1 Write Way

Changes Among Other Things #changes #growingup

Now that I’ve achieved the milestone age of 62, I’m going to make some changes around here. I’ve been reading and pondering, writing and revising. I’m close to retiring from my day job, but not quite ready for the big plunge into full-time writing. That doesn’t keep me from planning, however.

I’m not much of a planner, though. I often set goals only to lose sight of them for bright shiny objects–ooh, look, an albino squirrel!

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Albino squirrel.

In other words, I get distracted easily. That might change when I’ve left my position and will have fewer demands for my attention. But I haven’t left … yet.

In the meantime, I’m taking some baby steps. One of the first things I did was join Medium’s Partner Program, and I’ve been spending some time publishing essays through Medium. My latest essay–What’s in a Name?–broaches a change I’m making incrementally. It’s not a huge change; basically, just going from my full middle name to my middle initial without the period. Marie A Bailey is my legal name and I’ve decided to embrace it. That means that eventually I won’t be showing up as “1WriteWay” in comments anymore. I’m keeping that domain name for now, but I need to transition away from it.

Another thing I’m doing is revising my novel Clemency. My friend Katie Sullivan lit the fire under me to join CampNaNoWri. [By the way, I am so excited that Katie is working on the third book in her Changelings trilogy!]

So far Camp been a success in helping me face the horrors of revisiting and revising. Really, having to read the same crap words I’ve read so many times before is boring at best but I’m slogging through. I hope to end with 85,000 words, up from the roughly 71,000 words from my last draft. Then I’ll have to send it off for another beta read or, ideally, an edit … or two … or …. sigh.

I’ve also been researching ways to make my blog look more professional so agents and publishers and readers will see me for the blockbuster writer I am. Allison K. Williams offers some good advice in her essay on Brevity.com, www.you.com: The Author Website.

Rose Mary Griffin also offers great tips in her post on working with WordPress: 15 Things Not to do in WordPress. I’m on the fence about which WordPress plan I should upgrade to. I hate the ads they include with my posts (do people really click on those?), so I’ll get the Personal Plan at a minimum. So my blog might change soon and radically. I want to make visiting my website/blog a pleasurable experience for my visitors and readers regardless of what hell I have to go through to get there.

If anyone reading this has a paid plan with WordPress, please feel free to share your experience (worth the $$, waste of $$) in the comments below. I’ll make up my own mind (in other words, no finger pointing if I make a decision I later regret), but I love to consider all possible options.

Life is short but that’s no reason not to grow and change. So says Davie Bowie.

 

 

 

 

Marie A Bailey

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24 responses to “Changes Among Other Things #changes #growingup”

  1. I have the paid WP account and love it. Those ads are at times disgusting. (Like that worm I see everywhere) Best wishes on #growing up. I have yet to accomplish that feat.

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    • Thanks, John. Yes, some of those ads are so awful 🤢 By the way, I got called out at work a couple of weeks ago for not dressing in “business professional.” I knew better but I had a yoga class after so I decided to dress in “yoga casual.” So much for #growingup 😏

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            • In my defense (such as it is), these are very nice Birkenstocks, black leather with fancy straps. Of course they’re for women 😉 The sandal thing is a real issue this time of year (it’s hot!) and, while our new boss has said she and her boss are working on a dress code, they haven’t provided any guidance yet … except to me and even then it was left to my supervisor who had to google “Business professional” because she wasn’t told what part of my apparel was not in compliance. Her guess was the sandals and now she’s all about “closed-toe shoes,” that’s the ticket! Except lots of women on my floor are wearing open-toed sandals so … It just puts me that much closer to retirement. My new boss and her boss like to wear stilettos so you see what I’m up against. All kidding aside, my biggest grievance is that they’re making a big deal out of our currently nonexistent dress code instead of giving us some parameters so everyone knows what is expected. I’m younger than you but I’m too old for this 😉

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  3. Good luck with your upgrades, Marie. I use the non-paying WP, but recently upgraded my website and my blog will be moved over their so I have control of my posts. Of course, I’m clueless to all of this, but I have a terrific tech guy who is handling things. When do you think you’ll retire? Am I going to be the only one still trudging to the day job? 😦

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    • Thanks, Jill! How wonderful that you have a terrific tech guy. That is always an option for further down the road. I’ve met a number of writers who rely on someone else to take care of the technical stuff so they can focus on their writing. My retirement could be in anywhere from six months to three years. Financially it would be best to hang in there for three years, but it depends on a lot of things. For someone with a day job, you’re very productive with your writing, Jill. Much more than I am 😉

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  4. Change can be SO good!! And sometimes SO scary! At least for me:) I think once I started seeing myself as a professional writer things started coming together to help me out. So kudos for recognizing that in yourself. You are a blockbuster writer! I have WordPress Premium and am extremely satisfied with it. I love getting help immediately when I need it. I love having no ads. I pay $99/yr plus a little more for two domain names. Best wishes (you don’t need luck) for all of your future (and present) writing projects. We are in this together:) 🙌🏽

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    • Thanks so much, Cheryl! I really appreciate your kind words 🙂 And thanks for sharing your WP info. I’m leaning toward Premium, and I have four domain names now 😬 I’ll be dropping one of them for sure. Yes, we’re in this together. Best wishes to you, too 🙌🏻

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  5. Hi, Marie! Sounds like big changes are coming your way. Glad you’re revising your novel and making other plans as you move ahead with your writing. I have the cheapest of the paid WP accounts. I still can’t do plug ins–not without premium.

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    • Hi, Linda! It feels good to be working on my novel again. I don’t know much about plug-ins but I’ll probably go with Premium for some of the other features they offer.

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  6. I enjoy reading about how anyone does things. I think your shift to a *new* name will be fun for you– maybe freeing too? I use WP.com and pay for the Business Plan. It gets rid of ads on your blog, allows you to tweak your template, and [supposedly] helps your posts be seen by Google. It costs less than a dollar a day which works for me.

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    • Thanks, Ally! Okay, you’re the first person to say you’re using the Business plan. I like the way you put it: “costs less than a dollar a day.” At a minimum, I’ll get the Premium plan, but the Business plan does have a lot more features. I am excited about making changes 🙂

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  7. Hello, MARIE A BAILEY! I love it! Good for you. The 15 Things Not to Do is way above my head. I don’t understand the second half or so of the article at all. What are all these things?! Maybe you can teach me :). And the thing about making photos smaller? That is yet another thing to do before posting. Yikes. This is looking like WORK. My wordpress is free, except for the fact that I pay to keep the ads off my site.

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  8. Much of this stuff is over my head too. The problem is so many of the features that Rose Mary writes about are only available through the Premium and higher plans. I don’t want to get complicated with my blog/website, but I’m curious. So I upgraded to Business a few days ago. Since the plans are annual, I’ll give myself until payment is due next year to decide whether I keep it or downgrade. There might be too many bells and whistles, or not. I’ve barely scratched the surface. How are your kitties???

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