All things considered, life is pretty strange at the moment. I got this idea for a new business but I have no idea how to go about getting it started. In fact, I have that same problem with several ideas. The middle part is fine, but the start part is the problem for me. Kind of the same with code lately too I guess.

So that poses a problem for Secret Shopper and Back Burner. I struggle to sit down and concentrate on the code. Its just not working out for me right now and thats really starting to annoy the hell out of me. Sleeping would probably help. Its after 3am as I write this. But thats not the only cause.

I guess this is kind of like writers block, but for code. I know what I want to achieve, I can see the end result in my mind, but where the hell do I start? What code do I need to write first? I get as far as <?php ?> and then its all lost from there.

I think what I really need to do first is start mocking up the interface of the site. Work backwards from there. Get a basic layout of how it is probably going to generally look and then do the code to provide the functionality of the interface. Is ass backwards, but the donkey doesn’t mind right now. Something is better than nothing.

Problem then becomes, do I want to risk doing the designs myself. In the case of Back Burner, its not just my tail in the breeze, there are others involved as well.

You see the dilema I’m struggling with here? ;-)

I need an artist/designer that can create a professional interface. Something modular that I can build like a jigsaw with the code. I was looking at the GPStore website and thinking that I really liked the design they have. I know its not unique to them. I’ve seen it on other ecomm sites. But its clean, is easy to use, very functional and not cluttered or overly full.

However, even though I was there, I did manage to restrain myself from pre-ordering the Heroes of Might & Magic V DVD Collectors Edition. Actually, it wasn’t ultimately that hard. I can’t stand strategy games and while that one is a MAJOR improvement over the previous as far as RPG features go, its still ultimately a strategy game in much the same way Dragonshard is. And that one was almost tolerable. ;-) Almost.

Okay… Enough of the game stuff. ;-) I really should try to sleep.

Tomorrow I need to figure out how to create a new design/interface for BackBurner and Secret Shopper. Not a pleasant task, but necessity I think. Start with the look and build the functionality from there. When I think about it, its kind of how I’ve built all my personal sites. Now and in the past.