rethinking resolutions: january

I wrote back in this post about my goals for January, and so I’d like to write a little about what I ended up getting to, what I didn’t get to, and how I think the month’s plans went.

old Blogger header

My focus for the month was on third story(ies), this here blog o’mine, and here’s what I did:

I migrated the blog from Blogger to WordPress 98.7% by myself. It was way harder than I thought it would be, and took quite a bit more time than I anticipated. I managed to work through every single issue but one on my own, and I’m feeling pretty jazzed about that.

I’ve set up an automatic weekly back up for files and database, and I save them in multiple locations.

I haven’t gotten into a complete rhythm to publishing posts, but I’m probably as close as I’m going to get. A sort of loose goal here would be to write about one book a week (still mostly kid lit, but occasionally my own reading), a once weekly post with links to things I’m admiring or things I think you might dig, and more regular posting on what’s on the table. There will continue to be posts on the house renovation as things happen – I’m hoping for an increase in that frequency as well – and maybe an even bigger adventure related to the house in the next year or so. There will be things we’re making, or places we’re visiting around town, and events we like to attend. I plan to also write more about other blog writers – people I like reading, and why I spend a few moments with them each week. But at the core of it all, I still see this as a personal journal – a place to write about what’s on my mind, and to write personal letters to the ones I love the most.

I love the new format here, and I’m really excited about how much easier it is for you to drop a note in this space as well. As much as I like getting your email notes, it’s more fun to talk in this space.

What I didn’t finish (or what didn’t turn out the way I thought it would, or will take a lot longer than anticipated):

Ugh, double ugh. My posts came over in duplicate, which meant I spent three or four nights with the iPad in hand deleting 2000 posts. Super duper no fun.

Also, the old Blogger posts looked different than the new template I have set up here, which means the old posts look bad. This sort of bugs me, but I’m trying to let it go. When I have a few minutes then I edit a few old posts at a time. Otherwise, out of sight, out of mind.

I have a few more things I’d like to add to the home page, plus I’m trying to get things organized on the pages linked to by the tabs at the top and the circles at the side. Again, this takes awhile – particularly those huge house reno posts, but slowly it’s happening. Each room post under House Tour takes about 20-25 minutes to edit and adjust photo sizes, so it’s not a lot of fun.

I wanted to start transferring a week at a time over to Blurb for eventual blog publishing (like I did with the first year), but I haven’t done that yet. I plan to set that up, but I’m waiting until I have all the old posts formatted correctly.

I spelled out the way that I wanted to feel at the end of January – organized, inspired, productive (and a little bit proud).

I do feel organized – I received a beautiful notebook from Anthropologie for Christmas, and it now houses pages and pages of notes on all the web hosting and domain registering and CSPanel notes and DNS codes and .php files, as well as a zillion new password and usernames and photo pixel resizing shortcuts and future blog ideas, etc. It looks pretty when closed, but it means business when open. I love the way things look around here, and I’m pretty pumped that I made it happen. I’ve got ideas for tweaking things along the way, and I’m glad to have a structure in place to make that easy to happen. I think I’ve been very productive this month – I’ve accomplished a whole lot in a relatively short amount of time without being completely chained to a computer. 

And I’m (a little bit) proud. You guys – I am such a pen and paper kind of girl. I’ve been pulled (rather reluctantly at first) into the digital world. Finding a way to enjoy the learning process has been life changing. Hooray for the humble blog (and all the crazy work that goes into it)!

Tomorrow: February’s focus.