New Year…New Platform: From Weebly to WordPress

It is crazy to think that it has been a year since I decided to finally take the plunge and start a blog. I had been debating about starting a blog since before I attended graduate school, but I had no idea what I would blog about. I thought “I could blog about health, fitness, or about my life,” but all of that seemed boring or to focused for me at the time. I also knew that I wouldn’t truly have the time to keep up with a blog with my grad school life. I have been graduated for almost three years already, and over the course of the past five years I have realized I  have a lot to say and talk about, which is why my blog isn’t dedicated to just one thing. Like the tagline says, it is “a personal blog.”
Since I have moved back to NC I have gotten involved in a Writer’s Group that meets once a month. Anytime someone new comes to the meetings I explain that I have zero published books, even though that is certainly a dream and aspiration for me, but that I blog. When I describe my writing style to them I say that “I write what I know.”
I have kept a journal pretty regularly since I was a Sophomore in High School, although I started journaling in the third grade. Of course back in the elementary school days it was “Dear Diary” all the time. I have things written all over social media from quotes I have written as Facebook statuses that come up in my “On this Day”, to notes I have written, and to tweets I have sent. I have poems and quotes jotted down in a notebook at home or in my google drive, and I write things in the notes application on my phone. No matter where I am, or what I am doing, I am always writing in same way, shape, or form.
A member at my Writer’s Group meeting last time said that “if you are writing something, published or not, you are a writer.” For me that is a concept that is hard to accept at times because I feel like I have nothing to show for it, but in all reality I have a LOT of things to show for it, but I have never shared any of them. For me I think starting a blog was truly a way for me to not only live out my mantra, but to feel more like a writer and practice to become a better writer.
As you have seen in the few post I wrote throughout last year, I like to get REALLY REAL with all of you. For me writing is obviously something I do for my mental health, but sharing my story is something I do for my soul. I am always able to get more real and vulnerable in my writing versus talking to a group of people, or even just one person. I often tell people now that if they want to know what I am all about they just need to visit my blog.

The Switch

Now, when it came time to choosing a platform for my blog a year ago I went with what I knew at the time, which was Weebly. I quickly realized around halfway through last year that I was not 100% happy with the overall look of my blog, not to mention the lack of customization. I liked Weebly because it was super user friendly, but it also lacked in functionality and customization for me.

I had heard a lot about WordPress but I had also heard how hard it was to navigate. The more research I did though I realized that WordPress was the platform I wanted to use. Plus, it was going to be cheaper to use WordPress for three years compared to the one year I used Weebly. Extra money in my pocket….YES PLEASE!
I have had my new domain name for a while, and have been working on the theme and layout since the Fall of last year, and I am still figuring it out! I think for me it took almost a whole hour to figure out how to do just one thing. The best part about the world we live in though is that you can basically google any question you have.

Now, I am not 100% done with updating everything to WordPress. For instance the blog graphics I am having to update them all with custom dimensions, so this is taking a while and is why you see pictures of food items right now. All of the content has been moved over though, so if you  haven’t read the latest in the Journey Home series, you certainly can still read them here on the new platform.

Since it is January, and the season of resolution making and goal setting I figured I would also share some of my New Years Resolutions for the blog with  you.

My 2018 Goals Are:

1. Convert to WordPress! We are basically done with this one my friends.
2. Post more frequently! I hope that as I get more settled into my life, and set up in my rental home I can dedicate to writing more. I have yet to set up my office space, which is something I desperately need to do soon. So right now I have the goal of producing two posts a month, but I hope I can increase the frequency of posting as the year goes on. My ideal goal would be one post a week!
3. Create an “About Jodie” page, so all of my readers can know me a little bit better, and create a third category for blog postings. More details on that page in the future!
4. Get professional pictures taken for the blog. One of my good friends is a talented photographer and me and her have been talking about taking pictures for months. We are gonna wait until it gets a little bit warmer outside to do this.
5. Write more “blog type” posts! I want to make the information relatable for all of you and something you can apply to your own life. I do like writing my personal stories, and plan to continue to write them, but I want to also write shorter post with action steps that you all can take.

A Challenge to my readers

I know a lot of my personal friends read this blog, so my 2018 challenge to my readers is like, comment, and share posts! I love hearing what you think of a post, and always open to feedback. I also always try to respond to comments. I want to encourage you to like and share posts on Social Media, and hopefully the new social media buttons on this new platform will make it easier for all of you. 

Those are my 2018 goals! Let me know what you think of them, and what you think of the new layout and platform in the comments. I look forward to this journey with all of you!

Always,