Ask me anything...

[rj_anderson]

After a week of swearing sweating and tinkering I have updated my website yet again, with a much spiffier and more-like-my-LJ design and new content (check out the logo I made for Knife!).

Only thing is, the pages and graphics seem to load slowly for some reason, even though the graphics are quite small (less than 1K in many cases, and none of them more than 17K). Any suggestions from those more wise in the ways of HTML than I?

Also, I need questions for my FAQ. Ask me questions! What do you want to know about me, about my books, about writing in general...? Even rampantly silly questions are encouraged; I might be able to use one or two of those as well. If you fail at questions, send me LOLcats or links to good fanfic. Something.

Comments

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I suppose you could always put up an answer to "Where do you get your ideas?" That way when you're asked you can just smile and say "Go read my FAQ."

I think a good question for you would be "How do you feel your experience in fan-fic helped prepare you to create your own worlds?"

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

LOL, good point on the first one! And yes, I do think I will say something about fanfic. Thanks!

[avendya.livejournal.com]

What are some of your favorite under-appreciated books?

(I mean, every fantasy author ever lists LeGuin, Tolkien, and Rowling as People to Read. I fully expect The King of Attolia to come up in the answer.)

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's a good one! Thank you!

[sreya.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... how about "How long have you been writing", "Do you have a writing routine", um....... Well, more generally, you could go to a few authors' websites and see what they answer in the FAQ.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

If you were a book, which book would you be?

(sorry. you said silly was acceptable. *g*)

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

What Christian elements are at work in Knife?

[megancrewe.livejournal.com]

The new layout looks gorgeous! I love the KNIFE logo. :) And the graphics seem to load fine for me.

I think I'd suggest, if you're going to have one of the content pages as the index instead of having a front page, that you make the Books page your index. Just because that's the main purpose of the site (presumably)--to let people know about your books. But that's just IMHO.

Hmmm... questions... How about, if KNIFE were going to be made into a movie, which actors and actresses could you see in the major roles?

[olugbemisola.livejournal.com]

The site is lovely! (It loads up quickly on my not-so-fancy Mac.) As for FAQs, maybe..."What were some of the biggest surprises on the path to publication?" "Favorite quotes/words of wisdom...", "Was there a time that you felt like giving up, and what encouraged you to continue...." or something along the lines of "What do you struggle with the most in the writing process".

[speak-candidly.livejournal.com]

Sorry, random comment with no questions yet, but as cool as I think the new Knife logo is, her left arm looks very awkward to me. And I found myself staring at it, wishing her pretty knife was trailing behind her, pointed up.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Oh, I didn't draw it. It's from a font set called SL Woodcut Fairies that I downloaded from Dafont.com.

But the "f" in KNIFE is actually meant to be where her knife would be -- though since I have to explain that, clearly my idea of substituting the letter for the dagger was not as clever as I'd hoped. :D

[tapinger.livejournal.com]

Hmm, is "Where is the FAQ?" a good question?

I'd also take "Why can't I find a link to the Touching Indigo page (http://www.rj-anderson.com/indigo/) anywhere on the site?" and "How has your mother's cooking influenced your writing?" and "Briefly explain the meaning of life."

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

When I start a file called "Not-So-Frequently Asked Questions", I'll keep those in mind. :)

Re the INDIGO page: I originally had a blurb for it (I even made a new logo), but decided I would be best to concentrate on the book that is actually being published for the time being. Still, I left the link on my LiveJournal, even if it isn't directly accessible from the site.

[tapinger.livejournal.com]

By the way, using non-breaking spaces in the names of the authors on the front page results in a very ragged right edge if you happen to have the wrong window size. Perhaps you could sacrifice some of them (the ones between a full first name and last name, for example) or switch the text flow to justified?

[jgurtler.livejournal.com]

Nice photo. Nice website. Looks great.

"How did you come up with the idea for Knife?"

[olmue.livejournal.com]

It looks good! I do feel sad at the disappearance of Indigo, but I get why it's gone (just don't forget about it!!)

Question: How long does it take you to write a novel, and how long does it take you to revise it?

[olmue.livejournal.com]

And--if I were a reader who had just discovered you, I'd like to know (at least in a sentence) what else you were working on--even if it were something like, a sequel to Knife and a SF about (insert something appropriately vague and tantalizing about Indigo). Cause then I'd keep coming back to see if you were making progress on that and when I'd be able to next read something by you.

[tezmilleroz.livejournal.com]

LOLcats? Well, when you get a spare ARC or finished product, send it to me and I'll happily photograph it with my cat (who will tolerate it ;-) ).

Have a lovely day! :-)

I present LOLcats

[sabrinanymph.livejournal.com]

[anywherebeyond.livejournal.com]

Pepsi or Coke?

[anywherebeyond.livejournal.com]

Seriously, though, your new site is gorgeous, I love it. It's so rich and elegant. You've done a really beautiful job on it!

[m-stiefvater.livejournal.com]

Looks very snazzy and the logo for Knife looks great! The graphics didn't load slowly on my horrible dial up, either.

Maybe a "for aspiring authors" page? Those always got me going before I was published.

[shellebelle93.livejournal.com]

Well the "Do you have any advice for budding authors?" question should probably be there.

"How do you divide your time between writing and being a Mom?"

"Do your children provide inspiration for your writing?"

Also, I think your webpage looks gorgeous.

[infiniteviking]

FAQ question: What is your favorite part of the writing process?

Also, your page is spiffy!

[leah-s.livejournal.com]

How about: When did you first know you wanted to be an author?
Anything you would have done differently along the way?

[heatherbird.livejournal.com]

Do you have a literary agent? How does that relationship work?

[camillofan.livejournal.com]

My compliments on the redesign. Is there a slight parallel construction issue in the first sentence of the bio?

Probably fails at questions...

[carbonelle.livejournal.com]

Your website is very elegant and also very blue. Why blue?

Re: Probably fails at questions...

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

I like blue?