Once upon a time, possibly in or around 2004, I set up a site relating to my efforts in the world of web design. I have always swayed towards simple web design, because I grasp HTML and CSS fine, but have never used any of the fancy tools. I even use Notepad for my coding, never venturing to use FrontPage or Dreamweaver until recent pressures have demanded I become familiar with them. I use a little JavaScript, have dabbled in PHP, Perl and XML. I can set up a database and retrieve information from it, creating dynamic content. I can handle Server Side Includes and Webbots to insert content from one place into another, and even recently had a poke around with AJAX and ASP. I can manage just fine, knowing enough, but certainly not so much as to make me an expert in anything.

So, Back to Basics Web came about – and with the assistance of co-coder and marketeer Richard we put together web sites for Meeker Aviation and Apical. You can see a few samples of the work we’ve done, and that I’ve done since, on the Back to Basics Web site. I intend to continue with my web work on a restrained and moderate level – it can be tough channelling creatives juices in multiple directions at the same time. When I work on an advance with a focussed project scope, I need to be certain that I deliver.

Back to Basics Web uses the _base_ theme for WordPress, which I intend to customise for the time being… A simple base, for a simple web site, offering a simple service – until I have a moment to create a theme from scratch myself!

I spent a while looking decidedly orange… and, when I saw this WordPress theme, it seemed like time to go orange all over again.

It also gave me a chance to turn my hand to a little Photoshop practice – creating the stars behind the date and the badge in the header. I need to practice more… spend time going through the functions and whatever tutorials I can find. Knowing how to use Photoshop well would certain be a great advantage to me, both at home and in the workplace. Having a grasp of Photoshop is the sort of thing you can stick on your CV and know that it will have value, alongside your spray of other skills, ancient and modern.

So, hope you don’t mind the change… and expect to see more globs and blobs around here in future.

Relevant reading:

I could hardly believe my eyes… Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson are reprinting Dragon Warriors in a hardback volume under the Mongoose Publishing Flaming Cobra imprint. Originally published in the 80s in six separate paperback volumes, ‘Dragon Warriors’ rode the wave of the popularity of ‘Fighting Fantasy’ and ‘Lone Wolf’, bringing fantasy adventures to the shelves of the common bookstore.

I collected ‘Dragon Warriors’ avidly, picking up each new volume the moment it appeared. Heck, I even own a copy of ‘Sword of the Life’ (Chronicles of the Magi) – a novel based in the realms of ‘Dragon Warriors’ written by Dave Morris – and collected a copy or two from the ‘Blood Sword’ series – which provided a sort of party-based ‘Fighting Fantasy’ experience.

I loved the series… seriously loved it. And I played it several times. Great little adventures and a simple system made for a thoroughly enjoyable roleplaying experience for beginners and veterans alike. I’m seriously looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of the whole game in one volume. October cannot come around too soon… though, I suspect this will likely become a Christmas present.

Stockport County are my local team – and through some rough history the ownership of the team and the ground fell into the hands of a consortium and outside of the hands of the fans. In 2005, the fans managed to buy back the team – and now they need a lot of money to reacquire the ground. You can do your bit raising £1 million by buying pixels at groundforapound.com – as I’ve already done. I’m about an inch and a half from the top left corner, a little down from the edge… in a dark patch above the trees.

I had really good intentions to take part in the National Novel Writing Month this November… but it’s now 6th, and that means I’m already way behind. The goal of the event is for each participant to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days (the length of November, see). You have to start from scratch, write an awful lot, and get it done before the end of the month. The NaNoWriMo event has its own website and support from tons of other wouldbe writers – and started way back in 1999. From a little over a hundred participants 8 years ago, last year about 100,000 people got involved – and most of them didn’t hit the target (only about 1 in 5 manage the full 50K).

I would like to imagine, if I really put my mind to it, that I could come up with something that fits the brief. I’m not claiming by any measure that it would be any good… but, 50,000 words of slogging wouldn’t be out of the question. I recently wrote 10,000 words of gaming material based on the 14th Century Avignon Papacy and associated Schism. I have written close to 50,000 before putting ‘The Underplex‘ together, although that one definitely took longer to a month and left me dead to the world for about 6 months, haunted by the process and the grammar. I suffered terrible writers block during that 6 months and since the beginning of this year have I really tried to get back into the swing of regular writing. I maintain so many blogs precisely for the reason that I hope it will urge me into creativity on a regular basis on whatever subject happens to come to hand.

So, can I find my groove and get into the NaNoWriMo mindset before it’s too late? Given a full month, you need to write 1,666 words a day (with a little change)… Assuming I start right now, I have to clock in 2,000 words a day instead. I feel a sinking feeling already…