Gloria Harchar

I’ve been enjoying the Olympics this year. Isn’t it amazing that it’s in Beijing? And wasn’t that awesome how Michael Phelps won at the last second the free style? And gymnastics. The Chinese team is amazing. When I saw He Kexin, I immediately asked my husband, “She isn’t 16, is she?” At which he told me of the controversy. The International Herald Tribune says,

China named its Olympic women’s gymnastics team Friday, and the inclusion of at least two athletes has further raised questions, widespread in the sport, about whether the host nation for the Beijing Games is using underage athletes.

Chinese officials responded immediately, providing The New York Times, which publishes the International Herald Tribune, with copies of passports indicating that both gymnasts in question - He Kexin, a gold-medal favorite in the uneven parallel bars, and Jiang Yuyuan - are 16, the minimum age for Olympic eligibility.

Officials with the International Gymnastics Federation said that questions about He’s age had been raised by Chinese news media, USA Gymnastics and fans of the sport, but that the Chinese authorities presented passport information to show that He is 16.

But online records listing Chinese gymnasts and their ages that were posted on official Web sites in China, along with ages given in the official Chinese news media, seem to contradict the passport information, indicating that He and Jiang may be as young as 14.

Here is a hot picture of Michael Phelps:

This is still part of the newsletter tutorial. But you can use this technique for myspace or anything else on the web. I am assuming you have WordPress 2.5.1 or 2.6. These are things that many authors have asked me how to do, and so I thought others might need to know this too.

To upload pictures, you can use WordPress. Just sign in, and then click on Manage, then click on Posts. Click on one of your existing posts. (Or you can click on new post, but you will have to delete the draft post at the end, because you aren’t really going to post anything at this time). illus. #1

You should see 4 gray buttons inline with the word “Post.” Click on the square one next to the words “Add media.” (See illus. #1)

When you click the the box next to “Add Media” (it should have the words “Add an Image” pop up), your screen will turn gray and you’ll see a candy cane like moving bar appear. (See illus #2). The upload program for WordPress is loading so don’t click anywhere. Let it load.

Illus. #3

Next, you should see a screen like Illus #3. Click where indicated.

Illus. #4

Navigate to the folder that has the picture you want. Then double-click on the picture. Or click once and then click open down below. (See Illus. #4)

Illus. #5

Look at Illus. #5. After you have uploaded your picture, you should see the “link URL.” Just copy the link. Be sure to click on “Save All Changes.”

Now you have your link saved on the clipboard. Go back to SeaMonkey and follow the instructions for inserting an image. (Illus. #5 in the “Newsletter in Detail” post).

I tend to be a visual learner, and so I will illustrate how to make a newsletter to enhance my previous post. At this point, I am assuming that you have downloaded SeaMonkey, a browser by Mozilla that has an HTML Composer feature. I’m also assuming you have set up a Yahoo Group for a newsletter. AND, I’m assuming you have read my previous post called Newsletters. If not, be sure to start there.

illus. # 1

Open SeaMonkey. Click on File/New/ Compose Page (#1 above)

illus. #1a

Click on the table icon (see illus. #1a).

illus. #2

Decide how many rows you want, depending on how many articles you have. And don’t forget to count the header as a row, and the table of contents as another row. Set the percent of window to 80%. (See illus. #2)

illus. # 3

For the header you will want to combine the top two columns. Highlight these (see the image above, the blue borders around the two cells adjacent to each other?), and then click on Table/Join Selected Cells. (See illus. #3)

illus. # 4

Click inside the newly-joined cell and center your cursor so that your banner is centered. (See illus. #4) Next, you will have to get the URL to your banner. I’m assuming you have made your banner that is 480 pixels in width.

Illus. #5

Click on the Image Icon, and then paste the URL into the rectangular box. Then click on OK. (See illus. #5)

Illus. #6

To set the Table Width, click on Table/Table Properties (see Illus. #6)

Illus. #7

Change the table width to 480 pixels and then click OK. (See illus. #7)

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I have been having people ask me how to do an html newsletter, and so I thought I would discuss it here on my site.

For years I have used Joomla to manage web content. But recently they have upgraded their software and I just don’t like it anymore. It doesn’t work the way I want it to, and I can’t use Letterman, the newsletter component, which is mainly why I chose Joomla in the first place. I love running my website with WordPress, not on the free wordpress.com, but paying for hosting my own site and then installing WordPress, so that I can upload plugins and widgets and whatever templates I want to use. But I digress. The best way to run/manage your own newsletter is to use the free Yahoo Groups. Previously I hadn’t wanted to use Yahoo Groups because I didn’t think that I could make my newsletter colorful with images, etc. But I discovered that I can. And I’m all about free. I love the shareware idea, because I love to share my knowledge. People benefit from me. So it’s only fair that I can benefit from others. That said, first you need to get a free html online editor. The one that I recommend is SeaMonkey. I was thrilled to find it. Years ago, I had used Netscape Composer, and when I started looking for it about a month ago after my disappointment with Joomla, I was devastated to find that Netscape Composer was no longer in existence. They said that Mozilla had done such a fabulous job with their composer that Netscape decided to bow out. But that is where I got my lead because they mentioned “SeaMonkey,” the name of the replacement that Mozilla had designed, and is continually working on. It’s a browser, mail manager, chat, (and other things), and an html composer in one.

So first you need to download SeaMonkey using the link above. Download whichever one is compatible with your platform. (I use Windows Vista, and so I downloaded the Windows version). Oh, and when you download it, be sure and do it using Windows Explorer. I was using Firefox and SeaMonkey just wouldn’t download and install correctly. I also had to download a dhtml that was missing from my windows vista, some kind of patch. Also, I chose “Run” instead of “Save” when I downloaded SeaMonkey. Don’t worry, Windows will guide you. Once you get SeaMonkey installed, you will click on “File/New/Composer Page.” (The slashes indicate new popup menus to go to).

Start your newsletter by inserting a table. You can make it two columns, but I recommend no more than 2. Figure out how many articles you’ll have, and if you want a table of contents or a row at the bottom and that will be how many rows you’ll want. You can always highlight the rows that are extra and delete them later. The width needs to be 480 pixels. That’s important because Yahoo always adds advertisements and you don’t want the ads to interfere with your header image, which is what happened to me when I first tried it out. My header was 480 X 100 pixels. The 100 pixels you can customize to what you want, but again, don’t make the width any more than 480 pixels.

Use whatever you like to design your graphics. I enjoy using Adobe Photoshop Elements. Once you get your banner designed and any other pictures made, you will have to upload them and copy the links for later use. The editor on SeaMonkey is very nice, and is similar to Microsoft Word. Just click around and experiment. To line up the text with the picture, you’ll have to click on the advance tab once you are in the image editor. This is where you’ll have to paste your link to your image.

Once you design your newsletter in SeaMonkey, you can click on “View” and then “HTML Source” to copy the code.

Next, go to Yahoo and sign in. If you aren’t registered you need to do so now. Go to “Groups” on the left-hand side. Click on “Start Your Group.” If you are an author, you might want to click on “Entertainment and Arts” and then “Humanities” to find “Books and Writing.” Read through the steps; it’s pretty self explanatory. Make it for a newsletter, of course.

Once you have set it up, click on Post and then click on Rich Text Editor. At the bottom of the text area where you type, you’ll see a small box that says “View HTML Source.” Check that box. When you do, a <br> will appear. Leave it there; it means a break or a space. And just paste your code from SeaMonkey below the <br>. Go ahead and hit “preview” and then send! That’s it!

We just heard from my mil about the earthquake in LA. She lives in Huntington Beach. She said she was in the atrium when it hit, and was sitting down. The trees swayed, her chimes were going crazy and the table shifted. It scared her so much and when she jumped up she had to grab onto the chair for balance.

I’m so glad she wasn’t standing up at the kitchen sink or something. She could have fallen!

Earthquake!

I’m done with my story!! Whoopee! Huzzah!!!

It was touch and go for awhile and I wasn’t sure I could get the characters to reconcile. But I got it to work out. Amazing how I had to get away from it to realize what I needed to do to really set up the final scene.

I was watching the Langoliers by Stephen King on the scifi channel when it occurred to me–a movie that has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with my story. However, maybe it was because I was lazy and feared that the Langoliers would eat me. lol!!! Truly, that is the dumbest movie, but strangely entertaining. I loved the blind little girl in that movie. She had the sight and could see through the crazy passenger’s eyes. She saves them all, but in the process gets stabbed by the lunatic. She’s suffering with blood on her lips and I kept asking, “Why doesn’t anybody wipe the blood off her poor lips?” She saves them all and ends up dying! (Oh! and the animation was hilarious!)

And of course the romantic subplot ends in tragedy. Why does Nick have to be the one to volunteer to sacrifice himself? There are two old men who have lived their lives who could have stepped up to the plate, but they had nothing to lose so King didn’t want either of them to die. (It was probably written better than the movie. He probably motivated the characters better than it was portrayed in the film). And the woman who Nick was in love with and vice versa is crying her eyes out, but then a short while later, when the remaining few survive, she’s all happy. We were laughing at the music during the tense moments.

Anyway I had a V8 moment when I realized exactly what I had to do, and I had subconsciously set it up throughout the book. Fun!!! Don’t know if it was the Langoliers’ zany plot or what, but suddenly I hit myself on the forehead with the palm of my head and said, “Duh!”

My couple is still working out their major problem. The hero has to have a LOT of character growth. And he’s getting there. He is realizing he’s the problem and that he’d better come to grips with his internal conflict or else he’ll be miserable for the rest of his life. Then he’s got to go on bended knee to the heroine and beg for forgiveness, and convince her he has changed. Tough for an alpha male to do! lol!!!

Writing is so much fun. I love being in control of my characters, or rather, seeing what my characters are going to do. Lots of times I have no idea what words are going to be formed as my fingers fly across the keyboard. That is the most fun.

OK, you guys, I’m at the Big Black Moment, the super crisis, and I’m crying and so torn up that I’m afraid my characters aren’t ever going to reconcile!!! It’s awful because they are both so miserable without the other. I hate to leave them this way, but I’m so tired right now that I’ve got to go to bed.

In the morning, I’m hitting it again. I’ll let you know how it goes! In the meantime, I’m having fun at my new home. For the first time I baked in my oven — a nice gas oven. And guess what I baked? Oatmeal raisin cookies! They turned out wonderfully.

Until tomorrow….

I can’t find complete parts of items in one box. Like, I’ll find a lamp shade in one box and the lamp post in another box. I found parts of my food processor in one box, but haven’t found the rest of it. Crazy! Why wouldn’t the packers pack the pieces that go together all in the same box? <ugh>

Also, there is so much packing paper. It takes forever to unwrap something. It’s insane! One box generates four large trash bags full of paper. My dh started burning the paper in the barbecue.

I’m still writing. I’m getting to the big black moment. In fact, I’m starting to write it now. As soon as my dh walks into the house, I say, “Oh-oh. The big black moment is coming. She’s going to discover something that will rock her boat!” He used to get worried with me, but now he’s used to it.

I finally wrote again. I told my dh that I would get out of bed the same time he did and start writing as soon as he went to work. It felt good to get back to my WIP. It took me awhile to get back into the story after taking two weeks off, but it was so much fun. I love it when I read something I’ve written, and think “Wow, did I write that?”

I am loving this story. I’m almost to the big black moment, and I’m already feeling the angst that I’m going to put my characters through. I feel so sorry for them!!! I have to remind myself, “OK, Gloria, everything is going to turn out. He’s going to have big character growth and they are going to have an HEA, so milk it, make ‘em bleed. Because it’s all gonna be worth it!”