I’m willing to admit when I’m wrong and I was. Way wrong. Wronger than wrong. Full Site Editing isn’t the devil.
It’s a useful fall guy, though, so I took full advantage and blamed it for everything. I’m serious. I laid all my shortcomings at the feet of the editor — the lackluster thinking, the insipid topics, my bad attitude and lethargy. Full site editing was the bad guy. Not me, I was its innocent victim.
That’d be the perfect alibi, except for one thing: I’m completely at fault.
I’ve been standing in my own way this whole time, arms crossed and sniffish, refusing to give the new (and old) editor a fair chance. My mind was not only closed, it was sealed shut. That was the problem. No one can imagine or invent or create or soar with a closed-mind. Ideas and fresh thinking can’t possibly get in. Nothing can. And imagination withers.
Once the epiphany sunk in, I slinked off to WordPress Support, tail between my legs. They were gracious, understanding, and had the experience and expertise I sorely lacked. I’m still floundering, even with their unflagging support, but I’m making progress and progress is motivation. Hell, I’m happy just to wander around and push strange buttons. Sometimes it leads intriguing places, sometimes it leads to regret. The point is, it’s fun experimenting with new things. New things are exciting.
Gary Larson, The Far Side cartoonist, went through a similar resurgence. Years after he retired from cartooning, exhausted by deadlines and restrictions, he began flirting with digital technology on a tablet. And …
His inspiration came roaring back. Now he has a website, a pile of new work, and no set schedule.
For me, the new technology has been curiously liberating. I’m teetering on the brink of enthusiasm here, anxious to dig in and redesign this place. Images, style, tone of voice, colors, fonts, my thinking, the whole enchilada. This website, I’ve decided, will be an on-going evolution rather than a finished piece.
To that end, the doors and windows are wide open to whatever blows in. My new motto is, out with the stale, in with the fresh. Or fresher, anyway. These first steps are scary, they’re intimidating, and the most fun I’ve had in years.
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the whirly girl 
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