Ok, So I’m Still behind and still Plugging away. Way, Way Behind. Had a minor elective surgery ( I’m Forty and have a daughter going away to college. You’re smart. I’m sure you can figure it out).

So I’m about two weeks behind where I want to be. My two month Deadline is looking more and more like a one month deadline. Luckily, I’ve got the Book in a month things to keep me honest.

But I’ve got a problem. I’ve got two new ideas  hogging my brain.

One is pretty much a direct lift from a podcast I listen to. Sputnik at Tank Riot was talking about how much he loves submarine movies, and mentioned that since he liked zombie movies too, he wanted someone to make a zombie on a sub movie because, “Where would you go?” Ding! Why Not? Modern Nuclear or WWII Action? Pre or Post Apocalypse? Hmm, wheels are turning.

The second one came out of the ether- it’s not directly related to anything. I was just turning over a steampunk Idea and came up with something I’m really excited about. Because this is a lot more personal, and a lot less like “Theft” if I go forward with it, I’m not telling what it is. But it’s pretty cool. A quick google search shows that I don’t think anyone else has had this idea- at least not in this form.

I see on forums all the time the question “Where do you get your ideas?” and I’m always flabbergasted by it. Ideas are all over the place. You can get them from news stories, other writers, or just pull them right out of the air if you concentrate.

Some ideas are stupid: the world doesn’t need anymore vampires or werewolves, thank you very much. But if you keep an eye out, maybe you can catch a few good ones.

Then, of course, there’s a big difference between an idea and the execution. I can guarantee that i am not the only person this week to jot down “Submarine Zombies” in my notebook. Whether I’m the first to execute that idea or the best or even the most popular is as random and up to chance as pulling that idea out of the gestalt in the first place.

Hopefully, I can turn these ideas into something exciting. If not, I’m sure there’ll be more ideas my antenna will pick up on.

Working my Novel- Day 20: Plugging into the Gestalt ©, .

Started a new project on Monday and thought I’d keep a journal here. This is going to be my Book-in-a-Month project, except it isn’t. I’ve actually schedules 60 days, and plan to write 1,000 words a day.

I’ve plotted it out using Writer’s Dream Kit 4.0
, and have set up yWriter with the scene summaries. I’ve got 1,200 words done in a nice prologue that I like so far. Let’s see how it comes out.

Of course, I’ve got my Quick and Dirty Progress Chart up on the wall. I’m thinking of throwing out a character sheet and Plotting Sheet too. We’ll see how it comes out.

I’ll be working on a new podcast And will have it up on Saturday. It’s been over a month. Sorry. I was going to screengrab a review of StoryBox, but wasn’t impressed with the software and it kinda put me behind.

SO, I’ll See you on Saturday, and hope you stick around. Thanks

Working My Novel: Day One ©, .

Table of contents for Themes

1. 20 Free WordPress Themes for Writers
2. 16 More Free WordPress Themes for Writers

Isn’t it time you started a Blog?

Having a professional, well maintained blog is becoming essential to your writing career. Promote your writing, develop a community of fans, create a strong presence: all possible with a well designed, popular blog.

So here are 20 Free WordPress templates designed to help you project a professional, polished image. As always I have tried to link directly to the designer’s site, but have quite a few going to the WordPress Theme Viewer. I have tried to stay away from LinkWare: you’re trying to promote yourself, not someone else.

20. Typewriter-Let’s start with the obvious- Typewriter is a clean, well laid out design with an image of a classic, retro typewriter in the header. Basic Blog Theme without a lot of features.

19. Tropical Grunge-

Tropical Grunge WordPress theme

A Dark Green Background with a light text area, Tropical Grunge has a cool header image and would work well on Fantasy writers‘ blogs.

18. Abstractia- Another Dark Green Theme, with a little more professional look.

Abstractica WordPress Theme

17. Zeke 1.0- A popular Theme. Dark Red header and yellow text, with a woody background. Well laid out for monetization and sales.

Zeke WordPress Theme

16. RetroBook-An antique book. Small area for text, lots of wasted space. If you want to put up a bio and biblio, but don’t want to actually blog, this might be the way to go.

retrobook WordPress Theme

15. Nebula- A great Sci-Fi Theme. Dark Text on a static image of the Horsehead Nebula.

14. PDawn- dark theme, with a depressing/ Horror image. Very understated and elegant. Would Work for most horror, except Extreme.

PDawn Theme

13. Point Blank- Speaking of extreme Horror…Milo is a prolific designer of awesome looking themes. He’s all over the WordPress Theme Viewer. Unfortunately, a lot of his themes can be considered experimental- Cool looking and State-Of-The-Art, but hard to use and modify. Point Blank isn’t one of these. It works, and works well.

Point Blank Horror WordPress Theme

12.Nebula 1.8- Another Dark Sci-Fi Theme. More of a dark Tech / Cyber feel.

11.WP-Premium- A professional Theme with three different color schemes. What I’m using here (Red Theme). Not real personal, but easy to work with.

10. Options Theme- Unusual Theme with lots of “Options” Can be used for a blog or a Magazine Style Theme. Two Color Styles- “Light, which was this site’s previous theme and is more personal, and “Dark”, Which I use on Battlestar Grammactica. Theme options are controlled not by editing the files, but through a Dashboard Applet.

9- Visionary- Another Theme by the same designer as Options. This is a News style theme, but is not as cluttered and should work well for a personal writer’s site. No Picture since it’s a clean grid / Magazine style theme.

8,7,6,5,4. Notebook, Duffy, Blue Jeans, Aspire and Genesis- All these themes are pretty impressive, and pretty nice looking. Aspire was used on My daughter’s site, and was the inspiration for this list. When looking for the original designer, I came across InfoCreek’s website and all these Themes. They all seem based on the same structure.

Duffy Theme

Duffy and Aspire are Antique themes, Notebook has a Feminine touch, Blue Jeans is Rustic and Genesis is High Tech.

3. Halloween-Good Dark Template. Actually not so much Horror as Grungy Industrial. Extra Points Because the Designer uses it for his own Site.

Horror WordPress Theme

2.DFire-A dark Theme with Light Sidebars and an Unusual color scheme. Nice images throughout.

DFire Theme

1.Sandbox- C’mon, You’re Creative, right? Why Not Make your own theme to reflect your true personality? Sandbox is a theme designed to allow easy customization and configuration. A lot of the Free themes I’ve found use this as their starting point.

Want more? I’ve found 16 More Free Themes- More Modern, More Interactive, More Professional!

20 Free WordPress Themes for Writers ©, .

Table of contents for Themes

1. 20 Free WordPress Themes for Writers
2. 16 More Free WordPress Themes for Writers

What a difference a year makes. A quick search yielded a lot of professional themes for WordPress. Unlike last years crop, which mostly were personal themes that could work for writers, many newer themes seem to offer a more polished, professional image. More features are built into the themes, and unfortunately, some do require a little bit of programming to get working. As always, I’ve tried to link to either the WordPress theme viewer or the designer’s site. And I’ve tried to get non-linkjacked, non-sponsored themes. But there are a few here that have links embedded in the footer. Use with caution.

Threat to Creativity- Wow Cool. Colorful, Pop-Art Magazine theme. Unique and artisitic. I can’t wait to see this in use. (ed. Guess what? I’m trying it out now. There’s a few rendering issues at low res…But it’s pretty nice)

Calling Mr Warhol. Mr. Andy Warhol.

Chronicles- A Clean, magazine feel.Love the color scheme and design. very nice for a professional image.

Freelancer for Hire- Wouldn

Inanis Glass- A Glass look theme from WordPress theme viewer. Great techy feel with lots of features. Check out the author photo and animated buttons.

Me and My Aero

Gravel- Red Grungy theme. Reminds me of this site’s WP-Premium, but with a little more personality. I haven’t downloaded it yet- Does anyone know if it’s got any features?

A Blurry Mirror

Desk Mess- Another Basic, writer themed theme.You’d think Personal blogs from aspiring writers were all over the internet, wouldn’t you?

Looks Familiar?

Abynsthe- An Outdoorsy, cabin and wood theme. Like the whole Camp Crystal Lake Vibe, but why Absynthe?

The Smell of Wormwood

Kanata- OOH, Look. Desk Images, Wood and Notebooks! It’s the Writer theme Trifecta!

Wood. More Wood. And Pens.

MT Dark- Yet another Dark Personal Blog Theme. Yawwn.. I’m getting tired of these. Maybe it’s time to shake things up…

Coffee anyone?

Mysterio- No, Not the next Spiderman villain, but a sci-fi, techy theme to satisfy your inner Gibson.

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto?

Screwdriver- What? Too Clean Cut? How about a nice steam punk feel, fresh from Vault 19?

Tighten up your Blog

WasteLand- Still too Clean? Fine….Here’s a Post-apocalyptic Theme for you to Groove to:

Mutants Untie!

Maro-I like the layout of this.I Like the Advertised advanced features. The colors, I don’t know. I liked them at first, but think they’re just a little off. Give it a shot.

Brown? Maroon? Muddy?

Voodoo Empire 2- The thumbnail doesn’t do this theme justice. This is a neat, red theme that looks simply fantastic.

Who Do? You Do.

Deep Silent- Another red One. This time a soft Romantic / Gothic header and professional type make a pretty interesting theme.

Run Silent, Run Deep

Cellar Heat-From the Popular Smashing Pumpkins comes this theme. Check out the others they have available also-lots of creative designs for artists and writers.

Victorian Basement

VideoGraphEx- Got content? Not the fanciest Theme, But designed for video Bloggers.

16 More Free WordPress Themes for Writers ©, .

A big problem with creating a WordPress site for for writing is trying to differentiate it from the millions of other personal blogs. We see this with Programmers, Designers, Photographers and Artists. Throw up a template, and you look like any other blog. Modify it, change widgets, add your own blogroll, and it still looks and feels the same. But there are some plug-ins out there designed specifically for the working writer that can give you a professional, polished Writing Site:

Amazon Reloaded- If a writer writes a book, they’ll want to sell it on Amazon. And if they sell on Amazon, they’ll want to be an Associate. And if they’re an Associate, they’ll want an easy way to add amazon products and tags to their posts. And if they do that, they’ll want this plug-in, which puts an Amazon Search engine in you’re editor, allowing them to quickly add links without navigating away from their site.

Creative Commons Configurator- Allows a writer to assign an appropriate License to their posts and feeds. Just Like Cory!

Daily Word Count- from Gnomebox, a great plug in for NaNoWriMo and for helping readers see your progress. They’ll keep coming back to cheer you on, or laugh in the face of your despair! Either way, you Win!

In Series- Let’s you l ink multiple posts together as a series. Keeps your readers reading, and makes it easier to post in-depth articles and essays. Hey, you could even link a book’s chapters together.

RSS-Footer- Speaking of feeds- this plugin adds a custom attribution to your feeds. It’s an easy way to link back to your site if someone scrapes your content.

Submission Tracker- Another plug-in from Gnomebox. Creates an Admin page for entering submissions and response times. A Behind the scenes Plug-in.

Table of Contents Generator- Scans your long post or article for headings and places a table of contents with links wherever you want it.

Writing Projects- From the Guy who made submission tracker and Daily Word Count, Allows you to track projects and put a status bar on your blog.

WP-Wall- Adds a whitespace wall for user’s comments

Essential WordPress Plugins for Writers ©, .