Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Going pro

A week at the beach to most means relaxing, spending time with friends or family, getting a tan, frolicking in the ocean, throwing back a few Coronas (with lime, of course), and listening to Jimmy Buffett or Bob Marley. I'm currently in the Outer Banks, North Carolina, and I've been doing all of these things for the past couple of days. Except, what I didn't expect to get involved in this week was to buy a domain for my own soon-to-be-revealed (hopefully) dot-com blog. I just HAD to get all ambitious on what was supposed to be a week off from any kind of involved thinking or fretting.

This ambition came on very recently when I joined Twenty-Something Bloggers and started networking enough to gain followers and make contacts through other bloggers. I know, it's just about all I've written about recently. But I realized I had the ability to take my writing to the next level by truly making it into an obligation-- nothing like paying forty dollars a year for a domain to movitate you to write more.

Funny how I'm paying to write instead of getting paid to write. The goal is for that to change one day. I'll let you know how that goes.

But the main reason I even got into this complicated mess is because I brought my godforsaken computer to the beach, of all places. I will say this: I did not want to bring my computer here. I am not so obsessed that I can't go a week without Internet access. Really and truly. Not that I ever do it, but I have-- particularly during past vacations. There's something so freeing about a vacation in this sense (and obviously many others), because a vacation really inspires you to do things you don't typically do at home-- like doing a puzzle. Seriously, who ever does a 1000-piece puzzle at home? Right. Nobody. It's strange vacation homes even have them lying around. But somehow, that 15-year-old puzzle of a lighthouse with approximately 46 pieces missing gets brought out the very first night and brings the whole family together to work on it bit by bit every day until, on the last night, it's miraculously completed with a great sense of accomplishment before the youngest member of the family decides he/she is feeling particularly destructive and mutilates the family's creation by wiping the whole thing off the table and onto the floor, back into its original 954 pieces.

But I digress. If I didn't have to bring my computer here because of ONE EMAIL I am desperately expecting, I wouldn't currently be knee-deep in web hosting services, importing old blog posts, and HTML. AS IF I KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ANY OF THESE THINGS.

I think I was a little hasty with that debit card of mine.

Still, I am enjoying this week just fine so far. I've gotten to do all of the things I've mentioned, in addition to maintaining my ever-fluctuating work-out routine and watching movies like Sideways. (I recommend.) Plus, I need something to do after my entire family goes to bed around 10 p.m. or so. I must keep my night-owl self busy.

But if anyone reading this happens to have a WordPress.org-based domain with a beautiful layout, please give me your guidance. Because I can't go pro until I look like a pro.


14 comments:

  1. Browsed across your blog. Great blog!! I am a follower, follow me back. blogtrolls.blogspot.com

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  2. I need the advice, too! I have no idea how to jazz up my blog and I know nothing about HTML...I barely understand how to use Wordpress! I hope someone responds with some guidance...and if you have any Wordpress tips, send them my way!

    Samantha
    thetwentyfiveproject.wordpress.com

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  3. I love that you said you need something to do when your family goes to bed...haha. I have so been there! Good luck with wordpress. Sorry I can't really help you. I absolutely hate html. Take care! :) Holly

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  4. 1000 puzzle pieces minus 46 = 954.

    Thank God you're a brilliant writer-- the math-based career would be sketchy at best.

    Love and miss you,

    D

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  5. Let's just pretend that was a typo and that my editing skills were lacking.

    In any case, the math has been corrected. No one has to know about it.

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  6. I know nothing. I see nothing.

    D

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  7. and onto the abyss and endless search of happiness
    (and hopefully being paid to write vs paying to write ...=P)

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  8. Hey there,

    I too am trying to develop a little income from my blogging. I wish you the best of luck with it. Let me know when you move to your new home, I'll be sure to follow back.

    Oh, yeah...new follower here...from 20SB. Hoping you'll drop me a visit as well.

    Thanks, Marie
    The Things We Find Inside

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  9. That's the only problem with followers. Once you get them, you think, "Oh God. Now they want me to KEEP entertaining them?" and then you think, "Oh God. What if I can't be interesting anymore?"

    And then you curl up into a little ball for a few weeks.

    Or was that just me? :-D

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  10. I was actually at the Outer Banks earlier this summer for a week :) Isn't it amazing!? I love it! Goodluck with your new blog, I don't think I have enough readers to have my own! Congrats! :)

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  11. I'm debating moving my blog off of wordpress.com and using my domain as more than a forwarding dealie.

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  12. So, I just tried twice to leave you a comment. Then it got deleted. The internet is after me! Anywho, this is all very exciting and I am REALLY looking forward to seeing this perty page of yours. :)

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  13. I meant to address that to Miss 26 Followers! Sheesh! Okay, I'm done now. ;)

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