Blog Archives
Content Revamp!
Well, did anyone notice? I spent the past two doing a bit of redecorating to the Archives. I consolidated a few pages and dug up some of my old horse content to share here. In the sidebar I removed some of the links to my stories, instead placing them on their parent pages. For example, clicking the ‘Shadow Realm Book I’ page will display a list of links for the first nine parts of Shadow Realm. This way readers can still access all blog content while preventing my sidebars from becoming too overwhelmed with unnecessary pages.
My ‘J.B. Stables’ page contains more horse photos along with a short biography of my horses. I plan on creating a ‘profile page’ for each of my horses with their stories as well. (Madam’s is already posted -see the sidebar link.) This way additional readers who are new to my blog can quickly reference the pages instead of clicking through dozens of old posts to understand the horses I blog about. Later on I will restore additional pieces of backlogged horse content.
Thank you for tolerating my hectic (and sometimes dangerously creative) mind. I know the Archives has been an obscure organizational system of a scattered purpose and eventually time will settle this blog back to a regular, clear-focused pace. I witnessed an odd pattern lately -this blog appears to mirror the distractions, thought processes, and mental state of my own mind more than intended!
-DA Agelle
And, yes, I will continue to sign my posts as ‘DA’. ;)
Revolution
Today is the one month anniversary since the day Adam and I rode into our first horse show together.
I know I have not updated this blog as much as I hoped to this past month. I am also aware that my late updates have happened before, believe me, I did not purposely intend for them to be that way. I love keeping this blog to record my life in and to talk about topics which matter to me. Unfortunately, I do not feel the same way writing in this blog as I once did when I started it. I am NOT going to stop writing –I merely plan to change how I write.
I started The Archives during my…early seventh? grade year back in Junior High. First I documented the things I loved, being primarily horses and my current projects. I started posting a few of my stories (Remember my ancient horribly written Shadow Realm drafts and old horse stories? My incessant three-line posts detailing every aspect of “ADAM BROKE MY LEG THIS WEEK!! WHY WOULD HE DO SUCH A THING WHEN I TRIED SO HARD TO TAKE CARE OF THE LAMINITIS IN HIS FEEEEEET?!?!?!?”) It was true, my posts were not as well-organized and written as they are now. Eventually I took my old work down and replaced it with the later content you see today. There is one element of this blog which I could not replace, however; the fun and love I put into building and playing around this piece of online space which I call my own. I miss posting the tiny snippets of my horseback rides and stories of fictional racehorses-turned-champions. Eventually more of my friends started visiting my blog for my writing and, well, I made the mistake of transitioning this blog too much into little more than a collection of literature. I loved writing, but horses were, are, and always will be the number one love in my life. Now I have –what?- one or two pages dedicated to my stables? That’s IT?! I meant to fix this problem sooner but more things got in the way –pressure to continue the series I started and other activities dealing with school and the outside world. Eventually I trimmed down my documentation of ‘J.B. Stables’ on my blog because a few friends felt it would not fit in with my fantasy-themed Shadow Realm content.
Well, I don’t care anymore. Now that I revamped my blog into a format I love, why not revamp the content I love as well? I know I babble incessantly about my horses in real life but I know for sure I have enough energy to continue on! Yes, I don’t post any more of Adam’s laminitis updates (since he recovered for now) or pour my heart into another post dealing with “WHY CAN’T I SHOW, I WANNA SHOOOOW!!!”. Then I decided to keep my nose to the grindstone for a bit and let go of that type of equine updates –until now.
With the recent posts about my first horse show with Adam and my future English riding lessons at another stable, I absolutely cannot wait to keep with with the current of equine related content on here! More exciting things are happening –things worth blogging about which will entertain my non-equestrian readers as well. (Although if you don’t like horses, why are you reading this? Why do you even KNOW ME?! Haha!) I feel like a little 12 year old again, jumping for joy because I lasted a grooming session “Without getting bit, daddy!!”
It’s time for a revolution. I do not plan on removing my non-equestrian literary content at the moment but I will enforce this blog’s reversion back to the horse world (it never truly left!) once again. So what if my parents don’t want me to be a horse jockey or don’t understand how important my stable is to me? They’ll have to deal with it sometime.
-DA Agelle
P.S. By the end of 2011, I want to make ‘Horses’ my top category for blog posts!
Wowee!
“Wow, the archives looks DIFFERENT!” If you are thinking something along that phrase, then you have obviously noticed the change in my blog layout! I had the old black-on-black theme for years now and felt that a change could be nice. All of the pages, categories, links, and other information posted in the past is still on this blog. Some pages may have merely moved under different headers, such as my two stage plays. I updated my stable page with a picture and will finally finish it near the end of this summer (hopefully). I assure every reader that this new theme will be easier to read and navigate around. In the top right corner of my header is a tiny blue Facebook icon which links to my Facebook page. That way, my friends in real-life with Facebook have an easy link to my page for contact. Links to my blog pages are both in the right sidebar AND towards the header on the top. (The horse in the middle of my header, by the way, is Madam. Isn’t she sweet?) Finally, thanks to different post formats available for use, I can easily create posts consisting of photo galleries, quotes, and even short updates with a few lines of text. I hope everyone enjoys my updated blog theme and the new features it will allow me to share with you in the future.
-DA Agelle
Autumn
I am sad to see summer ending but excited for the coming fall. Fall is one of my favorite seasons. There are Friday night football games, fall play, and the best holiday of all -Halloween! This year the piccolo section plans on being angels and demons for our march in the Halloween parade. I am certainly planning on being a demon! My main Halloween costume will probably be a zombie although I may have a few other ideas.
The band did a good job during halftime at the game Friday night. Our team lost but nevertheless I had fun hanging out with my friends. The following day the band did an amazing performance at a band festival. To add to my busy weekend schedule Sunday was spent working on various home projects such as crafting some ocean-themed hooks for my sister and I to hang in our room. They have a rustic beach cottage appearance and cause me to miss the great times spent at the Outer Banks in the summer.
On Sunday I also spent the evening with the horses. I rode Adam first and then Madam after him. Adam gave me trouble as usual. Mainly it was his bolting, rearing, and bucking which was a problem. I have a theory that my riding crop may be part of the issue. I believe it is ineffective and should be replaced with a stronger one. There is no school on Friday so I plan on going to Equine Chic and spending my gift card on a new one. I hope it works! Another item in need of replacement is my pretty purple riding helmet, unfortunately. During the last ride with Adam it was damaged after I was thrown in the pasture. Perhaps I will find a nice replacement at Equine Chic.
I wish everyone a happy late summer/early fall. I can’t wait for the Halloween decorations to appear and for the festivities to start!
-DA Agelle
Huzzah! MORE Shadow Realm!
I just added ‘Shadow Realm’ as a post category. From now on all Shadow Realm related posts such as this one will be marked under that category.
Yes! After taking a long break from by favorite -and only- fantasy series, Shadow Realm, I have returned to it at last. If you check in the sidebar part 10 has been released! You will also notice that the ‘Shadow Realm’ section of the sidebar has been through major clean-up. The next item on my to-do list is to post the last part of Master Manderdorke before finishing Shadow Realm 11.
P.S. – Shadow Realm XI is looking great so far!
Hello!
Hello from Windows Live Writer on my computer! Using the program (Came with my laptop on Windows Vista) I can write posts and publish them without using my internet browser. I hope by using this method I can send more updates and publish more posts!
At this moment I am working on my zebra story Rupeo Desert Wonder. So far it is coming along fairly well. The first part has been released and you may read it in the sidebar to the right. I am currently working on part two. The release date for the second part is unknown, but it will probably be sometime soon. I am trying to aim for sometime around July 11th.
I am planning to add more of my artwork to the site sometime soon. I will probably create some sort of art gallery and post the link in the sidebar with my stories. Artwork will include Shadow Realm illustrations and a few other pictures / illustrations drawn on Paint. (This includes my collection of animal drawings!) Of course, I will also post my pencil and paper illustrations. When this is complete the content of the site will have pretty much doubled compared to the content posted now. Until then, enjoy the newest Shadow Realm entitled Shadow Realm VIII – Double.
Site Updates
In case you hadn’t noticed yesterday I updated a few things here on the site:
1 – The front image has been updated and more SR character icons are added.
2 – The sidebar has changed to include a few more features such as a search bar, stats, and a little box where I can type random articles of text (I will usually put small updates or notices here)
The Archives of DA Agelle 