As I write this on Saturday morning, I’m about forty-eight hours away from embarking on a month-long voyage of discovery—about me, as a serious writer. That’s right, National Novel Writing Month is upon us, and I’ll be taking part. (But if you’re even a semi-regular reader, you knew that!)

To add to that “distraction,” I’ll be leaving home on Friday, November 5, to travel first to Miami to meet that Saucy Wench, the wonderfully talented Arleen Barros and her family. The following evening, I fly up to Tampa to spend the ensuing ten days at my son’s home, babysitting the granddaughter for several of those days while Mom and Dad head to Key West to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary.

Consequentially, new articles at the Aerie will probably be even scarcer than they have been, of late. However, I’m hoping to get at least a couple things done, as I meet my daily writing goals. I’m also seriously considering returning to the blog’s roots, and writing more about World of Warcraft. Specifically, I want to write about Enhancement Shamans, since they (we?) appear to be underrepresented in the WoW blogosphere.

I also intend to occasionally write about grammar and usage, as well as the craft of writing, but those missives will occur on an irregular basis, as situations arise that pique my interest.

So hang in there, Dear Readers, and wish me luck (and nimble typing fingers) as I forge through November. In the meantime, Happy Halloween!

NaNo Cometh…and the Blog Sleepeth is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

Backstory

The reasons for the switch are given in that article, but I do want to note that yesterday, Chris Pearson, developer of Thesis, changed the Thesis license to a split license, along the lines of Headway’s. In Chris’s words, “the PHP is [licensed under] GPLv2, and the CSS, JS, and images are proprietary.”

I couldn’t be happier that this issue is behind us. There’s no questioning that Chris and his team have done a lot to improve upon the WordPress framework that Matt Mullenweg and his team have developed. I love a happy ending, and I hope we’ve seen one.

All that said, I had only a twinge of “buyer’s remorse” when I realized, had I waited a day or so, I could have kept on using Thesis without being concerned about licensing issues. Instead, I determined to focus on the present and the future, rather than the past.

Headway

For the better part of the past three days, then, I’ve been redesigning the site with Headway. I’m not sure the learning curve is any steeper with Headway than with Thesis, but it’s a decidedly different environment. At this point, I would be hard-pressed to say which is easier, or better. Both provide extreme flexibility in site design, and each time I tweak something, I learn something. I doubt I could code a “Hello, world” print statement on my own, but through copy/paste and (lots of) trial and error, I can generally accomplish what I want.

So far, all the comments I’ve received have been positive. I think a lot of that has to do with the much cleaner look—that is, the plain white background—of the post area. Before, I had a gradient background there, and coupled with a small font size, readability was hardly optimal. With Headway, I’ve incorporated a larger font size with the solid background.

As for the gradient, you can see it just about everywhere else on the site right now, thanks to this fantastic post on CSS3.¹ Before, my gradient was a .png image that was set as a background graphic. It was unwieldy and also slowed page-loading as the image was redrawn over and over. (Oh, if you’re viewing the site in Internet Explorer, you only see solid backgrounds; sorry. Chrome, Firefox, and Safari users should see them just fine.)

For the most part, I think I’m done with the major renovation. I’m sure I’ll find a few things to continue tweaking, but I’m very happy with how the site looks now. However, if you have any questions about Headway (or Thesis, or WordPress), or suggestions on how to make the site look even better, hit the conversation button below!

Making Headway is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

Over the past several days, I became convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Thesis incorporates nontrivial code from WordPress. As such, it is considered a derivative work under the Gnu Public License (GPL). Without that code copied from WordPress, I was (and am) willing to accept that Thesis is not derivative, and therefore not subject to the GPL. However, such has been demonstrated not to be the case.

Thus, until I decide upon, install, and tweak a replacement theme (probably another premium theme, but one with a GPL), I’m afraid you’re stuck with the default WordPress 2010 theme. I’ll see about replacing the banner, however. *grin*

Any suggestions would be welcomed in the comments; however, I really don’t care to debate GPL issues: There is plenty of that going on elsewhere on the web (check the #thesiswp hashtag in Twitter if you need more).

ADDENDUM

Decided to go with Headway Theme, which is (of course) compliant satisfies Automattic’s desire for compliance with WordPress’s GPL.¹ So, there’ll be some growing pains as I set it up and play around with it.

Why Headway? It appears to be the most like Thesis, with the degree of flexibility in design tweaking I want. That’s pretty much it.

So Long, Thesis; Hello, …. What? is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

I decided to move my regular Friday feature to Monday. There are a couple reasons for this. First, as I alluded to in the opening, there isn’t nearly as much blog reading done Fri/Sat/Sun as is done the rest of the week (what is it…are all you working folk catching up on Friday for all the goofing-off blog-reading you did Mon-Thu?). While I know the vast majority of readers don’t actually comment, zero comments over the past two weeks pretty much sealed the deal.

The second reason is that I normally don’t feel really inspired to write on Mondays. I know a lot of you spend weekend time writing to publish on Monday; I’m not that industrious. So I figure this change may jump-start my creative juices, and help my productivity through the remainder of the week.

For now, enjoy the weekend, and I’ll talk to you on Monday!

Weekly Wrap-Up Moving to Monday is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

Today’s post will help you overcome that issue by first, redirecting any traffic from your Blogger blog to your current blog or website (whether it’s WordPress, self-hosted, TypePad, or even (heaven forfend!) Facebook or Myspace!), and then, help you change your Blogspot identity to reflect your “real” (or at least current) virtual self.

I wish I could say I figured all this information out on my own, but that wouldn’t be accurate, by half. In fact, I was reading an article by the always-excellent Daniel Scocco ( @danielscocco) at Daily Blog Tips regarding selling a Blogspot blog.¹ The part that really got my attention, though, was a link to an article at WebUpd8 that describes how to redirect your Blogspot blog to another domain name.

For the complete process, including how to redirect individual posts on your old Blogspot blog, read the article at WebUpd8. I’m just going to cover two shorter points on redirecting from the main blog, and how to update your Blogger.com name to reflect a more current identity.

Redirect Blogger to New Domain

First, navigate to http://blogger.com and be sure you are logged in. You should now be at the Dashboard, which looks like this:

Blogger Dashboard

Click the View Blog link, then click Customize in the upper right. You should now be on the Edit Layout page:

Blogger—Edit Layout

Select “Edit HTML” (circled in red). You’ll be taken to a page containing the template code for your site. If you’ve never played around with this file (or anything like it), don’t be intimidated. If you can copy and paste, success is assured!

First, find the <head> tag. It should be about 6 lines from the top, and indented one space:

Locate the <head> tag

Place your cursor immediately after the tag (as mine is in the shot above) and hit your Enter key once. This will create a new, blank line in your template. Copy the following, and paste it into that blank line:

<meta content='4;url=http://yournewblog.com/' http-equiv='refresh'/> 

In the line above, “4″ is the number of seconds before the redirect occurs; you can change this to any number greater than zero, but 4 works very well. Now, change “yournewblog.com” to your actual domain name. In my case, that would become “kestrelsaerie.us”. Don’t include the quotation marks, and don’t remove the trailing slash. If your blog is at mydomain.com/blog/, then be sure you add /blog/ (or whatever the actual home page URL is).

If this is all you want to do, you can click the “Save Template” button, and you’re done! However, if you still have posts on your Blogspot blog that you’d like to have redirected to your current blog, go to the article at WebUpd8 and follow the additional instructions there to redirect individual posts.

Optional: Tell People They’re Being Redirected

In this step, you can put up a notice on your Blogspot blog that your readers are being directed, or anything else you may want to communicate. Here’s how:

Open your Blogspot template editor again, using the process described in the preceding section. This time, you’re going to find the <body> tag, which is fairly close to the end of the file. I found it by hitting Cmd-F (Ctrl-F in Windows) and typing “<body>” in the Find window. Once again, place your cursor after the tag and hit Enter to create a new blank line. Then copy and paste the following into that space:

<div style='position: absolute; top: 30px; left: 30px; border: solid 2px #333; color: #000; background-color: yellow; padding: 5px; width: 400px; z-index: 5; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;'>
<p><strong>My blog has moved!</strong></p>
<p>You will be automatically redirected to the new address. If that does not occur, visit<br/> <a href='http://yournewblog.com/'> <strong>http://yournewblog.com</strong></a> <br/> and update your bookmarks.</p>
</div> 

Once again, replace “yournewblog.com” with your blog’s actual URL in both places. You can also alter the text between <p></p> tags to anything you like. Then remember to “Save Template.” I left mine as is; here’s a shot of what it looks like:

"You are being redirected"

Optional: Update Your Blogspot Name and Icon

Previously, my Blogger name was “Kestrel,” and of course, that’s how my posts are signed here. However, as I comment on many blogs that aren’t WoW-related, I’d prefer not to use my WoW persona. And the whole purpose of this exercise, for me, was to allow me to comment on Blogspot blogs with the least fuss and muss, to use my real name, and to link to this blog as easily as possible. Therefore, I have changed my Blogger ID from Kestrel to Steve Hall (yes, for those of you not astute enough to have already figured it out, or didn’t care, that is my real name! *grin*).

To do this yourself, once again navigate to your Blogger dashboard. This time, click the Edit Profile link.

Blogger: Edit User Profile. Note that your display name can be the same as your user name!

Previously, my Display Name was Kestrel. I’ve changed it to Steve Hall. As noted on the screenshot, I could have simply left it as Steve, if I didn’t want to use my full name.

Finally, if you want to change your photo, click the “Remove Image” link. You’ll then be prompted for a new photo. Clicking the “Edit Photo” link on the Dashboard will bring you to the same spot on the Edit Profile page, incidentally.

And that’s all there is to it! Of course, there is a minor drawback (for me): If I comment on a WoW blog, I’d prefer to use “Kestrel” as my username, simply because I’m better known by that moniker in WoW circles. But, that’s why I have the unmistakable “Kestrel’s Aerie” icon.

Hopefully, I’ve shown you how to have your non-Blogspot cake, and eat it too. I know this isn’t a perfect solution, but for me, finding that I am commenting on so many more Blogspot blogs of late, it satisfies my laziness gene a bit more.

How to Redirect Blogger to Your WordPress Blog and Update Your Blogger Identity is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

Audio in WoW: How I Listen to Two Sound Feeds – January 26: A quick guide on how to use a USB headset and regular speakers (or vice versa) to listen to two separate sound sources in WoW.

DPS: How to Earn Your Healer’s Love – February 11, 2009: A treatise on how DPS characters in WoW can stay on their healers’ good side.

Wherein Kestrel Proves How Boring He Really Is – March 24, 2009: One of several memes in which I took part, this one explained the origin of "Kestrel" (the name), as well as my other characters. Based on the comments, you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

The Masters – April 13, 2009: A bit of a departure for me, this article was a recap and analysis of the 2009 Masters Golf Tournament.

Why FeedBurner? – May 27, 2009: In which I advocate the use of FeedBurner over your blog’s default RSS feed.

Playing With Mac Software – June 20, 2009: While this article itself was rather fun to write, the real joy came in the comments, where I was afforded the opportunity to talk about one of everyone’s favorite topics: food.

Friday Five: Reader-Friendly WordPress Plugins – July 31, 2009: As part of my effort to encourage commenting on blogs, and to make such commenting easier for our readers, I present five WP addons that, in one way or another, facilitate the commenting process.

Friday Five: Best Lagers – August 14, 2009: Another favorite topic of mine, and of many of my readers, it seems: beer. Even my younger brother was prompted to comment!

Article of the Year: "English Comp 101 – Cliff Notes Version" (9/26)

English Comp 101 – Cliff Notes Version – September 16, 2009: Judging from the comments, not only was this my favorite (and, in my opinion, best) article of 2009, but you agreed. This article marked a turning point, not only for the blog, but for me as well.

Wordsmith Wednesday: Get Ready for NaNoWriMo – October 14, 2009: Along the same lines as September’s favorite, I presented some tips on how to prepare for National Novel Writing Month.

Giving More Than Thanks – November 25, 2009: I hopped on my soapbox a bit for this one, with a plea for you to consider others not as fortunate as we are, in your holiday giving.

How Not to Impress Me As A Potential Customer – December 1, 2009: Not the rant the title might lead you to believe, this was really more a lesson in grammar and punctuation for email mass-marketers, but timely for the NaNo crowd.

I’m really curious if there are other articles I posted that stand out as much or more than these. And now, it’s time for bed: Flying home from Hawai’i on New Year’s Eve (wonder if they’ll serve us champagne?).

Happy Twenty-Ten, everyone!

Best of the Aerie 2009 is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

I’m not about to look back over an entire decade (I’ve only been blogging for a bit more than 2 years, and I fear I bore you too much already, to subject you to that!), but I think an examination of the past year is reasonable.

By the numbers: 131 articles — 822 comments — 2 tons of spam

Since January 1, I’ve published 131 articles, not including this one, but including Krizzlybear’s guest post on the 22nd. We’ve discussed the various articles, you and I, in 822 comments. I’d guess somewhere between 300 and 400 of those are mine (and probably closer to the latter number). 

I started out the year focused almost exclusively on World of Warcraft, with the occasional foray into a personal post, whether I was talking about computer upgrades, site upgrades, or events taking place in my personal life, such as the loss of my mother-in-law in early March, to vacations we’ve taken (including our current sojourn to the Garden Isle).

As time went on, my enthusiasm for WoW waned considerably, as did my posting about the game.² For much of the year, I am afraid I rather floundered around, trying to find a niche where I really felt comfortable. Finally, over the past 3 months or so, I’ve started focusing more on writing—not necessarily mine, but on helping others improve theirs. I expect, as I’ve posted several times, that I will continue in that vein, as I have caught the copyediting bug. I’ve received a lot of encouragement from a few friends, and I hope the articles I will be writing will be helpful to many of you, as well.

Back in September 2008, I wrote that WoW blogging is not just a niche. Well, it is, of course, if you take blogging as a whole. However, it’s not a small niche; in fact, if you take a look at the Twisted Nether Big List of Blogs, it’s pretty huge!

Unfortunately, copyediting seems to be a much smaller niche, and as I’ve written more about writing and less about WoW, my daily, weekly, and monthly average pageviews have dropped to somewhere between a third and a half of their prior levels. To those readers I’ve lost, thanks for your readership, and I hope you find at least as much enjoyment elsewhere as you did at the Aerie. To those of you still hanging around, thank you for your loyalty, and I hope it’s well-rewarded in the coming year.

I’ve emphpasized how important it is for bloggers to have a dialogue with readers

One of the things I’ve tried to do over the past year is emphasize how important I believe it is for bloggers to engage in dialogue with our readers. That’s part of why I try to make a point of replying to every meaningful comment on this blog. I know I’m not 100 percent successful in that endeavor, but I want you to know how much I appreciate that, through your comments, you give me the opportunity to converse with you.

To that end, I gave the comment system "Intense Debate" a trial run a couple months ago. While the concept has merit, I found it put up more barriers between us than it tore down, so I abandoned it within 24 hours. On the other hand, I’ve enthusiastically endorsed CommentLuv, I’ve eliminated any and all comment moderation other than my spam preventers, and I’ve maintained the ability for you to edit your comments as well as subscribe to individual comment threads.

One of my challenges over the coming year is to increase the average comment count per post, but of course, that places the burden squarely on my shoulders to create content that is interesting and compelling enough for you to want to comment. In a way, I view your comments as a much more informative "report card" than I do FeedBurner subscribers and Twitter followers (in fact, the latter is pretty meaningless with respect to blog readership, I believe).

A couple other things I did for the first time this year were to create audio content and to include videos in my posts. The one audio I did was simply a reading of the accompanying text: I have no intention of abandoning writing for speaking. However, if I think a particular article lends itself well to being a podcast, I’ll endeavor to record it. As for video: That was more an exercise in "can I do this?" than anything else. I certainly do not intend to embed a bunch of YouTube clips here!

But the one thing I really want, and need, are suggestions from you on topics you’d like to see discussed here. It’s all well and good for my ego for me to pontificate on matters large and small, but if my interests don’t intersect yours somewhere along the line, you’re going to grow bored and leave, and I’m going to get tired of listening to myself. To that end, I’m going to explore options for allowing you to rate my posts (no promises: I said "explore options"!), and I will continue to solicit your feedback.

My goal is to turn the Aerie into a valuable resource for writers of all kinds: bloggers, novelists, short-story writers…you name it. But most importantly, I want your time here to be fun, because after all, if we aren’t having fun, what’s the point?

Happy New Year!

Where did the year go? A retrospective look at 2009 is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

Once I’ve recorded that podcast, I’ll put a lot of the tips I discuss with Tami and Bre into written format (think of it as expanded show notes), then I’ll follow up with a series of short articles that will focus on specific potential "gotchas."

In addition, I’m busy editing short fiction for one NaNo winner, short fiction for a podcaster, and getting ready to do some heavy-duty copyediting for at least a couple NaNo winners. 

Oh…and taking 10 days around Christmas to spend on Kaua’i with my family! Going to do my best to blog from there as well…but I wouldn’t be holding my breath, if I were you!

In the meantime, if anyone would like to contribute a guest post to the Aerie for the period December 21 – January 1, let me know!

Coming Soon to An Aerie Near You! is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

Although I was not writing a novel, I will be helping my friends as they go through rewrites, editing, revising, and the like. Throughout the month, I’ve been there to urge them on, and the past week I’ve even taken part in a couple "sprints" with Iris–periods during which we wrote steadfastly, without distraction. I wrote a couple blog articles (including this one), and while I was drafting this post, Iris hit her 50K goal.¹

While I am under no illusions that my encouragement made the difference between finishing or not finishing for either Krizz or Iris, I’d like to believe I helped make the journey a bit smoother for them. I know I feel a sense of accomplishment too, much as a midwife does when she helps to deliver a child (in fact, I may have been seen to exhort my friends to "Push! Push!"). I am proud of them; in fact, I’m proud of every one of my friends and acquaintances who took part in NaNo 2009, regardless of whether you hit 50K or not. The fact you tried, that you committed to making an effort, is significant. And there is always next year! Who knows? I may make the effort myself, next year, to find my larger muse.

And remember: Writing is forever, not just for November.

A Quick Reflection on NaNoWriMo is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

I quickly located and downloaded Audacity for OS X (Windows version also available at the same link). I then hunted around for a plugin to present the audio in the blog. Tami suggested PodPress, which is very common, and is one she uses. My search result also turned up Podcasting, and after checking it out a bit, I decided to give it a try.¹ I was also swayed in part by the 4.5-star rating given Podcasting, compared to 3-stars for PodPress

Installation is very straightforward, and if you actually intend to publish podcasts to iTunes, Podcasting makes it very simple through its configuration screen. (Incidentally, Podcasting will also handle video files as well as audio.)

To include the player in your post, you simply upload the audio file (MP3 format), then call it with 

Pretty straightforward, no? So expect to see that little audio player appear in future posts, as time and circumstance (and the nature of the article) permit.

Kestrel’s Aerie: Now With Audio! is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie