Blogger vs. Wordpress (Yep, Still Blogger)

 

 
...And Still the Champion (For Me, Anyway)

I've tried to like Wordpress. Really, I have. Between the fact that there are two different iterations of the software (Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org), each with different features and a not-at-all-intuitive design engine, I have decided for the third time that I like Blogger better.

All Blogging, No Waiting

I know there are users who love the heck out of Wordpress, and they manage to create beautiful websites and blogs with it. I am not one of them. I'm an author, Jim, not a blogger. I've been on Blogger since 2006, and like the proverbial old dog, I don't have the patience for the new tricks when I simply want to put a blog post out into the world and share some information with you.

My defining traits are stubbornness and impatience, after all. I like a simple, intuitive interface. (You should have seen me when I first downloaded Scrivener. I almost had heart failure at how complex it is. I did get it to play nice with me, eternal thanks to author Holly Evans.)

Don't (Always) Reinvent the Wheel

Innovation is great. New apps, conveniences, and computer features are being developed so fast we can hardly keep up. (See the ongoing battle against Artificial Intelligence, or "AI," and the way it's been using copyrighted works to "learn.")

In many cases, there's nothing wrong with the tried and true. As authors, who must also be editors, who must also be graphic designers, who must also be marketers, we don't have a great deal of spare time on our hands. Google currently owns Blogger, and they're not going anywhere anytime soon, so I figure I'm safe staying put with my blog (even if that means my blog looks slightly different than my actual website). Blogger is free, still offers the features I want, and does the trick for getting my news to you.

Worry Not

The moral of the story is, don't sweat the details. You need to spend time getting your words into print if you're an author. As long as someone can find you and your works online, it doesn't much matter what platform you use. If you're a new author without much money, there are lots of ways to get an online presence without spending a dime...and Blogger is one of them. You could conceivably create a whole website using Blogger if you wanted to, although it may not be as robust as some web hosts. It might make better financial sense to use Blogger when you're just starting out.

Or if you're stubborn and impatient, you might just like it better.

Playing Nice With the Robot

 

AI: Your New Frenemy?

So, let’s talk about the elephant in the writing room: generative AI, or generative artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence has been around for decades, and everyone from Isaac Asimov to Star Trek has broached the subject of what separates man from machine. New things are often intimidating, but the advent of widespread AI is striking terror in the hearts of writers and artists who fear it may chip into our intellectual property rights, or supplant us altogether.

I created the above image in Canva in about ten minutes. The Canva engine speeds up a process which would have taken me loads more time, searching for separate images of grass, the elephant, the background, and some planets to kit-bash into the wonder you see before you. That’s not even going there about how long it might take me to paint such a striking creation…let alone cleaning it up and making it look halfway realistic.

AI Art Ain’t That Smart (Yet)

AI is only as smart as the information it’s fed, so as of now, your images are either all going to look like odd renderings of Nicholas Cage, or comically terrible mutations of human hands. Your writing is probably going to be the same as every other similarly-prompted chunk of text, so maybe it’s not such a good idea to ask that bot to churn out your Shakespeare essay for you.

All that is changing…slowly.

As you may know, until recently, the easiest way to spot an AI-generated image has been the terrible rendering of hands. That’s becoming a problem of the past for engines like Midjourney. Other engines are following suit, learning with the processing of each new item of input.

Words, Words, Words

Writing is no different. ChatGPT has been successful in fooling trained people into thinking its text responses were those of a live person. Lest you think that’s license to roll out that generated Shakespeare essay, though, consider this: AI will never replace you. The one thing artificial intelligence can’t do is duplicate the life experience of a real human being. It cannot fabricate emotion. All it can do is display an image or piece of text, and art? Art is collaborative, between the piece produced, the person consuming it, and their individual worldview. That’s a varied beauty AI will never replace.

Try Me

AI can be useful, automating tasks such as removing or replacing backgrounds or unwanted items in images for artists. It can generate prompts on which an author can build new ideas…but it’s up to the artist to enrich and enliven the content. Think of AI as a springboard. It can’t give you the emotion in the art, but it may spark the idea that draws that emotion out of you. It can be a partner in creating your art, and as it improves, that ability is only going to get better. So while I’m not advocating using AI to generate your next book, it may be just the writing-prompt generator to get you out of that slump you’ve been in.

Let’s face it: AI is here to stay, and it’s being used for tasks all around us. Better to make friends and understand this monster from the inside out, no? And it doesn’t cost anything to explore it. If you aren’t ready to spend a monthly fee on Midjourney, there are plenty of AI generators you can try for free. Among them is Playground AI, which, while not perfect, generated this image for me in seconds compared to the several minutes it took me to generate the image at the top of this page using Canva. As it improves, AI will help cover artists generate specialized content for their clients, and many engines are now allowing creators to use generated images for commercial purposes (just be sure you’re not trying to pass off that picture of Nicholas Cage as your own). You can even upload your own photos and create content based on them.

Your Thoughts?

Let me know what you think about the future of AI and what it means for you as an artist or author. I’m always happy to hear from my readers!

Slow and Steady

 

It's been quite a day! I'm spending a lot of time learning the ropes at my new day job (where I'm an editor, and if you know anything about me you know how happy that makes me). The writing has taken a general pause in light of this, though I will be able to devote most Fridays to my works in progress.

Meantime, I've been solving problems with my website. Every so often, it's good to sanity check your website's pages, links, and code to be sure it's still up to snuff. (Even if you operate a website off a template such as WordPress, it's still good practice.) I discovered some out-of-date links on my Books pages since many of my books are available in audiobook from various retailers such as ACX, Audible, and iTunes (like FREAK FRAT, which is brand-new in audio!). I also fixed some odd scrolling behaviors on a couple of my pages. All good now!

As to my works in progress, worry not! I plan on finishing the companion to THE PEPPERMINT BARK PROPOSAL for the 2023 holiday season. Look for news here on the blog, and if you want to be the first to know, click the Subscribe button at the top of this blog.

Happy Reading!

Website Updates and News Delivery Changes

Hello, all! It's been a snowy weekend here in Central New York, and I'm using the time to make some tweaks to http://www.nickigreenwood.com. Most notably, the blog is no longer linked from my website. It will now be used solely to deliver news to my readers, and you can subscribe via my website by entering your email address at the top of any page.

I'm also looking at making the email delivery font more readable, so if you find it difficult, please don't hesitate to drop me a line.

In the meantime, I'm working on a contemporary romantic short for the Summer 2020 season.  The Fudge Ripple Effect is a sweet read that looks at how we change the lives of others around us. I've had a ball writing it, and I hope you'll have just as much fun reading it for beach season. Here's hoping 2020 brings great things to you and yours!

Website Moving (Let Freedom Ring!)

Website Down (Temporarily, I Hope)

Nothing makes a website-owning writer crazy like outage. I've been having several issues since Aabaco bought out my old host, Yahoo, and have finally given up on them. My website has been down for a couple of days, and as you know, FIRE is coming out August 5th. That's a pretty hefty problem. So, I've bitten the bullet and transferred to another host, and am currently awaiting reactivation of my website under my new host's watchful eye.

What this means, for now, is that you won't be able to access my website (http://www.nickigreenwood.com) for a short time...but I am always here on my blog, or available via my social media pages at Facebook or Twitter. You can reach me easily there, and I hope to have everything back up and running smoothly as fast as possible. Thanks for your patience!

Happy Fourth of July!

I hope you Americans have all had a terrific Fourth of July. I have spent it both at the day job, and working out the issues of transferring my site to its new host, where (I hope) I will have freedom from worry that it's going to be running smoothly. ;) Happy Fourth!

The New NickiGreenwood.com!

Well, it's been quite the learning curve, but I'm thrilled to say I now have an brand-new, mobile-friendly website for viewing on all devices! I've been hand-coding my own website for a while now, and I know enough to be dangerous ... but responsive web design was something new for me, and at first it was rather frustrating to try to get it right. Now that I think I have the kinks worked out, you can see my new site in all its resizable glory:

http://www.nickigreenwood.com

Responsive websites are just that: they respond accordingly for optimal display, no matter what device you use to view them. Test it out by viewing my website on your desktop, tablet, or phone, and you'll find that it's comfortably readable at any size. You can even change your browser window's size or go from portrait to landscape orientation on your handheld, and the site will re-flow for the best view. It's really quite impressive how far web design has come in just the past few years. Who knows where it'll go next?

The Wild Rose Press - Technical Issues / THE SERPENT IN THE STONE Preview!

Technical Difficulties at The Wild Rose Press

 

Just a quick note today to advise you that my publisher, The Wild Rose Press, is making some updates this morning, and the site is temporarily down.  They are working on this issue, and hope to have it resolved soon.

 

Preview "The Serpent in the Stone" Now at Amazon!

 

In the meantime, you can check out a sneak preview of THE SERPENT IN THE STONE at Amazon by following this link: http://ow.ly/hZIgL

 

Have a terrific day!

New Website Unveiled!

My new website is finally unveiled! Check out all the new stuff, and beginning April 1st, enter for chance to win your choice of one of my print books! I hope you enjoy the new layout, and coming soon, you'll see a blog right here, designed to match it!

We Interrupt This Program ...

I'm spending the next few days deep in re-designs for my website, and the current layout of my blog is something of a placeholder while I knock the rest of it together. I hope you'll enjoy the finished product!

New Website Unveiled!

I'm excited to announce the unveiling of my new website at http://www.nickigreenwood.com! The basic layout has remained the same, but as you navigate through the website you will find a few new surprises: my characters have been paying the site a visit! Check back often to see what the Elemental Series characters - Kincade, Morgan, Elsa, and Ethan - have to say (or doodle) throughout my website.

Enjoy the new look, and drop me a line to let me know what you think!

New Changes To The Website ...

... and more to come this year! In 2011, I will be updating my website and making a few changes to its appearance and layout. Here's a sneak preview, which you can already see in action on my site:



Not much to go on, is it? Keep an eye on NickiGreenwood.com for more snazz and pizzazz! :)

Website Back Up!

My website (http://www.nickigreenwood.com) is back up and running. Whatever technical problems it was having seem to be resolved, but if you have trouble accessing it, you can always reach me here at my blog or on Facebook. Thanks for your patience!

Main Webpage Down

Look like my main website is down (http://www.nickigreenwood.com). My web host is aware of the problem and is working to resolve the issue. I apologize for the inconvenience, and I'm hoping they have it back up and running soon. Sorry, all!

Same Blog, New Look

I have decided, after toying with a Wordpress blog, to return to using Blogger as it is more user-friendly for the time I have to work with it. I have also integrated it into my website, giving it an all-new look that matches my main website. I hope you like the new look! Feel free to drop me a line with some feedback either way. Cheers!

Yay! It Worked!

I managed to get my website up and running at its new home, so it's now working and ready for you to see. I'm excited to present my new website! Look it over and see what you think. If there's anything you'd like to see on it, please let me know. Have a great day (I know I will, now that things are running smoothly again)!

With that comes the new blog header. I decided that for ease of use, the blog will look slightly different than my website, at least for now. The new blog header is above. What do you think?

Webhosting Changes

I'm in the process of changing my webhost from Web.com to Yahoo, as I have come to the realization that Web.com is not working for me. I've been unable to upload changes to my website for the past several days, and their technical support yields little more than pat answers.

As a result, you may see a "hiccup" in certain functions of the site while I move it to its new host. I hope to unveil a redesigned website soon to celebrate the impending arrival of my first book, EARTH. Thanks for your patience while I complete this move!

I Have Left Book Cents Literary Agency

A couple of things this morning. First, after discussing the issue with Christine Witthohn of Book Cents Literary Agency, she and I have decided not to work together any longer. This was a mutual, amicable decision and I will be shopping the Gifted series elsewhere.

Second, my main website was down this morning. I know that the domain host has changed hands, and that has something to do with it, I am sure. It is back up and running now, but feel free to email me with questions or difficulties navigating it.

Thanks for your patience!

New Header!

With the release of my first book cover for EARTH, I have created a new header for my website and blog! What do you think?

Website Update - EARTH Added!

I've uploaded a section on my Books page including the information for my latest manuscript, EARTH, as well as an excerpt for those of you who are interested in learning more about the first book in this new series. Feel free to write and tell me what you think about it. Have a great weekend everyone!

"The End" - Really!

I did it! *happy dance*

I finally reached "The End" in my manuscript, EARTH - the first of four books in a "new" series targeting The Wild Rose Press. This book has been just over two years in the making, so it's more "resurrected" than "new," but I am giddy to have finished the first intallment. I feel happy and exhausted and relieved, as if I lived through all the adventures and trials of the hero and heroine. Never let them say writing is easy!

I'm now going to take a little time to edit and polish it, while wading through some editing projects for The Wild Rose Press. I will then put some info on this book up on my website and focus on some side jobs as a web designer for fellow authors. After that, I might need a nap. ;)