In Such a State

I am in such a state of distraction right now, I cannot even tell you. (Well, I guess I can since that is what I’m doing.) You know that I’m deep in edits, in fact I’m inputting my changes right now and am about 100 pages from the end. (I edit on paper because I simply cannot do it on the computer. It just doesn’t work for me. So I end up writing down my changes and then having to go back through and input them all onto the computer. So it’s like I’m doing it twice.) (Yes, I do realize that’s not the most efficient way to do it, but it’s the only way that really works for me. I miss too much if I just read and edit it on the computer.) (Of course, because I’m doing it twice, I often improve on my edits when I go to input them. So, you know. It’s all good.)

Where was I? Oh, yes. Distracted. Because I’m still figuring out pricing for the book, and planning to get bookmarks made. (Shall I run a poll with the bookmark design, do you think? I have two designs I’ve come up with and I cannot decide between them. I think I shall have to ask for your opinion.) (Okay, so maybe I’ll do that next week.) (See? Distracted!)

And as more and more people download “Intuition” for free (it’s been free on Amazon for a week and it’s already been downloaded over 3,700 times–can you believe that?!) and we’re getting closer to the book release (January), I’m stressing about my website design. Honestly, I’ve been unhappy with the website and blog for a while, trying to figure out a way to meld the two. I’m sure you noticed, if you’ve been here before, that I recently changed the blog template. The old one was too hard to read and find information because the color of the text in the sidebar was too light (and I couldn’t change it, grrr). This new-to-me template is, in a word, meh. It’s okay. Not great. The text is now clearer, but the layout is cluttered, so I’m still finding it hard/distracting to read. You know?

I’m just not happy with it.

So, I’ve been researching for months what to do, and going back and forth about it. On the one hand, I don’t have to do anything until June, because I’ve paid for hosting through then. But the problem is I want to do something. I want to make it all seamless and consistent and shiny and beautiful. And I want to do it now.

But, of course, I have this book I’m working on, polishing, finalizing, and that really needs to come first. Especially since I am going to hand it to a couple of other people to read/edit before I hit the Publish button. (Especially if I really want that to happen in January.) (Which I do.) So I will have some time to work on a new website soon. I just have to decide how I’m going to accomplish this, and hope that I’m competent to do it.

Because I do want to do it myself. That’s just the way I am. (Can you tell?) And from what I’ve seen on web designers’ sites, when they design a site for you, you cannot make changes yourself. If you want changes made, you pay them to do it. I don’t like that system. If I were to pay someone to design a site for me, I’d want the administration of the site handed over to me completely, so I could make any changes I wanted at any time without incurring extra costs. And when I wanted a design revamp, I’d contact that designer again. But it doesn’t appear to work that way. (Please correct me if I’m wrong on that.)

And that system totally wouldn’t work for me because I’m always adjusting things on my site–wording, links, time lines, etc. I’m making this up as I go along, people, so I’ve got to be able to make the appropriate changes without it costing me. (Especially since I haven’t sold a book yet . . . you know, because I don’t have a book up for sale yet.) (Plus, I’m just not organized enough to know everything I’m going to want on a certain page ahead of time.) (At least, not yet. But I think I’m getting closer.) (Maybe.)

So I think I’ll be finding a place to host my site and use WordPress.org software for the design management. WordPress.org is different than WordPress.com (where I am now) because the .org version is completely customizable—you have total control over every aspect of your design and can do lots more fun things with it. The one I’m using now is too limiting. (And so many of those limits make me go grrr regularly.)

Also, I’m hoping that the transition from the two WordPresses should be seamless, so subscribers/followers won’t become unsubscribed or left with nothing to follow (at least I’m hoping it works like that–we’ll see, right?).

So, hey, if you happen to have any suggestions on webhosts to use (or avoid), please tell me in the comments. I could use all the help I can get.

Hope you’re having a great week.