I’m sure
everyone here knows how important author websites are for getting an author’s name
‘out-there’ and so, like many a modern-day writer, I have a website to
encourage readers to learn more about me and my books.
Unlike many such
writers, I am non-tekky, and therefore didn’t even try to set one up myself. I
got my son to do it for me but, being some three hundred and eighty-nine miles
away, he did the tweaking of it with me over speaker phone when he was ready to
activate it.
The conversation went something like this:
SON: Are you on the site now?
MUM: Yes.
SON: Then log in.
MUM: There isn’t anything that says
‘Log-in’.
SON: There has to be. You did use the link
I sent you, right?
MUM: It presented me with several options.
The one I picked doesn’t say anything about logging in.
SON (after audible sigh): Try another.
MUM: Oh, yes, this one has a log-in
button…It says the password isn’t valid.
SON: It
is valid. You didn’t put it in right.
MUM: Spell it out for me as I type.
MUM (after he did so): That isn’t how that
word is spelled. That word only has one ‘n’. How many times have I told you
SPELLING IS IMPORTANT?
(I’ve personally lost count, having been
doing so since he was in kindergarten.)
SON: Well, that’s how I’ve got it set up, so
that’s what we have to go with.
MUM: But it’s not right.
SON: Just log in, Mother.
MUM: Oh, very well. There. A bunch of
little coloured things just started jumping around.
SON: Good. That means it’s loading.
(Once it had loaded, I viewed the Home page
and whined because it did not showcase all of my books.)
SON: That’s because I wanted call attention
to the latest one (shown). There’s a ‘Books’ page for showcasing all of them.
You want to entice people to explore your site, don’t you?
MUM: Yes. I’ll take a look at the Bio page
now, then…Hmm. I hit ‘Bio’. Nothing happened.
SON: Hit it from where?
MUM: The tool bar.
SON: That isn’t active yet. You have to do
it from the Menu button. When you hit that, it should say ‘Pages’, and after
you hit ‘Pages’, a drop down list will appear with ‘Bio’.
MUM: Oh, yes! That worked.
SON: Now you go to…DAMN IT, CAT!
MUM: Jumped on your lap did she?
SON: No, the laptop.
MUM: Oh. Well, anyway, I’m there now.
(Some wrangling
back & forth regarding bio photos. I wanted more, he wanted less. He won.
We then moved on to tweaking the text. He told me how to change it, but…well…)
MUM: Okay, I’m back in the text box. Oh,
wait, no, I’m not.
(Interval during which I managed to find the
section I wanted and typed in the additional text.)
MUM: Okay, now I just…DAMN, IT CAT!
(From whom did you think he learned the expression?)
SON: What did she do?
MUM: Stepped on the keyboard…Uh, there’s
something popped up here about having made changes in two windows, and which
one do I want to save.
SON: (Pause) Well, that’s never happened before.
MUM: You weren’t on here with me before.
SON: True. Don’t bother about it. E-mail me
what changes you want. I’ll take care
of it.
MUM:
No, no, I can handle this.
(We then proceeded to undo whatever it was
I did, with him ‘guiding’ me.)
SON & MUM (simultaneously): DAMN IT,
CAT!
(It was like the two wretched felines sensed
each other and were co-ordinating their sabotage.)
MUM: I’m afraid that startled me so much I
hit something that made the screen go away.
SON: Go away?
MUM: Yes. How should we go about getting it
back?
SON: We
shouldn’t. I think it would be better if you just let me do this, Mum.
MUM: It’s all yours, dear.
The end result is at: https://www.renee-duke.com/.
0 Comments