State of SurLaLune: March 2018 Report

Hi Everyone,

What do you do when a site that is almost 20 years old with over 10,000 pages on it needs a redesign? 

You take FOREVER to make it happen. I've perfected procrastinating my procrastination of the work. 

In the coming weeks, really and truly, the SurLaLune Fairy Tale site is receiving a makeover. It is long past due to become mobile responsive. It is time for a different look. The task has been daunting and will happen in phases. 

First and foremost, the annotated tales pages and the introduction materials are going to be launched with new looks. Old bookmarks will break, alas, although I am trying to insure we have redirects in place for the most popular pages especially.

Aaron McMillian has been busily creating original illustrations for the banners on the pages. SurLaLune is going to look much more modern, rather a must with the programming needs for a mobile responsive site. His banner illustration for Bluebeard graces the top of this blog entry. It's been really fun to see what he's produced for tales like Maid Maleen and some others that so rarely get any treatment. He did a few tales for me at the beginning for fun and I fell so in love with his work that I asked for all 49 annotated tales to receive similar treatment. I'm not demanding or anything, but I really wanted a pretty new site and illustration is an art of which I can only ever be a great patron!

I've also received help from Brett Hicks for the programming which is also lovely work but not as easy to appreciate with the eyes. Good programming is invisible to the average user because they are too busy enjoying the page content to notice. I'm not going it alone this time but that is still a small team for a big task. And it has to happen in the time when we don't have bigger clients who pay for our work since SurLaLune is still very much a non-profit (although not registered as such). If I depended on it to feed me, let alone the guys, we'd get Ramen noodles once a week after SurLaLune's overhead costs are accounted for.

But this is my young adult child. Can't really call it is a baby when it is 20 years old, can I? And has defined the years of my adulthood since I started it when a young grad school student. It needed to get some grown-up clothes to wear out into the world again. The last redesign was 10 years ago. Time flies way too fast. When did I become middle-aged?

After we get the redesign launched, I will be updating pages with new copy, books, etc., too. I have a long list. I tremble to think I may even get some of it done!

On that note, I haven't even been able to muster the energy to look at the SurLaLune emails in at least six weeks. I've had to break in two new computers in that time. And as always, I have been working my real world job (which was not quieter during the last few months like it usually is which is good since I really like reading, food, clothes and shelter) and trying to complete two SurLaLune book titles that are nearly, nearly done. First is the second expanded edition of Sleeping Beauties: Sleeping Beauty  and Snow White Tales From Around the World and the second is Diamonds and Toads: Tales of Kind and Unkind Girls From Around the World. 

Anyway, SurLaLune is not dead. Neither am I. Long live SurLaLune! Me, maybe not but I hope I have several more decades in myself, too. If I can maintain the stamina...