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Back to blogging?

I keep starting and restarting my blog but this time I’m more focused on getting it going again. They key thing is to decide on what I want to blog about. In the past this has been crafts like knitting and crochet, food and recipes and general posts about life. I think the basis will be the same with some photography added in and a lot more focus on regular updates.

I decided I would blog about this process of getting my blog up and running again; things I found useful along the way, tips and a log of my process. In starting to blog again, the design of it has been on my mind. I had a WordPress theme I loved but it’s no longer supported. I’ve been trying different themes but haven’t found one that grabs me yet. I used to design themes but WordPress has changed so much now I wouldn’t know where to get started.

So my tasks for the moment: find a theme I like and start blogging again!

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Pink Haired Woman

I’m a day late joining Blogtoberfest, but better late than never! Hoping to post every day for the rest of this month. Hello to other Blogtoberfesters and to non-Blogtoberfesters!

Changes. As well as changing the appearance of my blog, I’ve also changed my appearance. I have wanted pink streaks in my hair for years, but had been nervous about doing it. I’ve spent far too long worrying about what others might think and missing out on doing the things I really wanted to do. No more! My new hair is a start of me being me. Of discovering the real me. It is quite a fun journey!

The whole process of getting my pink streaks took a bit over two and half hours. First was the bleaching, then rinsing, then a little more bleaching, more rinsing, then dyes applied and yet another wash + treatment. I am *so* happy with the results! I love my pink hair, it is so me. I am already planning on adding a larger blonde slice with pink in the centre, at my next visit to the hairdressers. Yay, for pinkness!

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Old Blogs and Old Designs

I’ve been adding some much older archives to my blog today. Somewhere, amongst all my backups I have the archives from my very first weblog which was way back around 2001/2002. Eventually I will add those here, just need to get over my laziness in not wanting to recode and add images back to all those posts.

I first started blogging, or journaling, by updating all the archives manually which soon became a pain and something I didn’t want to deal with anymore. Along came Blogger which was so much easier! After a while I switched to GreyMatter, then Movable Type and now WordPress. One of my much older ‘about me’ images is below, including one of my first forays into illustration. Hmm, that was nine years ago, where does the time go?! I made the illustration in Flash. Yes, Flash. Not Illustrator which would have been logical, but flash. I used it more for drawing than I did for animation, crazy woman that I am.

I updated the design of my weblog much more than I do now, back then I had a new design at least once a month. I like smaller design tweaks now, maybe a new header every month. It’s been fun (and embarassing) to come across my old blog designs. Some I still like, some make me wonder what I was thinking! One of my favorites is below, the one with the bus. My blog was called ‘Oubliette’ then, a reference to the movie Labyrinth.

Do you still have copies of your first web pages or weblogs?

* An important reminder: While I have been looking for old blog posts, I’ve been going through CDs that are up to six years or more old. One or two have failed. The data is now unreadable. If you have much older data and files backed up on CDs and DVDs – please go check they are still okay. Maybe save your most precious files to a brand new disc. Really – check them. Don’t risk losing files like I have.

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Blogtoberfest

As I am the queen of procrastination, I decided to join this years round of Blogtoberfest. One post, every day throughout October. Hopefully, I will manage to post every day and not procrastinate! Blogtoberfest is run by the lovely Tinnigirl and Curlypops.

I’m also thinking about signing up for Socktoberfest, a month long celebration of knitting socks! As it happens, I have a recently started pair of socks on the needles. These socks are for my darling Husbitect. And, umm, remember I mentioned procrastination? I may have had the yarn for these socks in my possession for over a year. Ahem. This is my third pair of socks, all three using a pattern which includes an afterthought, or peasant heel. My first socks are pictured below.

Are you going to join Blogtoberfest or Soctoberfest? Maybe you are planning on both?

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31 Days to Build a Better Blog

I’m currently working my way through Darren Rowse’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. My wonderful Husbitect bought me the ebook and I am really enjoying the course so far. I’ve already tweaked a few things after learning new techniques and there will be more to come.

The main, or at least, most noticeable change is a new header image. Part of the first days lesson is to define what your weblog is about in a clear, short statement. My original tagline was “dipping french fries in thickshakes since 1974”. Cute, but it doesn’t tell any first time visitor what my blog is about. I found this task a bit tricky, but narrowed my new tag down to “Crafting the geeky life one day at a time”.

I chose that tag as it covers three of the main topics that I write about; craft, geek related subjects and day to day life. I also changed the graphics in the header, removing the olive wrapped in bacon image because it didn’t really have anything to do with what I write about. Other than it was an image from the 60s and I do write about retro collectibles.

I’ve been blogging now for over eight years (must look up when I first posted) and some people may remember my first weblog, Bindi. Around that time was also when I first came across Darren’s weblog, when he started hosting ‘Blogger Idol‘. Anyone remember that? Good times. I intend to get all my old blog posts imported into this blog. It may take a while but I want to get them in here.

I still regret the fact that I disappeared from blogging for an extended period, because I had built up a reasonably popular weblog. That regret, and also my going back into web design, has been a part of my wanting to get back on track with blogging. I’m going to run through the ProBlogger course with this blog, and then I am going to start a new weblog on my business site and implement what I have learnt. The new weblog will be focused on topics related to web design and business – I’ll still be writing my personal blog here.

Are you working through 31 Days to Build a Better Blog? Let me know – we can cheer each other on!