Today has been productive.  I got eight hours of sleep last night, and Mom’s got the little one for a couple of hours.  So here I am at Starbucks, bopping to Beats Antique and Lady Gaga — I know, odd mix — and handling my business.

I must confess, I did rather enjoy it when the toddler begged to “go night-night” last night after I let her stay up with me while I worked. <heehee!>  I told her she wasn’t missing anything.  Now she knows there’s no party going on after hours in Momma’s office…just endless boredom.

So, today I got my welcome mat up, that lovely all-important upper right-hand corner that the eye naturally travels to at first glance on websites and menus.  This is where you put your 800%-marked-up drink specials…or your cyber marquee.  (Note:  in WordPress, this is the text widget.)

Here is my first draft.  Don’t laugh.  Most of my editing is about dealing with the cheese.  I can’t help it.

__________

“Welcome to Casa de Ang, where the floors are gritty and the dishes piled high, but the beer is cold and the food is salty. Welcome all you working writers, the ones who get up early before their family awakes to capture the perfect verse, the ones who use the internet at work to search for markets for their stories, and all those glorious night owls hunched over their keyboards, eyes close to the screen focused on Martian landscapes and princess warriors. Grab a beer, a seat, a cookie. Not only is it okay to talk shop, it’s what we do here. So how was your day, dear?”

__________

As you can see — ahem — in the upper right-hand corner, I smoothed out the main paragraph, took out the goofy, “So how was your day, dear?”, and gave the most important basic information about me in the context of the blog, that I write speculative fiction.  I realize it is still cheesy, but that may just be because I am cheesy.  Like I said, I can’t help it.

I wish it were a little shorter.  I should probably lose the first paragraph, but then it negates my clever coaster remark at the end.  Har-de-har.  Anyway, don’t be surprised if I pull the cold beer and the salty food.  But hopefully, it does what it’s supposed to do…let people know what My Blue Screen is all about.

Moving on, I also finalized my “About Me” page…finally.  I smoothed out the rough spots and mostly just fiddled with it.  I also added a new picture, a real picture.  I’ve decided to step out from behind my cartoon-pixelated cloak of mystery and reveal myself for what I am…human!  I think mostly I’m shy about pictures, but it’s time to get over it.  I’m not that ugly. 😉  Besides, I like seeing other bloggers’ pics, so fair is fair.  And I’ll probably update this one sometime in the nearish future.  I know this one is a little fuzzy.  That’s because of the fog machine.  You think I’m joking….

Whew!  Well, almost there!  All that’s left is shooting a new header picture and cleaning up stuff, two more “Blog Overhaul” posts.  Then we can move on to more fun stuff, like space ninjas, magnetic whiteboards, and roast chicken cats…but not necessarily in that order.

____________________

Update:  The first paragraph in the welcome mat did go by the wayside, and I changed my coaster remark…though I can’t really explain why.  Word choice, word choice, word choice.  I’ve fiddled a bit with it, and I may poke at it a little more.