Wednesday, September 28, 2011

My long lost About and FAQ pages

After much hemming and hawing, not to mention deleting and rewriting, I have posted two new pages up there under my header -- a long overdue About page and an FAQ page.

Many of the articles I've read on improving one's online presence insist that an About page is a crucial component of one's website.  Strangely, I almost never read other bloggers' About pages.  I generally prefer to get to know them through their posts.

That said, an About page obviously makes really good sense.  How else will anyone know what you're all about, why you blog, what motivates you?  The one small challenge I encountered while working on the page was that I seriously struggle with articulating the answers to all three of those questions.  I really enjoy dropping by here to tell you about things on a week-to-week, case-by-case sort of basis, but summing it all up is something I find exceedingly difficult.  The reasons for writing and creating here keep changing and evolving for me.  I can't seem to pin myself down.

Also, the About page is yet another foray into proper blogging and each step I take into that arena forces me to confront the fact that I am, for very long stretches at a time, not a good blogger at all.  I am easily overwhelmed by family and other commitments, a personal failing which is not offered as an excuse, but hopefully as an explanation for periods of unresponsiveness.  There have, in the past, been a handful of emails that have gone unanswered, which is truly unforgivable.  Please know that I am striving to improve in that regard.  Also, I would like to be the kind of blogger who responds to every comment on every post, because I so appreciate that when I see it on other blogs.  Again, I am sorely deficient in this regard.  I can only offer that I am working on it and that I recognize the time and energy it takes to write to me or comment on my posts and I am grateful for both.  On a lighter note, it occurs to me that I have become far more understanding when my own emails go unanswered.  I imagine a busy life and terribly short days and precious moments experienced offline that cannot be interrupted or diverted.

The FAQ page was marginally less daunting.  I feel I was able to answer a number of the questions I receive on a regular basis, such as which program I use to create my pages, what to do if you have difficulty downloading the pages, and whether there is one place to download the pages all at once.

I also skirted a few questions that I know I should answer, but don't quite have the words for yet, including a few slightly nuanced copyright issues I've encountered.  I have to deal with them, but I need to find just the right way of communicating my answers.

At some point, I'd also like to take on the question of why I'm posting my journal pages as free (but still copyright-protected and for personal use only) downloads.  As it stands now, my answer doesn't even begin to address issues of business model or future use or why, in the heck, would you do that?  But as naive and amateurish as it may sound, "Because it feels right," is my best interim answer.  I love posting my pages in the manner in which I've been posting them.  Love it.  Doodling the boxes and borders, mulling over the prompts, posting the pdfs, reading your feedback, knowing that these pages are enjoyed and awaited and, for some, have made a small difference -- all of those things have me transfixed in the now, without a clear vision of the future.  I should think about remuneration, I know I should and I will; in fact I have been.  And things around here will begin to change in the near future, but the free (but still copyright-protected and for personal use only), downloadable journal pages will persist.  Well into the foreseeable future and beyond.

Speaking of journal pages, I've been working on number 47, which should be ready early next week.

See you then, friends!

Friday, September 16, 2011

First sick day

Poor little puddin'.  It's only her third full day of school.  Seems a little early to me, but such is the life of a new kindergartner.

Looks like we'll be taking it a little easier than planned this weekend.  Plenty of snuggling and kiddie crackers.

Hope your weekend is a good one, friends!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

New Journal Page

Update: The journal page in this post is no longer available for download. For a selection of free, printable journal pages, please visit my Printable Journal Pages collection.

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Hmm.  I'm afraid that I'm at a total loss for words.  I can't seem to come up with any sort of appropriate introduction to today's new journal page.  Quite honestly, I think I left if all on the page this time.  That seems to be happening more and more.  I work happily on each new page, but when it comes time to present it to you, the words escape me.  It has become quite personal, the whole process of creating these journal pages, I think.  And sometimes it's difficult to articulate the way I feel about them and about you, dear readers, who have kept me going all along.  And now the process involves you more than perhaps you know because your feedback and your comments and your very kind messages are always on my mind while I work.  It feels really complicated; and probably it isn't at all, but today it is.

So perhaps for now, I'll just leave it at that, with a few photos taken under overcast skies and the links below.



You can find today's page here (border-free) and here (border-full and colour-free) and here (border-full and colourful).

Until next time, friends.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Back from beyond

Remember that moody shoreline I was telling you about?

We've just returned from a lovely visit to the Bay of Fundy.  It was our first family vacation in a decade and well worth the wait.  Mostly we hung out near Fundy National Park, where there were long stretches of beach to be explored while the tide was out and freshly made sticky buns to be eaten when the tide was in.



We took in a little sea kayaking with my sister and her son . . .


And hiked past views like this one . . .

And, as I believe is required by law whenever one visits a coastal fishing village, we took photographs of fishing boats at low tide . . .


(Just to the left of the Lady Thibault's lettering up there, you can see the faint outline of another name that has since been painted over -- Yvette.  Hmm.  I bet there's a story there.)

We even had a brief visit from the tail end of tropical storm Irene as she moved northward.  We were very lucky to witness only a bit of a storm surge and howling winds, but they gave us some small sense of what those in her path may have had to endure.

All in all, though, it was pretty nearly perfect.

And now it's time to find our routines again.  Our youngest is set to start school in a few days and I am happily working on a brand new journal page, which I plan to post next Wednesday.  I'm also hoping to introduce a number of changes I've been dreaming about for months -- things like a new name, a new look, an about page, an FAQ page and maybe even, if I really get my act together, a little shop with a brand new journal I've been working on.  Wouldn't that be fun?  I hope you'll stay tuned!

Happy September, friends!