Is this where I type my post?
Squirreled away in the corner of my bedroom in the early morning, window open and fan on for air circulation, I work quickly, passionately, without a break, to create a new blog site for myself before the workers arrive. Yes, contractors will arrive at any moment – I will hear the imposing beep, beep, beep of their truck backing up the driveway, doors wrested open, tools dropped to the floor, heavy booted footsteps across the subfloor, followed by the hammers. drills. saws – not quiet versions, but loud nail guns, pneumatic drills, jack hammers, oh my. They are hard at work on our major remodeling, and I am trying to create my own little bit of sanity in the midst of it all. When they arrive, I type madly, holding my breath for when they accidentally or necessarily turn off the power without warning, and this technology pursuit of mine will be severed for the remains of the day.
One day, a couple weeks back, I began to entertain the idea of switching my blog from Blogger to WordPress. Glenda Funk gets most of the credit (blame?) but there were others, as well. Mostly, I had grown so weary of Blogger’s many little frustrations – the way the layout bounced around when I entered text, the way the font size changed when I ‘published,’ the numerous frustrations I and others had with commenting on posts…on and on, the list goes, and I decided to switch over to a blogging platform that I saw so many others using successfully.
I’ve been blogging for years…how hard could it be to switch blogging tools?
Then I got the bright idea to have my own unique domain name – a flight of fancy, to have my own little niche. (https://maureenyoungingram.com) What possessed me to do this? I don’t know.
Wouldn’t this be the perfect pursuit, fun little remedy to the headache of the tools? Me, discovering and toying with new technology, and writing with abandon?
Be careful what you wish for. This little idea has sent me tumbling down the proverbial rabbit hole of technology blather and lingo – hosting, optimizing, linking, caching, SEO, plugins, META descriptions, blocks, insights, what the heck?! Where does one start? What does that mean? What comes first? Where did my draft go? How do I add my photos?
How do I?
How do I?
How do I?!
Where am I?
What is happening?
The “icing on top” of this new learning – the all-too-regular surprise frustration: Oh no! I was just about to figure that out but now I don’t have internet! We’ve lost power again! I take a deep cleansing breath and tell myself – later, later, later, I’ll try to figure it out later.
This is life. Learning in limbo.
I have so many things I wanted to write about and share with you – my summer travels out west, the aches and delights of home remodeling, the wonder of the monarch caterpillars crawling all over the side yard milkweed, to name a few. However, I can’t just yet. I am mired in technological transition.
I have faith that one day soon I will understand all the nuances and how to’s and must do’s of this new blog site, but today is still not yet… baby steps … baby steps … baby steps …
Thank you for visiting my fledgling site…it is a work in progress.
Is this where I type my post?
You found the right spot to create that post, Maureen. HURRAH!
I’m in the middle of updating TWT. We really need to go to a full site editor, but the change is going to require a huge learning curve for me so I can totally relate to your post.
Thanks, Stacey! I just never imagined all the little things that were involved in making this change. I am sure it will smooth out eventually. Best of luck with updating TWT – that sounds overwhelming!
I am glad you are sharing the frustrations. Sometimes people only share the successes and make things seem easy. Now i know that if I ever plan to switch I’ll be ready for the work that awaits ahead. Not ready to make the change yet. Wishing you luck with your learning and experimenting with the new blog.
Thanks, Terje! I really didn’t want to write about the frustrations – but here I sit, right in the midst of them. I figured that is “a slice of my life” today. I definitely thought it would be easier. I am thankful for all the help available through my Google searches, hahaha. My son (much more technically-savvy than I) assures me that I will like the site once I get through all this ‘how to’ learning….
Maureen, you found where to type and how to share your link and how to add photos! Bravo!!! I haven’t even attempted plug-ins or any of the fancy stuff yet, but last week I did purchase the subscription so I can add video and be rid of those awful, intrusive advertisements. Writing about rebuilding your home via renovations is a great metaphor for changing blogging platforms. Now if I can figure out how to follow!
Thank you, Glenda! I think I need to figure out how to set up a “follow” button/ ‘subscribe to,’ or whatever, lol, and that may well be many days hence, hahaha. It’s a real case of “I know what I want it to look and act like, but how do I make that happen?” – I’m sure this struggle is great for the aging brain, yes?