I’ve just emailed off the final corrections for Vroom by the Sea to my Australian publishers. The ‘go’ button will be pushed on Monday and some time in the first week of November the book will be on the shelves. It was a great trip and a fun book to write. I hope you enjoy it. I’ll be out and about promoting it from the middle of November so I hope I can catch up with some of you.
While I was waiting for the edited manuscript to come back to me I had a bit of a tinker with the website. I’ve only done the ‘author’ part of the site and the new sub-site for Vroom by the Sea. I hope to roll out new versions of the sub-sites of the other books over the next few months. Highlights include a new look, a new way of presenting the slides and an embedded google map of the trip. Click on this link for a sneak peek.
This is where the polite request for help comes in. The site is currently in a Beta stage and I’d like you guys to have a look at it and give me some feedback before it goes live. Not all the links work – only the ones that link to the new content – so please don’t give me any feedback on that!
Also, if there are any philanthropic CSS gurus out there who’d like to help me for a case of beer and a plug on the blog and web site, I’d love to hear from you. My master style sheet needs a good scrub and tweak. And I’d like to create a WordPress template for my blog so it has the same look and feel.
Other than that, no other news. Since my week in Moscow in May I’ve been trying to learn Russian. (I figured it might come in handy for the big trip through the former Soviet Union next year). It’s not going as well as I hoped! I should be able to order a Vodka but that’s about it.
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The new website looks fantastic! I am jealous.
Thanks Marie – I know it’s not cutting edge but I like it. Also, I’ve discovered it looks best on Safari after downloading teh windows version to get an idea of what it might look like on a Mac.
The new website does look a lot more ‘cutting edge’ than the current (soon to be old) one. I like obvious link to Babushkastan and the inclusion of the map that shows the countries you’ve visited.
Hello Peter, your new website looks pretty good, but.. the choice of colours brings out McDonalds.. Sorry. That is my personal opinion only.. Ah, that is soo cool that you are learning Russian. Good luck with that. Make sure you spend decent amount of time on listening. And of course, being Russian can’t help but offer my help with your endeavour. Email me if you have any questions or need some info. I’ll be happy to help if I can
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Peter, the new site looks great – very flash and smart.
Next thing we know, you’ll be smoking a pipe and bringing your new titles out in hardback….
Mick aka ‘Mr Funk-Tastic’
Natasha – bloody Maccas. The only place I saw a queue in Moscow!
The pic was actually taken on my trip to Moscow. That’s a poster for the May 9 celebrations I standing in front of it. I thought you might have picked up that I flipped the image horizontally to suit the format. (Look at the Russian word for May)
Re: learning Russian. I may take you up on your offer!
Hi Peter, that’s a great new site. Why not include a cbox for easy dialogue and comments? Being a loyal reader of all your books so far, I can’t wait for Vroom by the Sea to be out!! Also, pls do some trips to China, Central Asia… would love to read about these places through your writings! Cheers!
Just had a wander around the new web site and I’m very impressed.
The slide shows are a million times better than before and the map makes sense of the whole thing. I’ll look forward to looking at the old slide shows again once they’ve been modernised.
Really looking forward to ‘Vroom By The Sea’ hitting the shops in the UK and still waiting patiently for the elusive ‘Crikey!’
Will be happy to hear from you with regards to learning Russian. And yes, now you’ve mentioned it. I did se RAM which is MAЯ backwards (9 ÐœÐЯ, I guess).
Just had a look at the new website and the preview for Vroom by the Sea … sick with jealousy doesn’t even begin to cover it!! Hate work, hate job, hate credit card bill … aaarrrrrghhhhhhh!!!!