Finally configured ecto to do an accurate preview of the posts here while I'm working on them, using the site's own CSS.  It's a neat little facility, but it points out that the current (well, maybe a dot release old) templating for MT is just incredibly baroque.  These posts are embedded in eight (or was it nine?) divs.  I mean -- that's just freaking crazy!

Did something similar to add the 100 Words blog to my ecto installation, so I can use ecto for posting (handy since it has a word counter).  That blog's old school, so far as CSS goes -- two or three simple divs.

Anyway, should make life a bit easier.

I've implemented Tiny Turing anti-spam-comment protection, which makes it easier for people to post comments here than previously (which required TypeKey registration, which some folks cannot abide). Tiny Turing does a little text box to fill in with a designated letter -- sort of a text-based version of those graphic CAPTCHA codes that a lot of sites use.

Hopefully this will encourage comments, which have been few and far between. Of course, I'm actually doing stuff here, which should also (cough) make comments more likely.

Doyce and Kate informed me this evening that the comments section of this blog was expecting the TinyTuring anti-spam verification, but was not in fact templated to work with it. I've (hopefully) fixed that by turning off TinyTuring for this blog (which has never been much of a target for spam). Hope you can comment now ...

I've turned on Typekey authentication on this blog, if only because I kept finding occasional comments from (trusted) people which weren't being published (because I was forcing moderation of everything). The settings should be the same as on my regular blog, so no surprises. If something does go whacky, please contact me.

I've managed to get the "Writing & Language" category from my main blog over here, and the broken out to the various categories (further revised). Done a fair amount of clean-up. Tweaked some templates and the stylesheet. Sadly observed the bit rot of the past four and a half years.

Felt noodged by the Muse to get the frelling lead out and finish Catspaw.

Things left to do:

1. Clean up the DDtB category to delete entries that really belong only over here.
2. Make some observations on DDtB about using the default MT3.2 templates and stylesheets.
3. Start pulling down and making permanent copies of what writing I have out there on other sites that might (like the Lexicon) vanish softly and silently away.

Today's oneword.

I'd had a resolution I was going to try to do this every day, it seems to me. Harrumph.

I thinking of creating a "writing" log -- someplace I can put these exercises and other writing-related material and resources, separate from here (not private, just separate). Give it some focus, and thus some importance.

We'll see.