davidnalderman.com.

Musicshake (www.musicshake.com) is a nifty FREE program a friend told me about that allows you to mix different, pre-recorded instruments, beats and vocals into unique songs. I am currently playing around with this program to create some theme music for the beginning of my audio books and eventually for when I desire to start podcasting. The program is free to download and free to use, but if you want to export what you've recorded into MP3 format, they offer you to do so at a price of 99¢ per song for non-commercial use and $19.99 per song for commercial use.

Dreamstime (www.dreamstime.com/free-section.php) is a great resource for finding the perfect image for a blog post, your website, or any other design project you may have in mind. They offer royalty-free images for a price, but they also have a section devoted to FREE images that can be used without (from what I've read) having to credit the person who posted the image.

Smashwords (www.smashwords.com) is becoming a pretty popular place to set up and sell ebooks. But more than that, what first drew me to Smashwords was the fact that their technology helps you format your manuscript for almost every major ereader out there - for FREE. They include a downloadable PDF that walks you through the whole process. I found when I followed all the steps - including 'nuking' (cutting and pasting your document into Notepad to strip it of it's defunct formatting) the manuscript, which I do before I even start formatting now - that my novel came out looking pretty good on ereaders. You can list and sell your ebook on their website, sign up for the various distribution channels, and even create coupon codes for your work. Smashwords does take a minimal fee from your profits, but the great thing is they won't take anything from you if you want to offer your book up for free.

Createspace (www.createspace.com) is one of many self-publishing sites out there that put the control of your book - and all of its content - in your hands. I have tried a couple other services such as iUniverse (which I did not have a good experience with) and Lulu (which is very similiar to Createspace), but I go with Createspace because my books are cheaper to purchase myself and that allows me to make more cashola. Createspace lets you upload your formatted manuscript to their site and put it in paperback and Kindle format. They charge nothing if you're taking care of the cover design, formatting, editing, etc yourself, or they offer publishing packages for a charge. They also offer ISBN#'s, which is convenient. Createspace allows you to set up your own virtual storefront for each of your books, and also offers distribution packages to get more exposure for your novels.

The Creative Penn (www.thecreativepenn.com) is a personal favorite of mine when it comes to useful blogs for indie authors. Run by Joanna Penn, an indie author herself, I have found this blog to be EXTREMELY helpful when it comes to self-publishing, marketing, book design, etc. Joanna interviews many authors, marketing gurus, and other special guests and loads up her blog with useful posts and podcasts that help with many different aspects of author and book promotion, spanning from shortcuts in using FBML in your Facebook pages to the elements of cover design for your book. I highly recommend this blog and this link - http://www.thecreativepenn.com/resources - will take you straight to a page she created for newcomers to start at. She even offers a free download of her Author 2.0 Blueprint which covers many different aspects of book and author promotion.

Hope some of you find this short but comprehensive list useful. I'd love to hear of any other goodies authors have found across the web, so drop me a line or a comment and let me know about them!

A Much Desired Facelift

After months of tinkering and toying, I'm finally done with my latest website design.

I've been doing this self-publishing thing for a while now and it's taken me a very, very long time to evolve my marketing strategies to where they are now. And they'll continue to evolve, as we enter a completely digital age and social networking continues to spike. I think the hardest thing to being a self-published author, besides selling - especially selling online - is creating a successful website, especially when one has no design or graphic art education. Formally anyway. And I'm not one of those who believes in paying others to do what I could learn to do myself.

Except editing. Yeah, I have someone who does that for me, because I can't be objective, and to me, editing is the equivalent of having to watch a marathon of Friends.

The cause for my recent website overhaul was a nifty program I just recently learned about - GIMP. Most say it's the free equivalent to Adobe Photoshop. Now that I have access to brushes and other nifty design tools, I was able to create a website background I really wanted. Yeah, I know Adobe Photoshop has been around for a while and does the same thing plus more, but I haven't had money for that program nor do I care to pirate it. So GIMP is my hero of the day.

Adobe Photoshop Tools + Free = FTW (For The Win)! Skadoosh!

I'd love for everyone to check out my site and let me know your thoughts. www.davidnalderman.com. I'm trying to keep the website as simplistic as possible right now, and grow it as I move along. I have more books to write, more products to create, so there will be much more added to the site in the near future.

New Website Design Revealed

Well, it's been under wraps for a couple months now, but I've finally finished my new website overhaul. This will be the last time I change the theme of my website. There really wasn't anything too wrong with the way it was, but I felt the need to change it to something that's easier on the eyes and easier to navigate.

The site is pretty simple at the moment, with just info on me, my novel, and a few flash fiction pieces. I am going to be adding many more stories in the upcoming months, along with samples and info on my soon-to-be released novel, and updates on projects including my dive into podcasting.

Check it out if you get a chance and let me know what you think! http://www.davidnalderman.com

Everything's Coming Together...

It's been a doozy of a month so far. My editor and close family friend was just released from the hospital yesterday after having a double mastectomy. She's doing remarkably well! :) Before she went into the hospital, she managed to finish editing the second book in my Black Earth series, The Broken Daisy. How she found the strength and determination to do that is beyond me, but she did it! Now the fate of the book is entirely back in my hands.

So for the next couple weeks, that's what I'll be busy with. Going through her edits, doing the last of my own, formatting the manuscript, finishing the cover design, writing the back cover copy, and then ordering a proof copy to see how everything turns out. Self-publishing can take a lot of work sometimes, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. The feeling of accomplishment once that paperback is in my hands is a feeling I cherish every time I self-publish a novel. 
 
Aside from the novel, I am also finishing up work on my new website design. I plan to reveal it sometime next week. You can take a peek at the current one here. I am also going to be lowering the price of the ebook edition of Black Earth: End of the Innocence, so an announcement will be made about that in the coming week. Once those things are out of the way, it will free me up to start work on some audio projects and maybe some more short stories.

Things are starting to come together now, I just have to keep at it, stay focused, and not get detoured along the way. Makes for a busy end of the summer, but what better way to start the fall then with a number of projects finished and out the door?

Photo Credit - Bludgeoner86

Under Construction

 
Over the past seven years, I've been learning web design from the school of hard knocks. I've never taken any classes on website creation, nor have I received any formal training. It's been an ever evolving practice and I have to admit I still feel like I'm behind the learning curve when it comes to creating an interactive and information website, especially with my limited resources.

To build my website, (http://www.davidnalderman.com), I've been using Avanquest Software's WebEasy Professional. I have version 8 - their latest - and I've been somewhat satisfied with it all these years. They continue to update their product and make it easier for me to create a website from scratch with drag and drop features without having to know hardly any html coding. There are some drawbacks to using it - it is limited in the applications you can add to your website - but it's great for me since I don't plan on making it my life's purpose to do web design for anyone other than me.

Lately I've taken to revamping my website design. Taking tips from other authors, I realized that a good author website needs to incorporate a theme that has something to do with the author and his/her genre. For example, I'm not going to have romantic frilly themes on a website portraying science fiction or fantasy, nor am I going to have space robots and time travel on a website portraying western writing. My latest website overhaul incorporated a spacey theme that I think was indication that I'm heading in the right direction, but I still feel I'm short of the goal.

For this reason, I've decided to overhaul the design again, this time incorporating me as an author, my love of writing, and the content I write - scifi/fantasy. To start, I've been making nifty background panels created with actual text from my novels...

So far, I've created four of these panels, all of them different, to lay down as the background of the website. I think they will do nicely to portray me as a writer and the fact that it incorporates my actual writing is a plus.

Along with the panels, I am creating a new logo...

It's pretty much just a combination of my name, and a flame inside of an ink splatter. It will be placed at the heading of each web page and incorporates my passion - the flame - coming out of writing - the ink splatter. I've had the symbol on my website for a while now, but I think with the new background panels, it will be more striking and more visible.

Another element I'm going to add to the new design is some scifi and fantasy icons. I thought it would look neat to have some photographs from Nasa and the Hubble space telescope...

I might incorporate some 'notes' on time travel and maybe have a few fantasy themed tidbits from my books. Throw in a coffee mug and maybe some stray Post-It notes and paperclips and I'll have a great all around writer's theme.

It's sure to be a fun project. It will take some time to build, especially since I'm still learning - as I always will be - but I think it will definitely be worth it when I'm all done, and I have a great looking, informative website that's easy on the eyes.

I'll update everyone when the site is ready for viewing - my goal is to finish it in a few weeks.

Photo Credit - NASA, ESA, and A. Nota (STScI/ESA)