The New Guestbook

Post guestbook messages here. If it fills up, I’ll make a new one. I’ll read everything, but can answer only occasionally.

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50 responses to “The New Guestbook”

  1. Jason Penney Avatar

    Hey Holly,

    Sorry if this is an inappropriate place to ask this, but when you get a chance, could you change the link for “All the Billion Other Moments” to point to “http://jasonpenney.net/”? The old link still works for now, but might not in future.

  2. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    BJ—very glad to be able to help, and I’m delighted the articles and workshops have proven useful. Zette gets all the credit for FM. When I couldn’t do the workload there anymore, she moved in and saved the place.

  3. Cosmic_lightning Avatar
    Cosmic_lightning

    Hey Holly…

    I’ve been a member of FM for a while now and that site and your official site have been incredibly helpful to me… you’ve really helped me improve my skills as a writer. I especially love your mapping workshop. (almost as much as I love your books!) Thanks so much, and happy writing…

    BJ

  4. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    Worldbuilding Part II is, barring surprises, the next thing I’m doing.

  5. Angelique Avatar
    Angelique

    Speaking of e-books (sheepish grin), how’s that worldbuilding clinic coming along? On hold?

  6. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    3bros — I’ve pretty much given up on teaching live (online) or even live via e-mail courses. My schedule is erratic, and what I think is going to be a long spell of sane workload when I commit to such a class invariably ends up with an editor needing a book a year early, for example. This leads to slow, awful turn-around times for my students and leaves me feeling guilty; added to the stress of high-pressure deadlines, this is a bad thing.

    I’m now substituting by creating the courses as e-books. I’m slowly working my way through everything from character creation to worldbuilding to plotting to storytelling. Check out the e-book store if you’re interested.

  7. 3bros Avatar
    3bros

    Hello, Holly.
    I am very impressed with all of the material on your site, for which, thank you, thank you!
    Do you ever teach a class with interaction or do any personal coaching?
    Thanks again.

  8. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    Kaya–that’s a gorgeous picture of Ry.

  9. Kaya Avatar
    Kaya

    Holly,

    I thought you would like to know that I got the first of hopefully 3 images done. you can fine the image of Ry Sabir I did here [ http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/34588233/ ] hope you like it.

    hoping to hear from you,

    Jennifer Hoffman
    xxsonpanxx@msn.com

  10. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    Hi, Jennifer,
    First, fanfic and fan art are two different things. Sadly, I used to like fanfics quite a lot. I never wrote them, but thought it was cool that others did. Then I discovered that if I allowed people to write in my worlds, I could lose the rights to those worlds. I no longer permit fanfic of any sort related to my worlds or characters.

    Fan art is another matter. I don’t do art in the worlds, have no rights tied up in them, and images created by one person would not preclude me from creating images of my own if I chose to. So if you want to do fan art, you can do so with my blessing.

    And I’m delighted that you’re enjoying the Secret Texts. That was a fierce story to write.

    Holly

  11. Kaya Avatar
    Kaya

    Holly,

    hello, i have read some of your books and have falling in love with “The Secret Texts” books. as of late i have had ideas to do some fan art from these books…. but just today i found out that you dont like fanfic’s… and i dont know your thoughts on fanart. i thought it would be best if i ask before i even scan any of the works that i have done.

    hoping to hear from you,

    Jennifer Hoffman
    xxsonpanxx@msn.com

  12. Rose Fox Avatar
    Rose Fox

    Dear Ms. Lisle:

    I’m writing an article for Publishers Weekly on authors who use their websites to promote their work and draw in readers and potential publishers. I would very much like to ask you a few questions on this topic. Please email me at rose@tocotox.net if you would be interested in contributing your comments. Ordinarily I would direct this inquiry through your agent, but I’m on a tight deadline and thought this might speed things up a bit. If I don’t hear from you in email I will try more official channels.

    Thanks,
    Rose Fox

  13. Jason Penney Avatar

    Hi Holly,

    I was curious if you could answer a question about audiobook rights (assuming you know). Does a publisher normally snatch those up when they buy a book, or are they a separate thing?

    Thanks,
    Jay

  14. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    Hi, Anna. Your copy is on the way via e-mail. Evidently you were the last person to buy from the store that didn’t work. I’m not sure how I missed your purchase, but I apologize.

  15. Anna Sheridan Avatar
    Anna Sheridan

    Dear Holly,

    I bought your “Character Clinic” yesterday. The payment shows on my PayPal account, but no link has been e-mailed to me. I know the shop is still in testing stage, and hope this is only temporary problem.
    Yours,
    trying to be patient 🙂
    Anna

  16. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    Kalbzayn — Thank you so much. He’s managed to dig in and get his focus. I’ll pass on your e-mail; I suspect he’ll be very pleased to talk to someone who successfully made it through.

    Tough language, by the way. You have my admiration.

  17. kalbzayn Avatar

    I’ve read some of your writing tutorial website and just stumbled upon your blog. I read the section about your son in DLI with fond memories. I was in the AF and stationed there between 95-97 as a Linguist. I was the same language as your son based on the DLI test screenshots you linked to. Small world.

    If your son is ever interested in complaining about the linguist life with somebody who has been through it before or wants advice on some study techniques, feel free to give him my email. kalbzayn gmail.com

  18. Jason Penney Avatar

    It worked! I’m back. Thank you.

  19. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    Hey, Jay — I’ve turned Bad Behavior off. I was hoping it would save me some bandwidth by stopping spambots. I don’t want to stop readers, though.

  20. Jason Penney Avatar

    Holly,

    I can no longer read your blog from home! I’m getting “412 Precondition failed” which seems to be caused by “Bad Behavior” thinking I’m a spambot. It happened after I posted my tag, so I assume it didn’t like my site attempting to trackback for some reason.

    I emailed the address on the 412 Page, but I wasn’t sure if it actually went to you or not.

    Jay

  21. arainsb123 Avatar

    I’m using Firefox. Everything works, but I agree with Mary ahdie’s comment on your “Categories” sidebar.

  22. Mary ahdie Avatar
    Mary ahdie

    The colors are not as distinct or ‘lively,’ but the spacing more than anything. For instance, under “catagories,” there’s only a one space indent, which makes it harder to pick out the subcatagories. I’m using Mozilla, by the way, version 1.0.6. I really like the previous setup.

  23. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    And a question, before I go back to bed. Are you having problems with the font? The colors? What, specifically, is giving you trouble? And what browser and version are you using? I’m trying to maintain usability for a few of them.

  24. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    I don’t know that the new layout is permanent. Permanent with me and websites tends to be a very fluid word. I am working on the style sheet to make the whole thing more readable. I’m not happy with this yet.

  25. Mary ahdie Avatar
    Mary ahdie

    Is this new layout permanenet? I’m sorry to say that I find it harder to read…

  26. arainsb123 Avatar

    Go Dvorak! During NaNoWriMo last year, I was typing so much that my wrists started aching. Since my dad has carpal tunnel, I didn’t want to expose myself to that risk and switched to Dvorak during the third week of NaNo. It worked out beautifully; I got up an hour early each morning to practice typing, so I grew proficient by the end of that week.

  27. Mary ahdie Avatar
    Mary ahdie

    Holly – I hope you’re getting enough sleep! We worry about you when you get up @ the wee hours to write…

    Mary – formerly Ahdie

  28. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    Joined the Dvorak on the Web campaign. Thanks for the link.

  29. PolarBear Avatar

    Yeah, Jay, that really throws people for a loop. I haven’t made the switch yet, but I have it loaded on my machine for when I get brave. At least once I’ve started typing strange things that didn’t line up with me having my keys scewed on the home row. Yup, I’d accidentally switched to DVORAK.

  30. Jason Penney Avatar

    Check out The Typed on Dvorak Web Campaign. He’s trying to collect links to sites maintained on Dvorak keyboards.

    I was just starting to have really bad reoccurring pain and I tried switching to Dvorak over my Christmas vacation. In a week I was typing well enough to work again, and now I type faster than I did before. I also haven’t had any pains since I switched.

    For work I have to use Dvorak on Solaris, Linux and Windows machines and it hasn’t really been much of an issue. Except when I forget and leave someone else’s computer in Dvorak mode. Whoops!

    Jay

  31. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    I love Dvorak. It’s been an immense improvement in my life. Anything that increases productivity and decreases pain is a good, good thing.

  32. tenfour Avatar

    Wow – someone who feels the same way i do about switching to dvorak! isnt the brain a crazy maze… i just wrote a little post about my switch to dvorak – and i came across your article which mentions similar observations about the psychological munging @ http://carl.ript.net/wp

  33. Nazir Avatar
    Nazir

    Hi Holly,

    I became a fan of your site first and then your books. They way you share thoughts and feelings with your readers is fantastic.
    I am from India, and find it dificult to get hold of your books. I bought some of your trilogies, including talyn when I was in US early this month. Sometimes it is really frustrating, when I need some of your books, but can’t get hold of them.
    I have requested for your books in the stores in my place and hope to catch hold of them in time.
    Your books are inspirational and exciting. Each of your new book is more mature and shows that your are evolving into a great writer.
    I hope to be enchanted by your work for a long time to come.

    Your fan for life.

  34. gubby Avatar

    hey Holly,
    I love your site. Your tips on writing have been very thoughtprovoking.. Anyway I now feel obligated to read your books but currently I’m working through a reading list which I could use as a step to reach the highest shelves. Trouble with those classics that “you just have to read once in your life” is that there are so damn many of them! …Though I suppose that’s nothing to complain about.

    If you ever have time, say, when you retire 😛 you could check out my blog a little.. If you scroll down past the timewasters there are a few quite interesting short stories. Oh, I don’t want to bother you, but I think it would be great to talk fiction with you… Well, whatever. Cya!

  35. workingtitle Avatar
    workingtitle

    I thought the folks here would want to see this piece I found on a Poppy Z. Brite community.

    http://www.livejournal.com/users/wicked_wish/582898.html
    This piece makes me think of Holly when she’s on a roll 😉

    Plus, it’s just one of those things that needs to be said…

    The community I found it on was prime_liquor, which is devoted to Poppy Z Brite, an author and citizen of New Orleans. the community is pulling together to lend a hand to Poppy, if anyone’s interested. Poppy turned his house into something of an animal shelter, and he had to leave most of his critters behind when he and his husband evacuated. The fans set up some donation pages to help with evacuating lost pets and a, possibly, to help PZB with other things too.
    The sort of thing that makes you feel a little better about the human race…

    Thanks,
    jess

  36. workingtitle Avatar
    workingtitle

    Support Free Speech

    Hey-
    I thought this might interest you folks. Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Michael Chabon, Lemony Snicket and Jonathan Lethem are auctioning off the opportunity to be a character in one of thier books. Proceeds will benefit the First Amendment Project. For more details, go to
    (I hope I did that right. Either way, NeilGaiman.com.

  37. teribella Avatar
    teribella

    Hi, Holly! Just wanted to let you know I finally (better late thannever?) finished my review of Talyn! Its located at http://tulips.fluidnature.com/index.php?p=231 .

    (Wanted to Trackback, but I think all the related post on the old diary are static now?)

    Anyway– loved the book, and many congrats on its widespread release!

  38. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    The poll regarding the reason I’m here has disappeared …

    The poll plugin is the reason that IE users were having problems with the template (I think), which is why it’s gone.

    If IE users are still having problems with text bleeding off the edge of the page, please let me know, and I’ll bring back the polls and troubleshoot elsewhere.

  39. JM Avatar

    The poll regarding the reason I’m here has disappeared, but I have to comment. I read the blog for none of the above and all of it, as well. I came because of all the writing advice on your static pages. I began reading the blog because the stuff in the static pages is some of the best advice I’ve read, paid for or not. I continue to read the blog because it’s straightforward, no bullshit, real writer’s life. I don’t agree with everything I read here, but that’s not required of me; it’s real and it’s you and it’s about you. I’ve got my own blogspace for me.

    I come because I’m loyal and I usually like what I read here.

    P.S. 5 days, 4 hours, 40 minutes until disappear from the face of the Earth until I’ve finished Talyn.

  40. Gabriele Avatar

    Now everythings looks fine. Thank you.

  41. Gabriele Avatar

    Well, what happens is that part of the lines get cut off on the right side. For this post, it’s only the letters -ly, but for longer posts it’s more. When I click on Comments, the text stays within the field, except for the post with the pizza pics where parts of the entry still vanish under the sidebar. Thus I think it might have to do with that particular post and the problem will disappear as soon as the pizza pics move to the next page.

    It’s not a big problem, since I and the other victims of Bill Gates can just click on Comments to read the entire posts.

    BTW It’s 1.30 am here and I want a pizza now. 🙂

  42. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    Cannot duplicate the problem with IE on Windows XP. For me it’s working fine. Arrgh. Can anyone suggest what the problem might be?

  43. ankinde Avatar

    Hi, Holly, just want to say I like the new look. d:)

  44. Gabriele Avatar

    I have the problem in IE (Windows XP), too. Today the posts vanish under the right bar, yesterday it was the comments (these are fine today).

    Some weird Blog gnome at work, it seems. 😉 Or maybe it’s the progress bars. They screwed with my template on Blogger and I had to take them down.

  45. JimShan Avatar

    I’m not having any problems with this site. I like the new look and it’s giving me some ideas for constructing my own site. I’m using a php Nuke engine. Of course I’m new to all of this website consturuction stuff anyway and I’m but I’m having fun trying to set the thing up. If only I knew how to archive.

    e.Jim

  46. PolarBear Avatar

    I’m using IE6, and I have that problem. If I can help, let me know.

  47. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    Broken template: I’ve tested in Firefox and Safari — I don’t have IE. Anyone else having this problem?

  48. creeps Avatar
    creeps

    Hey,

    I’ve really enjoyed you site. All of it in fact, but the new format for Silent Bounce forces a good deal of you entries off of the right hand side of the page. I’ve tried reformating my server but it hasn’t changed.
    Just thought you should know.

    creeps

  49. Holly Avatar
    Holly

    It appends the word “feed:” to the url. I can’t figure out how to get it to not do this. All I can suggest for the moment is to copy the link manually, past into your feed reader, and then delete the “feed:” part from the url. I got that to work with mine.

  50. TinaK Avatar

    Hi Holly,
    I went to change the URL to my RSS feed and when I click on RSS here on your blog I get the following message: “feed not a registered protocol”.

    Just wanted to let you know.

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