There are few things that I know about myself more than the fact that I’m always changing my mind about some things. Clothes, I’m good. I wear the same things: t-shirts, jeans, casual pants and flip flops. I know what colors look good on me and my closet is filled with blacks, browns, whites and khakis. Color is hard for me so I don’t do it.
The same thing does not go, however, for my website. I’m constantly looking for new themes, new changes, something that says me, without having to pay someone to help me figure that out. Call me cheap but honestly, if I’d paid someone to come up with as many different variations on my site as I’ve had by now, they would be really wealthy and I? Well, I’d still be looking to change it.
So when the fab Michelle McGinnis of Friendly Web Consulting told me about a Firefox plugin that would help me learn how to customize CSS sheets for my blog, I was excited. I spent 2 days searching for themes and I won’t tell you how many I downloaded. But I deliberately stuck with free because, well, I’m always changing my mind and why pay for something that’s going to be a short term investment when I can figure out how to change things up myself and keep it interesting.
I found several themes that I really liked and made necessary changes. I spent 1 day working on a theme that I liked but ultimately didn’t stick with. Then I found the current one. I kind of like it. It’s busy but different, especially for me. I tried to stay away from browns and greys (but downloaded several that I plan on playing with later). Essentially, I was able to find this theme, change the font size (just for you , Bill☺) and move on with my life.
But when I get stuck on something, ultimately, I have to stay with it until I beat it. I used to play Nintendo (I know, I’m dating myself) but I would stay up for days until I beat the game. I’d obsess until it was over. The same thing happens with me on my website and ultimately on my writing projects. My fab critique partner told me that I’m married to my projects, that this is a business and that I need to be willing to set them aside. But my brain doesn’t work like that. When a project takes hold, I end up coming back to it again and again until I’m able to work on it. My War’s Darkest Series may never be picked up by a big publisher (I haven’t given up hope that this series will eventually be published) but that doesn’t mean I’m giving up on it.
It just means I’ll set it aside for a while until I’m able to write the stories that need to be told. Because ultimately, this is a business and if I write just for myself, I’m not going to sell. I’ll still write them, but I have to be willing to dig into a project that will, publishers willing, sell.
As I get further into my current project, I’m able to keep it in the forefront of my mind. But I had to beat my latest obsession – my website – out of my mind first. So now, it’s back to work.
I’d love to hear what you think of the new design. But don’t worry about hurting my feelings. I’m absolutely certain it won’t last more than a few months.