...and Timothy's vision for it was beyond anything I could have imagined.
Short website recap: More than ten years ago when I was writing my first book and reading how writers needed websites, I wanted something more than just five pages of basic information where readers visited once and never returned.
I wanted a site readers could use that mirrored the series. I had no idea what that would like it or how to make one.
Enter my oldest son Christopher who tried to teach himself web hosting. But a slew of health problems took that time and energy away from him so the website baton was passed down to Sarah.
Sarah had never created a website either, so she researched options and settled upon a service who shall not be named. She honed her ability to learn quickly with her creativity and created a site, using the service's templates, that had pages reflecting the first book,
Bryony.
Fast forward more than half a dozen years later, and mobile views were more popular than desktop ones, and this particular service couldn't keep up. Moreover, it was clunky to use.
This resulted in the website sitting dormant for almost two years. I stopped referring people to it because it was nearly useless, and the experience was poor.
With Sarah being extremely busy at work, the website baton passed to Rebekah, who researched other services and rebuilt the site. She based a lot of it on Sarah's original work and used new templates to replicate the look and feel of the original, while adding new pages to incorporate new books, which now included
Visage and
Staked! to the "drop of blood" trilogy and
a chapter book series and
a series for children.
Finally, Timothy, who had just finished a marketing class, stepped in. At first he simply wanted to adjust a few colors. But eventually he decided the entire site needed an overhaul because the original inspiration was inadequate to truly represent the series.
He, too, took inspiration from the original vision and from Sarah and Rebekah's hard work.
Timothy has been working on this site for almost two years (I think), spending a lot of nights, weekends, and down time in airports while traveling to bring it to the point it is today (and it's still in not quite there).
It's led to the design of a new business card, original artwork for the landing page, and a calendar of events so cool, I can't believe this young man, with zero knowledge of coding, created it.
What Timothy did (and you need to log onto this calendar from the desktop to get the full experience), was to create a set of cards for each day of the month - kind of like a dance card or an invitation to something fun.
For the desktop view, (it doesn't work on the mobile view), he based his design off the old advent calendars he enjoyed as a child: You lift up a flap each day to see the picture beneath it.
At first I objected to a full calendar of dates. As an indie novelist with a tiny following and a full-time job, I could not fill a each day with an event. Furthermore, no one (not even my family) would come out to a BryonySeries event every day of the month - or even once a month.
Timothy pushed back and said the "events" did not have to be actual physical events, like book signings. They could be other things.
And he was right.
When creating the events, I tried to keep in terms of family friendly and all age. All of the events, even those based on the adult books, will have a timeless appeal, and parents and grandparents and parent figures can feel comfortable enjoying them with their children.
If you don't have children in your life, even the childish events can be a source of quick amusement.
For people who enjoy more complication in their pastimes, any of these events can be a springboard for more exploration or creativity.
Because of the three dimensional nature of the BryonySeries, I kept all five senses in mind when posting the first month's worth of events.
I also kept the range of books in mind when creating events based on them - and provided links to the books that inspired the events.
To keep events interactive for readers who like interaction, I encouraged people to email photos that I can share on the blog.
For now, all the events are virtual and all will be up for the month. That means you can check out one a day or skim the month and do ten and sign out until next month.
Rebekah and I are already eyeballing April 19. Anyone care to virtually join us?
https://www.bryonyseries.com/fetes-and-feasts
Illustration by Matt Coundiff for Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles from "Bryony."
