Counting this post, I have five remaining essays on the Results of Ruminations blog. This isn't to say that I'm giving up my non-fiction writing--that isn't changing at all--but I will be shifting over to my author website, stevendowdle.weebly.com. This is a mixed bag for me, but I think it's time to start generating more content in the place that I'd like to see people visit.
While I'm not an SEO guru or anything like that--and, it seems, I'd probably be better off outright buying the domain to let it start percolating through the search engines--I feel that having visitors to a Blogger site isn't that worthwhile. I don't pretend that someone will read an essay I write, then think, "What else has this kid written besides essays?" and will then try to find my website. But if they're already there and want to look around? Then it's easy.
I have additional features on my website that aren't on the blog. For example, there are sample writings, rough drafts, and even my NaNoWriMo attempt from 2016. These additions are part of what I hope to offer as a writer to others, and it seems fitting that I put more of my writing where it might help.
That being said, this isn't a clean move. A Weebly website works differently, designed as it is to be something general to the largest number of people. Blogger is a blogging website--that's all it is, and it does it well enough. I like the layout of the blog more than my website, and the writing tools (particularly including images and hyperlinks) are much more intuitive and fluid here than there.
Plus there's a matter of tone. My writings here range over an immense gamut, with religious stuff tucked right next to ruminations on depression, followed by a close reading of a comic book character. While all of the eclectic flavors combine to describe me a little more fully, in terms of a professional writer, it's less conducive. One's politics can definitely determine whether or not a person decides to read one's work, and that has given me pause on a lot of what I've written. (No, my true feelings about politics have not been expressed here.) If there's a potential agent or editor who happens upon my website, will seeing an interrogation on how maybe God's punishment for pollution is climate change make the potential acquirer leery of contacting me? I'd like to think not, but it's a real consideration. Part of the reason I don't read a lot of Orson Scott Card is because I disagree with his politics and I don't want to support him. Pretty petty, I know, but a real motivator when it comes to my purchasing habits.
There's also the problem with archiving it all. I put tags on every essay I write, and I frequently link back to previous blog posts. This is much harder to do on my Weebly site, and there are dozens of tags that will now fall by the wayside.
Like I said, this isn't an easy, straight-forward answer to the problem that I have. I want to have my future writings be on my official website. But it will come at the cost of losing some of what I've built here over the last decade or so. (When I put it that way, it sounds less impressive to say that I'm almost at 400 essays; that's, what, forty a year? Less than one a week? Yeah, not so inspirational.)
I guess that's why it's hard to move.
While I'm not an SEO guru or anything like that--and, it seems, I'd probably be better off outright buying the domain to let it start percolating through the search engines--I feel that having visitors to a Blogger site isn't that worthwhile. I don't pretend that someone will read an essay I write, then think, "What else has this kid written besides essays?" and will then try to find my website. But if they're already there and want to look around? Then it's easy.
I have additional features on my website that aren't on the blog. For example, there are sample writings, rough drafts, and even my NaNoWriMo attempt from 2016. These additions are part of what I hope to offer as a writer to others, and it seems fitting that I put more of my writing where it might help.
That being said, this isn't a clean move. A Weebly website works differently, designed as it is to be something general to the largest number of people. Blogger is a blogging website--that's all it is, and it does it well enough. I like the layout of the blog more than my website, and the writing tools (particularly including images and hyperlinks) are much more intuitive and fluid here than there.
Plus there's a matter of tone. My writings here range over an immense gamut, with religious stuff tucked right next to ruminations on depression, followed by a close reading of a comic book character. While all of the eclectic flavors combine to describe me a little more fully, in terms of a professional writer, it's less conducive. One's politics can definitely determine whether or not a person decides to read one's work, and that has given me pause on a lot of what I've written. (No, my true feelings about politics have not been expressed here.) If there's a potential agent or editor who happens upon my website, will seeing an interrogation on how maybe God's punishment for pollution is climate change make the potential acquirer leery of contacting me? I'd like to think not, but it's a real consideration. Part of the reason I don't read a lot of Orson Scott Card is because I disagree with his politics and I don't want to support him. Pretty petty, I know, but a real motivator when it comes to my purchasing habits.
There's also the problem with archiving it all. I put tags on every essay I write, and I frequently link back to previous blog posts. This is much harder to do on my Weebly site, and there are dozens of tags that will now fall by the wayside.
Like I said, this isn't an easy, straight-forward answer to the problem that I have. I want to have my future writings be on my official website. But it will come at the cost of losing some of what I've built here over the last decade or so. (When I put it that way, it sounds less impressive to say that I'm almost at 400 essays; that's, what, forty a year? Less than one a week? Yeah, not so inspirational.)
I guess that's why it's hard to move.