Spring Hope

 

I always look forward to Easter time. To me, it’s the ultimate celebration of spring. 

The colored eggs.  And bright tulips flowering. 

And, of course, the chocolate bunnies. 

Hoping for home. 

This year, I don’t get to celebrate in my own home. Because of the water damage from a failed water valve, it’s still in the process of reconstruction. I’ve had weeks of progress with new cabinets and painting. 

But this week, the progress slowed. The only thing done was the template for the countertops. While I’m excited to see them installed, I will have to wait. And hope it will be soon. 

Creating anyway. 

While I wait, I’ve been working on a new website. I’ve designed and re-designed my Wordpress website several times. And while I like the look of the platform, I want a website that is faster, easier and more customer friendly. I want a combination of the ease of Etsy with the design features of a website. 

I tried Wix. But it just didn’t work even with my new IPad Pro. Many other ceramic artists use Squarespace, so I’m giving it a try. So far, it’s touch and go. What I’m finding out is that no matter what web platform you use, there’s a learning curve. Add to that being in a situation with slow Wi-Fi, it’s an even steeper climb uphill.

So just like walking uphill, the only thing I can do is take it one step at a time. One page of my website designed. One product uploaded. One section of my house reconstructed. 

And that’s all I can do right now. 

And I feel hope spring forward with every small step. 

And thanks to my daughter, I still got to dye colored eggs!

Confessions of a Technophobe.

I admit: I'm technophobic. When it comes time to push that post, upload, or share button, I cringe and expect it to all crash. I know it sounds crazy because I've had a blog, Facebook page, Instagram and website for almost a decade but I still fear the worst. 

I'm terrified of websites. In my nightmare, I push the button and KABLAM, my site turns black and my computer blows up into bits all around the room. I lose everything, my blog, my passwords, my photos, all of my writing. Everything.  

Time to jump off the website building.

I've had a website, thanks to my talented son, for over 10 years. He's had computer graphic design classes and knows how to use Adobe like a pro. My websites have always looked amazing and I'm very grateful. But now he's busy with work, his daughter and studying for his MBA. 

So it's time for me to figure this out and I'm terrified and it's not the first time. I bought a website builder 3 years ago that was advertised as easy, quick and simple with drag and drop templates. If I could design my blog on blogspot with easy templates, surely I could do this website builder, right? Wrong.  It was awful. Nothing worked as advertised and the money back guarantee only meant a guarantee I'd never get my money back. 

My son, once again, came to my rescue. But, this time, I am on my own. 

I searched the web for easy website builders that would allow me to use my own domain name that I've had for 10 years. Just in case you are as in the dark as I was about all those 'free' website builders out there, let me shine some light for you here. They are NOT FREE. 

They do offer free template designs. But you have to pay them for a domain name and hosting and also in some cases, carry pop up ads on your site. I also found out that you don't own your own content, so if they decide to close down, you lose everything you put into and on your site. 

How to conquer computer terror? Sneak up on it.

I froze for quite a few weeks but in the end, I had to have a new website. Period. I was tired of spinning my wheels and getting nowhere. I wanted to feel in control of my online content, it was time to learn to control my technophobia. 

After much surfing, which is code for procrastination, I chose Wordpress. I read through the start guide, which promised a website in an hour. Ha. Maybe for non-technophobes. The only way I could approach this project was to go very slowly like a teenager learning to drive. 

Go. Stop. Go. Stop. Go.

First, I got out my trusty pen and notebook and outlined all the elements I wanted on my site. I outlined the pages I wanted. Created an album of photos I'd use. Wrote my copy. That's my comfort zone - writing on paper. I had my notebook beside me as my security blanket when I finally opened up my Wordpress page and every time I worked on the site.

While my husband watched golf, which I find relaxing, I sat down and worked on it online for maybe 2 hours. Then I took 2 days or more off. I'd do another page or two. Take more days off. Carefully very carefully, I'd click on create a menu. Take 2 weeks off. Edit a page or two. Take more days off. In between, I'd visit it just to make sure it hadn't blown up, crashed or disappeared. It didn't.

Today, my website: susangt.com is UP!

Yes, it took me 30 days to get my website designed, uploaded and running. I had to push that UPLOAD button many, many times and each time, it got a little easier. The panic slowly subsided and morphed into accomplishment. But not confidence, not yet. 

Hello, my name is Susan and I'm a technophobe. 

Because I'm still holding my breath and wondering if I can wrap it in bubble wrap. Just in case.