Just in case any of you are lingering behind, this is one last reminder that all new content will be made available at my new site:
Thanks for following along!!
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Fare Thee Well, Stragglers!
Just in case any of you are lingering behind, this is one last reminder that all new content will be made available at my new site:
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
One-Week Countdown
Well, November is over and I didn't quite make my goal. Ironically, I joked about getting sick last week in order to have more time to write, and within 24 hours, that wish came true. What I didn't expect was to be too sick, resulting in writing less rather than more!
So while I didn't meet my goals, here's a quick breakdown. 26 posts, or a little less than 1 per day, with an average length of 550 words - slightly longer than this post (~380 words). The grand total came to 14304 words, or 477 words per day. 14k is drastically less than the 50k required for novel status - I have a whole new level of respect for authors! And let's not even start with comparing the quality of those quantities...
The new blog goes up a week from tomorrow. It was a busy month of writing, but now there are a whole lot of other things going on. Finishing the design and layout, creating a post schedule, setting up social media notifications, proofreading, and a billion other things I have yet to learn - html/CSS, comment moderation, managing email subscriptions, browser compatibility, mobile compatibility, properly crediting sources when using images, affiliate links, creating sub-themes, spam prevention... As always, I've got big dreams and high standards. Sometimes a little too big and high - if I'm not constantly remembering to take things one step at a time, it gets overwhelming in a hurry!
It's a little crazy how the closer it gets, the more excited and scared I get. Excited to start something new, to share what I'm passionate about, to give something my all. And scared that this has been a mistake, that I won't meet my own standards, that I'm committing to something I can't/won't want to keep up. I'm starting to realize that this is a natural, even good, mix of emotions - similar to right before a job interview or going skydiving! Still, I'm looking forward to being on the other side. I'm sure it will take a few weeks (or months) to get things running smoothly and fall into a good rhythm. Until then, I'd appreciate any extra grace you'd be willing to share!
See you in a week...
www.wisdomwonderbeauty.com
So while I didn't meet my goals, here's a quick breakdown. 26 posts, or a little less than 1 per day, with an average length of 550 words - slightly longer than this post (~380 words). The grand total came to 14304 words, or 477 words per day. 14k is drastically less than the 50k required for novel status - I have a whole new level of respect for authors! And let's not even start with comparing the quality of those quantities...
The new blog goes up a week from tomorrow. It was a busy month of writing, but now there are a whole lot of other things going on. Finishing the design and layout, creating a post schedule, setting up social media notifications, proofreading, and a billion other things I have yet to learn - html/CSS, comment moderation, managing email subscriptions, browser compatibility, mobile compatibility, properly crediting sources when using images, affiliate links, creating sub-themes, spam prevention... As always, I've got big dreams and high standards. Sometimes a little too big and high - if I'm not constantly remembering to take things one step at a time, it gets overwhelming in a hurry!
It's a little crazy how the closer it gets, the more excited and scared I get. Excited to start something new, to share what I'm passionate about, to give something my all. And scared that this has been a mistake, that I won't meet my own standards, that I'm committing to something I can't/won't want to keep up. I'm starting to realize that this is a natural, even good, mix of emotions - similar to right before a job interview or going skydiving! Still, I'm looking forward to being on the other side. I'm sure it will take a few weeks (or months) to get things running smoothly and fall into a good rhythm. Until then, I'd appreciate any extra grace you'd be willing to share!
See you in a week...
www.wisdomwonderbeauty.com
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Writing Spree - The Last Hurrah
I wish I could say that I haven't updated my word count because I've been so busy writing... Unfortunately that's not the case! I simply took a short break for Thanksgiving - that quickly turned into a long break. Plus the last two weeks at work have been spent writing a technical proposal, which somehow usurps my writing motivations while at the same time destroys any creativity. Yuck!
But that's exactly why I'm doing the backlog in the first place - I know for certain there will be times (like the last week) that I simply won'tbe able want to write. During those times, I can simply pull content from the backlog until I'm up and writing again. It's been good validation that I'm doing something beneficial rather than simply wasting (a lot of) time.
Plus, there are still 35.5 hours left in November! I'm sitting at 24 posts right now - there's now way I'll write more in the next day and a half than I did all month prior! But perhaps I could still reach my original goal of 30. Hmm... perhaps I'll get sick tomorrow...
As far as the new blog, the launch date is less than two weeks away! The design is coming together, as is the posting schedule. I'm getting more and more excited to see two years of dreaming and nine months of work finally coming together! Just a reminder, this blog (Beautiful Letdown) will be going out of commission in the not-too-distant future, so be sure to sign up for updates at the new site (no spam, I promise!):
www.wisdomwonderbeauty.com
Oh, and as a bit of a sneak peak, my first post will be loosely related to the industry I'm currently working in. Seems fitting, seeing as it's a launch date...
But that's exactly why I'm doing the backlog in the first place - I know for certain there will be times (like the last week) that I simply won't
Plus, there are still 35.5 hours left in November! I'm sitting at 24 posts right now - there's now way I'll write more in the next day and a half than I did all month prior! But perhaps I could still reach my original goal of 30. Hmm... perhaps I'll get sick tomorrow...
As far as the new blog, the launch date is less than two weeks away! The design is coming together, as is the posting schedule. I'm getting more and more excited to see two years of dreaming and nine months of work finally coming together! Just a reminder, this blog (Beautiful Letdown) will be going out of commission in the not-too-distant future, so be sure to sign up for updates at the new site (no spam, I promise!):
www.wisdomwonderbeauty.com
Oh, and as a bit of a sneak peak, my first post will be loosely related to the industry I'm currently working in. Seems fitting, seeing as it's a launch date...
Sunday, November 18, 2012
New Blog Countdown
For those of you quick on the trigger, you may have caught this post before I could take it down! I had it set to publish automatically and then ran into problems with the new site's design... My bad! Sorry to all those that may have been confused by the dead link!
Now that things are up and running the way they're supposed to, here's the post again...
Today it is my honor to announce that the official countdown has begun for the opening of my new site!
www.WisdomWonderBeauty.com
Not much there yet - I've got a lot of work to do! But there's a countdown (the numbers represent days, hours, minutes, and seconds in case you're wondering), and there's an option to subscribe to email updates if you're interested. I am now the proud owner of my very first domain name! I've also been working on writing (a lot!), the design is in the works, and I've got a whole pile of ideas I'm really excited about being able to implement in the coming months. I'm most excited that WWB will have two crucial things this blog doesn't - regular content and a theme.
Stick around for more to come. And be sure to mark your calendars for 12/12/12! Or add your email to the list, and I'll do all the work of reminding you when the time comes ;)
Now that things are up and running the way they're supposed to, here's the post again...
Today it is my honor to announce that the official countdown has begun for the opening of my new site!
www.WisdomWonderBeauty.com
Not much there yet - I've got a lot of work to do! But there's a countdown (the numbers represent days, hours, minutes, and seconds in case you're wondering), and there's an option to subscribe to email updates if you're interested. I am now the proud owner of my very first domain name! I've also been working on writing (a lot!), the design is in the works, and I've got a whole pile of ideas I'm really excited about being able to implement in the coming months. I'm most excited that WWB will have two crucial things this blog doesn't - regular content and a theme.
Stick around for more to come. And be sure to mark your calendars for 12/12/12! Or add your email to the list, and I'll do all the work of reminding you when the time comes ;)
Saturday, November 10, 2012
The Setback
NaNoWriMo is 1/3 complete, and I've been busy writing away! Unfortunately, I've encountered a bit of a setback... Our house was broken into yesterday and my laptop was stolen :(
The good news is I use Google Docs to store everything blog-related, so I haven't lost any of my posts. The bad news is it is very difficult to format pictures, test post layouts, basically anything design-related from a smartphone... Definitely a worry considering things go public a month from Monday! But perhaps it will be a blessing in disguise - if I can't spend time on designing, maybe it will force me to spend more of it on content! Besides, setbacks are crucial to the plot of every good story...
And as a quick update, it looks like my posts are averaging below the 1000 word mark, so I think I'll be tweaking my goals a bit. I thought about simply lowering my word goal, but I think instead I'm going to stretch myself by increasing my goal for number of posts. Let's see if I can step up my game a bit...
The good news is I use Google Docs to store everything blog-related, so I haven't lost any of my posts. The bad news is it is very difficult to format pictures, test post layouts, basically anything design-related from a smartphone... Definitely a worry considering things go public a month from Monday! But perhaps it will be a blessing in disguise - if I can't spend time on designing, maybe it will force me to spend more of it on content! Besides, setbacks are crucial to the plot of every good story...
And as a quick update, it looks like my posts are averaging below the 1000 word mark, so I think I'll be tweaking my goals a bit. I thought about simply lowering my word goal, but I think instead I'm going to stretch myself by increasing my goal for number of posts. Let's see if I can step up my game a bit...
Friday, November 2, 2012
Double Your Backlog Month - It Starts!
As you can see, I've made a few more changes to the blog. I figure having public accountability is a great way to keep myself motivated. I created two progress bars - one for the number of words written and one for the number of posts. To me at this point the number of posts is more important, but I figure a secondary goal would be good just in case I finish 30 posts early.
Those progress bars were also my very first foray into html - definitely a newbie when it comes to web design! I pulled most if it from this site, and it took five minutes or so to figure out how to change the text on the bars. I haven't risked anything beyond that yet... I'm pretty decent with VBA, SQL, even C++ back in the day, but for whatever reason the fact that the code ends up being visible online has been a huge source of intimidation for me. Baby steps, that's all. Baby steps.
Those progress bars were also my very first foray into html - definitely a newbie when it comes to web design! I pulled most if it from this site, and it took five minutes or so to figure out how to change the text on the bars. I haven't risked anything beyond that yet... I'm pretty decent with VBA, SQL, even C++ back in the day, but for whatever reason the fact that the code ends up being visible online has been a huge source of intimidation for me. Baby steps, that's all. Baby steps.
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