Be on the lookout for a new feature on arkirby.com sometime in the next couple of weeks!
First of all, there will be a new Feedback section on the site. This will allow visitors to post comments about anything and everything on the site. I'm still trying to decide whether the section will be moderated. My gut tells me to just let it ride and allow people to post whatever they want. I know allowing unmoderated posts leaves me open to a thoughtless, crappy posts, but there are a lot of thoughtless, crappy people out there.
Second, work continues on some different content. Today we'll be shooting the remaining footage of the comedy piece we're working on. Hopefully, it will be edited and posted to the site by the end of next week.
Of course, new episodes of Committed will be going up next week, and the story is about to get blissfully weird. I don't want to give much away, but I can say that the next episode will be channeling the spirit of Paul Lynde.
More later!
20 August 2008
19 August 2008
Crisis of confidence
Six episodes down, about thirty more to go.
The six episodes of Committed posted, if you can trust the Open Office word count function, represent about 12,000 words so far. And if I keep going with the same format, there's about 60,000 words left to go. Counting my notes, outlines, and ideas, I've got probably a tenth of that already written.
I don't know how many people know this, but a lot of this novel is being written on the fly. An odd concept, perhaps, but one that works for me. I've been saying I was going to write a novel for some twenty years now. Apparently it takes having a weekly deadline for me to actually get it done.
I have to be honest here. The numbers to this point (if you can believe Google Analytics, and you better, because everyone else does) are, to be sure, disappointing. Very few people are reading Committed right now. Hell, I can't even get my daughter (who reads anything and everything she can get her hands on) to look at it.
I think there are a number of reasons for this. The first is marketing. I've done very little apart from emailing all my friends and asking them to read what I wrote. Another may be the concept itself. Is an online novel is just an online novelty? A third could be the actual writing itself. The first six episodes have been mainly expository, dealing with character development and setting.
But instead of getting depressed, I keep writing. I've got some ideas about marketing the piece, and there very well may be an A.R. Kirby myspace page in the near future. And the story is about to get seriously strange, and (I hope) funny. And if I write it and promote it, they will come.
I've waited twenty years to do this. I'm not going to let Google Analytics stop me now.
The six episodes of Committed posted, if you can trust the Open Office word count function, represent about 12,000 words so far. And if I keep going with the same format, there's about 60,000 words left to go. Counting my notes, outlines, and ideas, I've got probably a tenth of that already written.
I don't know how many people know this, but a lot of this novel is being written on the fly. An odd concept, perhaps, but one that works for me. I've been saying I was going to write a novel for some twenty years now. Apparently it takes having a weekly deadline for me to actually get it done.
I have to be honest here. The numbers to this point (if you can believe Google Analytics, and you better, because everyone else does) are, to be sure, disappointing. Very few people are reading Committed right now. Hell, I can't even get my daughter (who reads anything and everything she can get her hands on) to look at it.
I think there are a number of reasons for this. The first is marketing. I've done very little apart from emailing all my friends and asking them to read what I wrote. Another may be the concept itself. Is an online novel is just an online novelty? A third could be the actual writing itself. The first six episodes have been mainly expository, dealing with character development and setting.
But instead of getting depressed, I keep writing. I've got some ideas about marketing the piece, and there very well may be an A.R. Kirby myspace page in the near future. And the story is about to get seriously strange, and (I hope) funny. And if I write it and promote it, they will come.
I've waited twenty years to do this. I'm not going to let Google Analytics stop me now.
07 August 2008
New comedy project in the works
For the most part, I like writing. But sometimes I need to stretch out a little bit and try something different. This week, I'm doing exactly that.
A good friend of mine, Lou Willie (of voice talent fame on radios throughout the southeast), is working with me on a short comedy video. I wrote it, he's producing and editing it, and we did out first shooting yesterday. I'm not at liberty to give many details about the project, other than it is an ad parody with some subtle social subtext. Or, more likely considering who's working on it, not-so-subtle social criticism. My portion of the project is being done under the Kitchen Sink Creative Group banner, and when it is complete, the video will be posted to a number of sites, including kitchensinkcreativegroup.com, arkirby.com, YouTube, and Funny or Die.
The shoot yesterday went very well. We got most of the principal shooting completed, with one more scene to go. With any luck, we'll have this wrapped and ready for posting on the innerwebs within the next two weeks. An official announcement will be made (and an e-mail sent to the the arkirby.com subscribers) when the project is posted.
Get ready for some haha!
A good friend of mine, Lou Willie (of voice talent fame on radios throughout the southeast), is working with me on a short comedy video. I wrote it, he's producing and editing it, and we did out first shooting yesterday. I'm not at liberty to give many details about the project, other than it is an ad parody with some subtle social subtext. Or, more likely considering who's working on it, not-so-subtle social criticism. My portion of the project is being done under the Kitchen Sink Creative Group banner, and when it is complete, the video will be posted to a number of sites, including kitchensinkcreativegroup.com, arkirby.com, YouTube, and Funny or Die.
The shoot yesterday went very well. We got most of the principal shooting completed, with one more scene to go. With any luck, we'll have this wrapped and ready for posting on the innerwebs within the next two weeks. An official announcement will be made (and an e-mail sent to the the arkirby.com subscribers) when the project is posted.
Get ready for some haha!
05 August 2008
Time for a change?
Sunday nights at my house are starting to get very, very long.
Because I post new episodes of Committed on Monday mornings, I spend a lot of time on Sundays getting the site ready for the new episodes. This involves several steps: breaking down the episodes into separate pages (I try to get them to between 500-600 words per page); building the new pages for the episode; updating the site navigation for the pages (I cannot adequately describe how much I hate that part); updating the home page to showcase the new episode; and preparing an e-mail announcing the new episode to send to the mailing list on Monday morning. Of course, this doesn't include last-minute additions or edits to the content itself. I'm notorious for changing things at the last minute.
I'm not a programmer, so there is a fair bit of trial and error involved on my part. Thankfully, we're using DotNetNuke as our content management system, which makes it pretty easy for a non-tech like me to put in new content. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about coding and such to make it very simple. I spend more time copying and pasting source code for the page navigation than I do anything else, which is quite a chore for me. As Committed grows (and it's growing -- I can't believe next Monday will see the posting of the fifth episode), this chore grows as well, and by the time I get to 20 episodes, it may be too much for me to handle.
When you also consider that the Redheaded Hippe Chick and I are also working full-time at other jobs, trying to get her daughter ready for college, and preparing our house to go on the market, it is easy to see that I might want to find some time-saving solutions for Committed updates.
As such, I'm investigating the possibility of integrating WordPress into the site. Over the next couple of weeks, you may see some design changes, but I hope they won't be too glaring.
We shall see.
Because I post new episodes of Committed on Monday mornings, I spend a lot of time on Sundays getting the site ready for the new episodes. This involves several steps: breaking down the episodes into separate pages (I try to get them to between 500-600 words per page); building the new pages for the episode; updating the site navigation for the pages (I cannot adequately describe how much I hate that part); updating the home page to showcase the new episode; and preparing an e-mail announcing the new episode to send to the mailing list on Monday morning. Of course, this doesn't include last-minute additions or edits to the content itself. I'm notorious for changing things at the last minute.
I'm not a programmer, so there is a fair bit of trial and error involved on my part. Thankfully, we're using DotNetNuke as our content management system, which makes it pretty easy for a non-tech like me to put in new content. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about coding and such to make it very simple. I spend more time copying and pasting source code for the page navigation than I do anything else, which is quite a chore for me. As Committed grows (and it's growing -- I can't believe next Monday will see the posting of the fifth episode), this chore grows as well, and by the time I get to 20 episodes, it may be too much for me to handle.
When you also consider that the Redheaded Hippe Chick and I are also working full-time at other jobs, trying to get her daughter ready for college, and preparing our house to go on the market, it is easy to see that I might want to find some time-saving solutions for Committed updates.
As such, I'm investigating the possibility of integrating WordPress into the site. Over the next couple of weeks, you may see some design changes, but I hope they won't be too glaring.
We shall see.
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