My
name is Sarah Thrower and my mom is author B.J. Thrower. Welcome to the website/blog I set up for her!
I’m not a web designer or anything like that, but I've blogged before and have enough basic knowledge someone would need to set up an online presence for someone else. I have actually been offering to set my mom up with a website FOREVER. However, that’s okay that that never happened until now, because I’m pretty proud of the current result.
I’m not a web designer or anything like that, but I've blogged before and have enough basic knowledge someone would need to set up an online presence for someone else. I have actually been offering to set my mom up with a website FOREVER. However, that’s okay that that never happened until now, because I’m pretty proud of the current result.
The
first website my mom had was provided by SFWA.
Back in the 90s, her site was the
shizz. Seriously!
Many a site visitor experienced much joy and delight at seeing the little,
super-pixelated tornado gif on her Tornado Alley section (I wish I had a
screenshot for you!). For a long time,
after her site was completed, it sat outdated for many years, until it was finally unsupported
altogether and actually disappeared from the interwebs. That was several years ago.
I used
to have a blog about the delightful little thingys and doodads I would find on
Etsy.com, and have really missed blogging lately.
In late October I began thinking I might start a new blog for myself
about all the random things I find in the books and in the stacks at the
library where I work (Seriously. I find letters, pictures, awesome bookmarks, and even found $50 in a Luanne Rice book once!). My boyfriend had recommended a particular blogging
website to me where I could create a new blog, if I didn’t want to go back to
using Blogger, but I couldn’t quite remember what it was called. I made a guess, signed into the one service I
could think of and…
BAM!!!
I
stumbled upon the beginnings of one of the old websites I had started to make for
mom years ago. Amazingly enough, it
contained ALL of the text content from my mom’s original website!
In my
excitement (I can never keep a secret about something I’m seriously excited
about), I immediately sent a text to mom saying I had found all of the content
from her original website. Her reply
was, “Please don’t delete it!” *blinks* Of
course I wasn’t going to delete it. I
told her I was going to use it all to create something better, a blog that she
could use as a website. She has a
semi-private newsgroup through SFF.net that she practically uses as a blog
anyway… a new, little space on Blogger should serve her quite well.
So, at
that point I was determined to actually, once and for all, make a “website” for
my mom. As with everything else, the
first step is always the hardest, and the same applies for creating an internet
presence. Step One: Pick a
template. Since mom never gave me any
ideas in the years prior to what kind of visuals or setup she wanted on her website, I
had to go with my gut. I used all sorts
of keywords: science, science fiction, writers, writing, fantasy, and finally
decided to search for tornado and weather.
I finally stumbled across the template you see now. I LOVED the simple the layout and the calming
banner image. Plus: it’s animated! I liked this template for her because, I
think it suits where she is now. Physically. In real life, I mean. She and my dad moved to the semi-country of
Kiefer, OK a few years ago, so while they’re not as remote as the house in the
banner image, it’s in the same vein I think. One of her favorite topics on her old newsgroup is the crazy Oklahoma weather, so I thought the moving clouds were a nice
touch. Anyway, I hope she likes the
template I chose.
When we discussed her old website content, she also asked me
to not make any changes. I said I
wouldn’t but… I confess, I made a few:
- I
added a few links to some newer articles about R.A. Lafferty to her R.A. Laffery
Tribute page
- I
exchanged my old senior pic (2001) that she used on her old site, with a selfie taken sometime around 2008. (I think I have the right to hide any pics of
me that show me in my perm days.)
- I wasn’t going to use some super-pixelated gif of a tornado like her original site, so I found a new, RAD tornado gif for her Tornado Alley page from giphy.com
That’s
really all of the changes I made. Nothing
significant, and I imagine mom will want to make more changes and updates herself. There are grandkids in the picture now after
all!
I wish I hadn’t said anything to her in October about finding her old content, that way this site would have been a TOTAL surprise to her for Christmas. I have no idea if she suspects my plan to present her with her new website on Christmas or not. In October when I told her I found all her old content, I just told mom to be patient, and she’d have her old content back when it was “ready.” Hopefully she doesn't suspect anything...
I wish I hadn’t said anything to her in October about finding her old content, that way this site would have been a TOTAL surprise to her for Christmas. I have no idea if she suspects my plan to present her with her new website on Christmas or not. In October when I told her I found all her old content, I just told mom to be patient, and she’d have her old content back when it was “ready.” Hopefully she doesn't suspect anything...
Mom:
I hope you like the template I picked and the general set up of your blog. Of course, I’ll walk you through how to make
posts, how to tag your posts and all that fun stuff. I hope you get a lot of use out of your new
blog/website, and have a lot of fun here in the future!
Merry
Christmas!
~Sarah
