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I haven’t written much on this blog ­­– or anywhere, really – as I have been spending the last couple of weeks noodling around with the WordPress tutorials. It’s been time well spent; I learned about making menus and submenus, posting photos, and discovering what a “widget” is. So while I have been lazy about posting, I haven’t been lazy in general.

I’m pleased to report that what’s included here is pretty much what I want on my Children’s Book Writer Website. (Not everything, mind you ­– that ridiculous football pic needs to be replaced with something more children’s book author-ish.  I’m also contemplating some snappier background images because “orange-ish” is not very snappy. These, however, are just details.) The written content is all there.

Look around. You’ll find my resume, a kid-friendly bio, a Q&A (because every single Children’s Book Author Website on the planet has a Q&A), a synopsis of my book, info on author visits, and a nifty little “email me” thing. I am also pleased to report that I managed to do all this with a certain degree of speed and competence.

So, woo!

The next phase is to get a more appropriate picture for the header. That’s Job One and I’m working on that. I am also on the hunt for an appropriate background image that is both copyright-free and just plain-ol’-free. I’m working on that, too.

Then there’s the title. “heylookawriterfellow” is growing on me, but it’s certainly not an easy title to remember. That being said, I can’t bear to settle for the straightforward yet boring “mikeallegra.” I just can’t.

In short, suggestions are welcome.

Ah, it is starting to become clear to me now.

The first day I noodled around with this thing, I got set up, wrote a blog post, and chose a dull-yet-inoffensive orange-ish background color. I also learned how to put in a picture. It’s not a picture I intend to stick with; it’s not a picture that reflects the type of person I am (I haven’t watched a football game all the way through since the 1980s); but it is a picture and I put it in. Let us not lose sight of this achievement.

Today holds a bigger achievement: I learned how to nest submenus. Right underneath my “About Me” is an actual, honest-to-God, resume to prove that I am not a writing one-trick pony.

It is nothing short of a Christmas Miracle.

This site will be becoming more and more schizophrenic as the weeks continue – but this should be seen as a sign of progress. This blog, as it does now, will continue to chart my techie progress. The rest of the site, though, will become more kid-/school-centric in anticipation of future book sales and classroom visits.

Onward!

This is what I hope will be the beginning of a productive relationship with these new-fangled computer thingamabobs.

Okay, I am not that much of a technological neophyte. I am simply a fellow who is inherently resistant to change and has a special fondness for old stuff. My home office phone, for example, is a 1920 candlestick; its retro charm almost makes up for the fact it takes five minutes to dial a number. You also can’t “press” a number when a computerized voice tells you to do so. You also can’t cradle the oddly-shaped three-pound handset on your shoulder.  You also have to speak into the 11-pound base – and carry this base wherever you go in order to be heard.  Fortunately, the phone cord is really, really short so you can’t really go anywhere anyway. To put it another way, my office phone is a pain in the rump.

So I’m beginning to rethink things.

I have a children’s book coming out in fall 2012. Everyone tells me that I need some sort of web presence if this book is ever going to hope to sell. Even though every dinosaur brain instinct of mine tells me to resist everyone’s advice, I can’t. I just can’t. I know everyone is right. I want my book to sell. And I don’t want to kill a budding career as an author because I was stupid and stubborn.

The blog looks cruddy now, I know. But I gotta start somewhere.  I need to figure things out and, as I learn to create an appropriate Children’s Book Writer Website (to be located at another web address), I shall experiment here.

Join me in my trials and travails, won’t you?