My last Inkspot post discussed my travails in creating a website and asked YOU for your input on a new one. Most of you agreed: author websites should be clean, uncluttered, without flashing and blinking, and easy to navigate. I took your input to heart, I hope. You can see my new site here.
Beth Tindall of Cincinnati Media did a brilliant job of making the site navigable and clean. Steve Tuytschaevers of PlanetMaker Design worked with her to craft the seasonal trees (Murder-by-MONTH mysteries, get it?) in the banner and the thriving secret garden walls of the side columns. Thank you both. I’m super happy with how it turned out!
Whee!
In honor of my new website, I’m listing some of my favorite online time-suckers below.
- Hyperbole and a Half. Sometimes crude, always funny mixture of adolescent artwork and simple stories. If you can get through her writing about moving cross country with her dogs, or her parents and tipsy aunts humoring her Christmas play without laughing tears, you’re made of concrete.
- Jezebel. A beautiful mix of politics, feminism, pop culture,
and humor.
- Awkward Family Photos. Because we’ve all been there. Like literally. I think that might be me and my sister in that photo.
- The Nation. This is one of the few places I can still regularly find investigative journalism.
- The Onion. Because sometimes I need a break from investigative journalism.
- Awful Plastic Surgery. Because it’s rude to stare in person.
- Groupon. Are you kidding me? I’m stuck on this site and I haven’t even bought anything from it yet. The old grandma in me loves to vicariously save money. And shake her fist at kids.
- Preditors and Editors. Thanks to Barbara Moore, I don't need to visit this site very often anymore, but it's an excellent resource for writers searching for an agent/publisher, despite the cacophonous colors and formatting.
Where’s your favorite place to waste time online?
26 comments:
People of Walmart. That site is like one big long car crash, you know?
There's a blog too called Sh*t my kids broke. That's a good one too--makes you feel better when your kiddoes break something, lol!
Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse
Holy man, Angela, you're right! I've never visited either before, and now I feel both worse and better. It is a cycle that I feel compelled to continue...
My website is pretty new, too---I'll go check yours out now, since the whole building a site thing is still fresh for me.
I love your new website, Jess!!
I like to waste my time playing Lexulous on Facebook. I am under the (probable) delusion that it will prevent Alzheimer's. :)
Anita, I checked your profile for your url but didn't see it. Do you mind posting it? I like to visit new websites. I also like that you are fluent in the art of tortilla (pronounced tor-till-a, because I live in MN) making and eating.
Julia, how are you? We'll need to catch up via email. Thank you for visiting my site!
I refuse to look at any FB games because I am too competitive to start something like that, but I did find research documenting that crossword puzzles do indeed prevent Alzheimer's, and it's on About.com, so you know it's golden:
http://puzzles.about.com/library/bl021108.htm
Nice website, Jess! And good luck with the new release. As for time-wasting sites, I need to go into NovelRank and Bookscan rehab.
The Voyager in me loves. It is a place where people send in their secrets on postcards. It gets updated every Sunday
http://www.postsecret.com/ PostSecret
I don't know much about southern Minnesota but am learning via a blogger in Faribult:
http://mnprairieroots.wordpress.com
I'm into making cards. Don't ask me why I started. A huge time sucker. Anyway, I'm always looking for good graphic images to use and I found The Graphics Fairy
http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com
Your new site looks great!
Argh, Lois! The siren song of those websites calls to me, and I refuse to listen. Refuse! Growing weaker...refuse!
Thanks for visiting the new site, Bernie! That "Voyager in Me Loves..." site sounds intriguing, but the link isn't working for me and I can't find it through a title search. Do you have a different link?
http://www.postsecret.com/
My bad. It shouldn't have the extra Secret at the end.
Great site, Jess! I love the look, and your goals of clean and easy to navigate are met perfectly.
Thank you, Kathleen!
Wow, Bernie, that postsecrets site is very moving and intense. Thank you for sharing the link.
My favorite time sucks? Usually visiting my authors blogs. :) I also regularly check Hey, There's a Dead Guy in the Living Room - http://heydeadguy.typepad.com/heydeadguy/. I love www.woot.com. And since baseball is about to start I will spend an embarrassing amount of time on my fantasy baseball team and following the Twins.
Your secrets are revealed, Terri! But explain www.woot.com to me because I'm dense and don't understand what I'm looking at when I'm there.
I dig the new website. And thanks so much for the time-suckers--I almost got so bored procrastinating that I was going to start on a new project!
I love love love Awkward Family Photos. Thanks for reminding me to go waste time there again.
Congrats on your new site. I will go check it out. That doesn't count as time wasting / avoiding work on the latest manuscript, either of which would be highly unprofessional.
Gin, is there any way we can count visiting Awkward Family photos as research?
Why, yes, Jess! I'm sure we can figure out a way, and perhaps even make it tax deductible!
I love http://tackyweddings.com/ .... oooh, but now I'm hooked on Awkward Family Photos, too!
PS: Lovely new website. Congrats, Jess.
I love your new website.
Love the look of your new website, Jess!
My favorite time-waster blog is Cake Wreaks, where cake spelling errors and pastry disasters are revealed and discussed:
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/
Since my son is training to be a pastry chef, I have a stronger interest than most, but the site is just plain funny, too.
Ack! I can tell it's time for me to hit the sack. I mistyped Cake Wrecks!
Thank you, Deb and Dru!
Beth, I don't know why, but there is something about misspellings on cakes that tickles me in just the right spot. What is that?
Well, I just went to check out Deb's recommendation, http://tackyweddings.com/.
I don't know what gets into people as the wedding day approaches. The costumes alone...Oh, my goodness.
Oh my, you don't lie, Gin. I wonder if there is any way the tacky weddings site could hook up with the bakery spelling blunders site? I'm envisioning lots of camo and the word "seen" used without a helping verb.
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