Textural quality in web design

My apologies, if you follow both this blog and Savanvleck’s Weblog on WordPress. This is the third post I have published on both sites. I did it for WordPress first and decided it was a fit for my marketing blogs here. I need to create my brand first, on my web page, I feel, in order to fit the rest of the net-world to it for my book. I am talking the blogs, MySpace and whatever else is out there waiting to challenge me.

I have designed my own web page for years and, believe it or not, I HAVE redesigned it several times. When I was creating eight inch fairies, and selling them on eBay, I realized it was time to again redesign my page. However, that web page, the one that was up there then and is still up now, has not been redesigned yet. I created it mainly for my painting, pottery and sculpture. pottery, painting, drawings, fairy, doll sculptures, by Sheryl Adair VanVleck

I use Coffee Cup Web Design and I could show you at least two dozen starts at a new web page for my site. And, now, like the paperwork in the Rubbermaids, it is time to again redesign my redesign I never did. My new focus is on my YA Fantasy Novel, and I am here to tell you exactly why this has become such a problem for me.

In fact, I will do better than that. If you click on this link, you will see just exactly why nothing I do lives up to this designer, in California: Welcome to Avalon Arts Studio!. If the textural quality of these web pages don't blow you away, nothing is going to impress you.

Just click on the Web Design tab about avalon arts web design and then click on their Porfolio. portfolio Some of my favorites are Enchants - faery sculptures by Christine Ruggle and The Faery Crossing-All Faeries, Sidhes, and Elfins Welcome! These sites present the true art of the miniature fairy artist and designing a web page, at its best. And, if I was still designing my web page for miniature fairys, I would be working on a design even half as rich as that forever, I am afraid.

So, it's a good thing I'm going for a site for my YA Fantasy Novel. I have finally confirmed the design in my head and am gathering my own graphics to do it. I'll keep you informed.

Waiting for Snow to fall

Okay, I have tackled, and not quite conquered ‘MySpace.’ www.myspace.com/savanvleck

Coffeee Cup for my web page is a breeze, WordPress was easy. Blogger was not bad. Then, there is MySpace.

I go to the Help button, after about six hours of searching, and find a message that says, “We do not help you with that, or that, or that.” In other words, ‘The heck with all of you.” Or “that’s what our subscribers are for” as they tell me that there are sites/people out there that you can get help from.

My sister has a niece who does it all for her. She just tells her what she wants and the niece does it. Perhaps it is just that our ‘older’ brains do not think in the same circle as younger brains. I am sure I will get used to it, eventually. I would be working on redoing my website, as I finally have the design I want pretty much figured out, but I need photos. I’m waiting for snow to fall in Indiana. Never thought I would say that!

So, when Gaffer gets here and it snows, we will make a trek out to Yellowwood State Forest and work on the trailer, for my YA Fantasy, as well as photos for my web page. I have the trailer written out but not drawn, scene by scene.

Then, I’m on my own again. Out of three boys, none of them is really involved in anything computer or internet related. I tried. I really did. Every semester it’s, “Aren’t you going to take web design or programming?” "Nope, not interested." They tell me.

However, I have not seen EMT’s full face, looking at me, since he bought a pay per use phone that has free unlimited text messaging.

Anyway, the status of my YA Fantasy Fiction is:

1. Chapter six edit off to Master’s Daughter, after Thanksgiving.
We decided to work on one chapter at a time, that way, if we find something that will affect the plot line, etc, we are not going over what we have already edited. I send her a chapter, she sends me back comments (I love WORD), I edit her comments and send her back the corrections, she emails me back notes. During that time, I am line editing the next chapter and beyond.
2. I need to work on the last two chapters more. They are very sketchy, but I think it will wait until we are at least in the middle of the book.
3. I want to brand my WebPage, my writing blog and MySpace when it snows and I have the photos I need.
4. I now need to learn, well actually, I still need to learn MySpace but it’s a start, but I need to check out Face Book or UTube, Twitter and everything else out there, I guess.
5. And, as far as Thanksgiving: We are putting the tree up today, for Mom to enjoy and Gaffer, when he gets home. I actually, also have my butter filling ready for Aunt Sally’s butter knot bread and my eggs boiled for deviled eggs. This year is a request Thanksgiving. Mom gets her ham and gravy. Boys get mashed potatoes and corn (don’t even ask), We all get Guacamole and chips and deviled eggs, and us adults get less work and less food to throw out. No one was eating dressing and sweet potatoes, but me and I don’t need them.

So, I wish you all a Great Thanksgiving. Travel safe and enjoy the company of relatives and friends. Mom emailed me this morning: “Life is too short, so why do people argue with their relatives?” I pointed out that we do not get to choose our relatives, but even if we did, we would probably still occasionally argue with them, just about different things.

WebPage, Blog, MySpace,UTube, Twitter, LibraryThing, Trailer

I have unchained myself from my computer. My final book edit is in Chapter 6 and while I do remind myself, daily, that the last two chapters are but a shadow of their selves-to-be, I am taking time to get my muscles moving again to de-clutter and clean this house.

It may be a hopeless task but I need to get it done. I mean, why do we need three scanners and VHS movies? Then, there is the ten Rubbermaids full of paperwork. Hard to believe isn’t it? It is also hard to get done as I am drawn back to the computer.

I have figured out the look I want for my WebSite. It will be a total overhaul from the Visual Art site it was before to the Fantasy YA book site I want it to be. It is also one more step up in my programming education. Which may be a career to fall back on someday?

So, I have a vision of a “look.” Then, I have to make that look work, and be a “brand” for my website, Blog, MySpace, Utube, Twitter and something called “library” something. And, when Gaffer gets home for Christmas, I will have him help me get a trailer done.

Since I have done nothing more than look at a few relatives MySpace and not even that on Utube, and I have no idea what Twitter is and just read about the library thing last night. I better get this declutter, in my home done, and quick.

Will I ever catch up?

The Orphan Boy- a Richly Textured Children's book

I love Picture Books

I have been known to take a canvas bag to the library and load it up with Caldecott winners. One of the things I miss most about having little grandkids around, is I have no one to read to. JRock is sixteen now and he just is not interested in King Bidgood anymore. I can have a blast making a total fool of myself reading King Bidgood's in the Bathtub. I will read to any child – at the Doctor’s office, at the library, on the bus. It makes no mind to me, as long as it is a good book.

Not all books are equal. Daughter-of-eleven loves books but has no distinction between them. She thinks that Barbie’s Picnic deserves shelf space with Matthew’s Dragon and anything by Audrey and Don Woods. I, however, refuse to read Barbie’s Picnic a second time.

One of my all time favorite children’s books is The Orphan Boy, A Maasai Story by Tololwa M. Mollel and illustrated by Paul Morin. Amazon.com: The Orphan Boy: Tololwa M. Mollel, Paul Morin: Books I am approaching this as a visual artist and this book has some of the most outstanding illustrations I have seen. It was published by Clarion Books, New York.

The back blurb reads: “At dawn the planet Venus appears in the east as the morning star. At night-fall it is the evening star in the west. The Maasaid call this star Kileken, the orphan boy. This traditional story from Africa explains the reason Kileken appears in the sky both morning and night.”

Beside the story, which is well worth reading, the illustrations are painted and the artist's canvas is visible to add texture to the pictures. This book is so richly textured that you can feel the heat of the African sun and the cool of the moonlit night. The canvas itself adds life to the morning sunrise. The artist has then added, perhaps using gesso with sticks or string or other additions, another dimension. I have scaned a few of the illustrations in, as Amazon does not do them justice.


This is but one half of the picture. I wish my scanner was larger to show it all. Note the texture in the foreground. The cattle go off into the sunset in the upper right corner.


I know the books binding here is in the way but the fabric and then the yellow highlighting to the right adds so much dimension, I wanted to show it.

This is also only part of a picture but I wanted you to see the way the artist has used texture in these illustrations.

Three things to get ready during your final edit

Master’s daughter and I are up to Chapter five in the final edit. In between the twenty other jobs she has at any one time, I am working ahead as the end of the book was less edited, by me, than the first half. And, when I take a break from that I read editor’s and agent’s blogs.

I am focusing on blogs that detail things like:

Writing the perfect Query letter- my favorite is Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent: Query Letter Mad Lib. He has several posts on writing a query.


The real chore for me is how to do write a synopsis. Author! Author! » Synopses is a good place to look. It is a blog that meandures a bit, but has a wealth of information for writers.


Putting together two writer's biographies. Author! Author! » Author bio has several blogs on writing your bio. They lay it out in a very simple manner.

A writer’s biography is something I had not thought a lot about. I have always had resumes and artist’s resumes. I had just not thought about needing to have your writer’s bio polished up and ready for submitting immediately. I guess I was thinking, you get an agent, you get a publisher, and somewhere along the way they say, “We need a bio for your flap copy, oh, in a few months.” Not so!!!

You need to have two ready. One for the agent to help sell you and one, shorter one, for your book flap. We are using positive reinforcement here.


I have noticed a change in author’s biographies. I am seeing more and more that represent the author’s writing, rather than just dryly saying, “He graduated from no-name college and lives in Nevada with his wife and three children.”

It is a great trend. It makes the author a real person and gives you insight into what his writing is like. My problem though, is I really think I am much funnier with my biography, than I am in my book. It is good I can see the humor in my life but is it going to give someone a false sense of the humor, which may not be there, in my book? I do not want to disappoint.

Wednesday's with Writer's Journal - Ideas

Okay, if you really want to get technical about this, it is Thursday. So shoot me! It has become more important to work on my edit than on my blog. This is a good thing and I am sure you will all understand.

With both the Journal, for January 2nd (still not going in order) and my edit in mind, the question for today is: Where do your ideas come from?

I think we all know that anything in our life can turn up in our writing. My current project was inspired by my grandson’s lives and the issue they deal with from their past home life. Prior to coming to live with us, these three boys were living in a radical home, were barely, or in the case of one, not home educated, they worked a man’s job from a young age and the abuse ranged from just plain weird to horrific.

In attempting to interest the thirteen year old into learning to read, I let him watch the first two Harry Potter movies. He loved them and he related to Harry. All those Dursley’s had their equivalent in his previous home. When he asked me to buy the third movie, I told him I would do so after we read the books. So, we set off on a journey to catch up. I would read a chapter at night and he would haltingly read a paragraph. He would often ask for a second chapter. He was enthralled with Harry's world. Three books letter and we purchased movie three. By the end of the series he was reading chapters.

I cannot take all the credit for this. He is a bright kid and the public school system worked hard to catch him up. But, watching these boys deal with all the educational and psychological issues they have, from their past life, is what is inspiring my book. Plus, okay, I admit it, I miss reading to him each evening.

The tv was turned off and everyone at home would listen. So, it was a nice family entertainment. I tried getting him involved in Terry Pratchett’s books but, he is on to sixteen year old entertainment now and cell phones and girls seem to take more of his time. His twenty-one year old brother loves them and got me reading them, it is just not the same.

I am way off topic here, as I tend to do when I talk about these boys. But, they are an inspiration for me.

The picnic we attended in 2001, for Veteran's day

I took my mother to a Senior Citizen’s picnic, in Wyoming, shortly after 9/11. And, in honor of all Veteran’s, I would like to post what I wrote after that picnic. Thanks, guys and gals, everywhere.

I went to a picnic today. There was Cowboy Poetry, Fiddlers, Cake walks, Games, square dancing and a Hay Ride. It could have been in any town, U.S.A. All it lacked was a gazebo with red, white and blue bunting; we even had two trombones. What made this picnic notable were the people and that there is a war on.

I look around at men who fought in World War II and women who rolled bandages and worked in mills in the forties but, I do not see people with grey hair. I do not see people stooped, carrying oxygen or walking assisted with canes. I do not see gentlemen of 80 or women of 79. What I see, as the two trombones began to slide out the "A- train" and a sprightly fellow begins to dance by himself, is a dance floor full of men in uniform and women, hair spit curled around their foreheads and rolled pompadour style, slim waistlines accented by tailored dresses with ever such a slight fullness to the skirt. Quantities of cloth are rationed, you know. A war is on.

I imagine that people step out of the tent for simple pleasures: a walk in the park, skating, listening to Judy Garland sing, in Meet Me in St. Louis and a rare treat of a hamburger. Nuevo Cuisine is unheard of. There is no time for pretense. There is a war on.

As the music slows and dashing young men put a gentle arm around slim waistlines, Glenn Miller plays Serenade in Blue. Lovers cling to one another, fearing to speak of the future, avoiding mention of upcoming absences. They will soon join the war that is on.

I am sucked back to 2001, as we stand to say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing God Bless America. We are silenced, haunted by the loss of more than 2,000 souls. We fear to speak of the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier battle group, speeding from our shores, and of upcoming absences. We cling to one another, treasuring each moment we have. A war is on.

Chapter four editing.

First, how do you like my new color? I am not a “pink” person. My whole closet is black, white and grey with just touches of bright colors. I would love to paint some golden yellow walls and maybe a red wall in an office, but I am not a pink person at all. However, I thought this looked restive. It must be the bubble gum affect.

Do you remember the bubble gum study? Years ago, they painted the jail holding cells bubble gum pink. There was a study that found out it was a calming color. Years later they found out it was not a valid study; or said that. We had done the parlor games where you have someone hold an arm out and try their best not to let you pull it down. Then, you hold up a bubble gum color paper (construction paper works), and they stare at it for a minute and then you tell them not to let you pull down their arm. You reach up and with little effort at all, you just pull their arm down.

So, stay mellow, and now for information on my ongoing edit.

I have been in a funk lately. Why? Who knows? Maybe I need to stare at Bubble Gum pink. But, I have tried to find something to say to all of you, and nothing sounded worth it. All it takes to get me going again is to receive a new Chapter back from Master’s Daughter with editing remarks.

I am just starting to go over the edit; but I will share some of what I have learned, so far.

I am finishing up on the first book in a proposed five book series. We are only up to Chapter four on our final edit, and I felt that I was perhaps telling too much in this chapter. It is a transition, from the world they lived in to the fantasy world they are traveling to. I was covering government and money, plus foreshadowing a future battle scene.

So, my editor’s general comments are that:

1. Do not remove the government section. My imagery is interesting and she feels it is helpful to understand about the “similarities and differences in the organization" of the magical world and our world.

2. The foreshadowing, of a future battle scene, definitely works.

3. Discussion of money: She feels kids would enjoy it and, being the first book in the series, it is a needed explanation of the basics.

4. What would be an exclamation word, that kids would use that would not date the book but be timely? The word “Awesome”was suggest by JRock and is agreed on by Master's Daughter; unless, she states, "I am going to use text messaging lingo." Trust me, I am NOT going there.

5. And, she does not like the straw man and, frankly, neither do I. It was one of those things that sounded funny when I wrote it and just stayed there. He has no purpose; he is not coming back into the story, so he is out.

Those are just primary impressions and now I shall go through comments and suggestions line by line and bid you adieu, until tomorrow.

Wednesday with the Writer's Journal: fortunate or not?

I have been a bit distracted lately; elections and slander adds and the flu. Yes, we have the flue here.

I was ill Monday and we do not want to discuss how I was ill either; trust me on that. I then stayed up late Tuesday, trying to scry from CNN just who was going to win, right up until President elect Obama's acceptance speech. I made the big mistake Tuesday and took mom shopping. I was just not recovered, from my flu, and I had arms and legs of lead. I had to drag myself around.

While I was standing in Krogers (I had lost my mother and was too tired to find her), I heard a conversation between two men. They were discussing the one man’s wife; who had just come from her daily radiation treatment. When that ends, she will have chemotherapy again. That’s when it hit me.

I am so lucky!

And, that is what today is about. We pretend it is June 13th and answer the question: Do you think you are fortunate or unfortunate?

Well, first, I can rest up for a day or two and then work on exercising again. I do not have to go through chemotherapy or radiation or worry about survival. I remember what my brother went through, for two years, before he died. I am so fortunate not to be going through cancer.

I have a decent car; that I even love. I still remember driving the ones without air conditioning, working windows or mufflers.

There is food on our shelves and we do have a roof over our head; even if one little part leaks occasionally.

When I let the dog out at night, I can see the stars and hear the crickets and see the shadows of the trees in front of a darkening sky. In the daytime, I see the fall colors and, now green tomatoes, and the sad baby watermelons that will never grow big. I even finally have a pumpkin bloom. Later is better than never. Next year, I plant earlier.

My edit with Master’s daughter is working really well. She added three words to one page that are close to being my favorite three words in the whole book, and she has helped me cut the deadwood. Gotta give that girl a lot of credit!

I am looking forward to meeting Army grandson’s wife. I am looking forward to giving a big hug to Gaffer. I am so looking forward to Christmas at my daughters, where I feel like I am in a luxury hotel with fine wine and fine food and great company. We laugh a lot. A LOT! And, I get to spend time with the rest of the grandsons, up north.

The boys are doing well. EMT is graduating in June and starting to work in his practical training as an RN. He may join the military also for a savings on tuition. JRock’s grades are going up and we have found a guitar teacher we can afford. It is amazing how the promise of guitar lessons translated into better grades. Motivation folks! It’s the key.

And, this is really long, and I imagine everyone is very tired from partying all night, so that is another thing I am so grateful for. Not for being tired, but for living in a country that constantly evolves and improves itself. Where hard work counts more than the color of a man or woman’s skin. A country where we can vote and care.

Joe the Plumber

I am not Joe the plumber. I am too poor to be Joe the plumber. I too do NOT have a plumber’s license, which is unfortunate as I do have about three pipes leaking in this house, so if he gets a license and wants to get some practice, send him over.

I have never made $250,000 in one year. Actually, I, personally, have probably not made that amount in a ten year period. I made a “woman’s” wage in my working life. And, my fast growing art career went down the tubes in direct proportion to the price of gas, other people losing their job and the cost of everything else, going up; except my health, which went down due to lack of health care.

So, frankly I think it is NOT time for a “person just like me” to be elected. I do not want a Vice President (possible President) who "gosh and golly's me." I want one who is so intelligent, he was President of Harvard law review. I want someone, not like me, but who is better than me and can gather the most intelligent people around him to fix the mess we are in AND who believes it is best to talk to other countries rather than just bomb the #%#@ out of them.

Think about it.

Summer flowers

Master's daughter and I are on a roll right now. She is catching my omniscient first person, that should not be there, and keeping me on track. So, I thought I would just share a summer flower today.