Precursor

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The Vampirologist is a concept I've carried around for a while; but wasn't always meant to be a blog. In 2006, I laid the foundation for a personal website—designed with Microsoft Publisher 2003, no less (left).

It was composed of four major sections: 'Writings', 'News', 'Images' and 'Mail'.

'Writings' would've been 'dedicated to my writings on the topic of vampirism', with 'a section on essays and such which are linked to via the web.' It would've included reviews, essays and short stories.

'News' was intended to relate 'any mention of updates here or items of interest relating to the site or to vampire research.' I would've also used the page to 'announce any news of my Secret Projects©', which, I guess, are still under wraps.

News articles relating to vampires would've featured, too.

'Images' is fairly self-explanatory, as is 'Mail'. The latter would've been like a letters to the editor column featured in magazines and journals.

I never got around to completing the design, nor composing the required content. It 'gathered dust' on my hard-drive, as I pursued other interests. Incidentally, the black strip under the text of 'Welcome to my homepage' does not feature in the original design: it's masking personal info. 

The homepage design featured mock articles to give a 'feel' for how the site was gonna look, with accompanying thumbnails. It's interesting to look back and see the pic I amended to 'Talking with the Experts' five years ago. That's Thomas J. Garza, who, as it happens, I interviewed for real, recently.