How to use this Page

I'm very proud of my Dr Midas website as I put it together myself through trial and error with overwritten templates and copy and pasted designs. However I know it is really basic compared to some author websites out there. So I've enrolled on a web design course starting in September where I will learn all about Dreamweaver and HTML coding and hopefully from there I can go on to Flash animation. I've been looking for some ideas and found some great author websites on a link at bloomsbury.com. I'd love to have some cool icons like on Celia Rees' Pirates! or simple animations like the burning flames on Powder Monkey. But if I could steal any website it would be those belonging to Justin Richards - www.justinrichards.co.uk - for (museum-set) The Death Collector and The Chaos Code where you can scroll over a desk and artefacts and uncover bits of information. My website is also limited to ten buttons/ pages so it would be great to expand from that and get away from lots of scrolling. I wonder if I'll need another domain name? I would ideally like to be able to add lots of the information I have gathered for my second Dr Midas book. I have lots of photographs ready to use too of Peruvian animals and artefacts including owl monkeys, llamas and the Peruvian mummy I saw at Bolton Museum. Speaking of which I've also set my Sky+ machine for a documentary on the History Channel tonight. It's all about the conquistadors and how they conquered the Incas. I'll be making lots of notes especially about the clothing in case there's anything I need to clarify when I re-edit my book. Don't forget you can tell me about your blogs and websites - just tack the information onto a comment.

Tibbidy

I did some work last year for a new Australian children's magazine called Tibbidy. I illustrated a sweet little story about a brother and sister called Leo and Millie spending the day at the beach. One of my illustrations was also used for the cover, so that was exciting to see. It is a really lovely magazine, beautifully printed and full of lovely stories and illustrations.

Here is a little peek at the inside:

And here is the cover:


It has been a strange couple of weeks filled with family colds, leaking pipes (luckily not too much damage, just a giant hole in our dining room wall!), and to finish off this week, I broke a tooth on a stone that was in my falafel. Throughout all these distractions, I have been trying to stay focussed on an upcoming deadline. I feel like saying I need a holiday but that wouldn't be fair as we just got back from Scotland, but I could do with a wee break from things going wrong. Maybe next week will be a good one.

Have a great Burns night for those that are celebrating. I only eat vegetarian haggis but I do love the tatties and neeps, great on a cold, winter's night. Vegetarian haggis is a bit hard to find here in Montreal, so I think we will be having some very un-Scottish Pesto instead! We do have nice single malts in the house though, so perhaps we will have to have a little for the occasion ;)

Here's a picture of my son giving it some Scottish style to get you in the mood.