Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Story Spinner

Hello dear reader

This is a brief introduction to the Story Spinner category.  I mentioned it briefly in my Fifafan 2.0 article, but here is where I will get into the nitty gritty of it.

What is it?  Well, it is something new for me.  My plan is to have a plot randomly generated for me through different websites and programs...and then to write about it.  Judging by some of the results I've gotten from the generators, it could be a lot of fun.  Or it could be not a lot of fun.  But it will force me to write about things I've never thought about before.

Are you wondering why it doesn't go under the My Muses category?  Well, in my most humble opinion, what I am going to write is not a muse.  It is not a blog article.  It is a story.  And thus, it merit's a category all on it's own.

I encourage you, dear reader, to follow this category closely.  And I encourage and entreat you to interact with the stories.  Give me advice, give me criticism, give me encouragement.  I want to grow as a writer.  Not only will you be my audience, but you will be my critics.  So let's have some fun with this.

Hopefully, the first story will be written within the next 2 weeks.

FF

Monday, September 26, 2011

Fifafan 2.0

Good evening dear reader

Before I begin, I must give props to my friend James.  He is the one who inspired the title.  He dubbed it Fifafan 2.0 on a Facebook comment...so I borrowed it.  Thanks, James.  Next time I see you, I'll buy you a beer.  Now that I'm done that part...welcome.  Welcome to my new site.  It has been quite a while in my mind, and almost as long in production.  And now today, I go live with the new site.  Is it done?  By no means.  Is it different?  Oh yeah.  Read on, dear reader.  Let me take you through some changes and some plans.



Fifafan 2.0 was born quite some time ago, and it was born in the usual manner...starting as a mere thought, which led to a discussion, which in turn went into some practice runs.  And out of the practice runs came this...the site as you see it right now.  And Fifafan 2.0 will grow, it may mature and it may even show signs of wisdom.  This is how you know it is mine.

A quick tour of the site is in order.  At the top right of the page is the main menu, and this where you get from place to place.  The Home page is...obvious.  The Ramblings page is where the actual blog is located.  It contains 3 sub-menus:  Article Index, which is where you can see a list of all the articles on the blog; Cancer - Our Journey, which is the original blog I wrote throughout Dianne's journey through cancer; and My Musings, which is where the majority of my writings not cancer related will be.

The About Me page is a very brief auto-biography, and the Contact Me page is a form in which you can, um...contact me.  Pretty simple stuff, really.

What do you think so far?  Personally I like it.  It is fresh, it is clean.  And I love working in WordPress.  But, I am not done yet, dear reader.  We've been through some changes...now let's go through some plans.

Are you wondering where my picture gallery is?  Or my polls?  Well, as of right now, I am not sure they are coming back.  Thus, any article I wrote on the old site pertaining to pictures or polls will not be posted...yet.  If I find a gallery plugin or a poll plugin that I am happy with, I will re-post the old articles as well as new ones.  So, that is one plan...tentative, but still a plan.

The other plan is something that my friend Richard inspired in me.  You see, he was showing me a cool piece of software in his classroom that basically was a story spinner.  Spin the 4 wheels and come up with a plot that one must write a short story about.  This is definitely something I am going to implement.  And soon.  There will be a sub-category under Ramblings called Story Spinner, and this will contain the stories.  There is nothing quite like getting the creative juices flowing by writing about random plots involving random people in random locations.  Plus it forces me to write, and will help me grow as a writer.  Watch for this one...it could be good.

You do have the option of registering on the site.  It doesn't serve much benefit right now, but eventually I am hoping to have guest writers...and it could be you.  You also have the option of commenting on most articles.  And I encourage you to participate in this way.

The site is changing, dear reader.  It might change on a daily basis, or it might not change for a week.  But change it will.  And I will write.  I welcome you to the new Fifafan.ca.  I hope you enjoy your visits.  I know I'm going to enjoy being back.

FF