I grew up a Kentish Maid, and now I’m a Shropshire Lass. This is also a Shropshire Lass…
One of three climbing roses we planted in a new border two years ago. The first year they were little more than a bunch of twigs, and last year they started to sprawl everywhere but no blooms, and I was a bit concerned they might not be happy where they were. But this year! This year, as Elvis Costello sang, has been a good year for the roses! The other two ramblers - Rambling Rector and A.N Other I can’t remember and am too lazy in this heat to go and track down the plant labels to find out, are also flowering well (Paul’s Himalayan Musk is ringing a bell, though…). As is ‘The Lady of the Lake’ I planted next to the archway leading into the orchard. In fact, The Lady of the Lake is doing so well, she nearly took my eye out this morning when Nell and I were playing a game of ‘Run and Boo!’ in and out of the hornbeam hedging. The assortment of roses we inherited when we moved here are also going berserk and are a joy to see and smell.
Today, I have been website wrangling for ‘Hallo Tarot!’ I have secured the domain name, because the Law of Sod says that if I didn’t, some other blighter would nab it and then I’d have to put up with a web address that wasn’t spot on, and this would irk me enormously. Probably to the point where I’d have to think of a new business name altogether which a) would render my business cards, blog and email address useless AND b) upset my spirit companions gang because they gave me the name in the first place.
That was all done yesterday in a flurry of ‘don’t think about it, just do it’ activity. Today has been all about finding the right website template.
This has entailed me sorting my site content into some semblance of order, which I did fairly swiftly because I am organised by nature. And then deciding on the look of the website based on how I want to present both myself and what I am going to do. For this, I read a huge article or five on how to brand oneself. (No, nothing to do with hot irons and Ranch X being stamped on my arse, before you ask…get a grip, please.) I used an extra large sketch book that I’ve had kicking around for years, and drew lots of plans with arrows going hither and thither, and I wrote answers to nearly all the branding prompt questions I could find except the ones I didn’t understand or that seemed superfluous. (Some of them seemed to think I’d done some kind of market research before even thinking about building a website! Ahahahahahahahaha!)
And then I had to stop because Pete the Chimney Sweep a.k.a Father Christmas appeared to sweep the Damson Cottage wood burner and renew its annual safety certificate.
And then I went back to business, scrolling through the literally hundreds of templates to be had. Some of them were dire, flat, bland and dull, dull, dull, and an immediate no-no. Some moved around way too much and made me feel nauseous. I didn’t think it a wise business move to feel nauseated by one’s own website. Some didn’t have the features I wanted. Some had too many features. I was working outside, and every now and again, I got up and wandered around the garden, and lay on the grass until Nell jumped on my head. And I stared across the fields and let ideas waft around, and then I returned to my notebook and scribbled everything down, even if it seemed a bit peculiar or irrelevant.
By the end of the day, I had chosen four potential templates AND clarified a lot uncertainties. This is good. I don’t feel so panicked now. I have a Proper Plan and a Serious Amount of Writing to Do. I shall let everything simmer overnight and know that when I mount my second attack at the Battle of the Website, all shall become clear and I shall triumph!
Also, I think it’s a good sign that where I had been daunted by building a website before, now I feel rather excited by it all! I shall leave you with the latest photos of the baby swallows and the wise words of Johann Goethe : ‘Whatever you do or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.’
(Of course, he never had to build a website…)
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