These are not Hollywood or politician mistakes. After all, no one caught me red-handed and forced a confession (or pointless denial). I haven’t ruined my reputation, let down my fans or lost constituency votes.

One mistake has to do with being a newbie at website building, the other is about actual content. Both mistakes are based on what I ASSUMED–making an ASS out of U and ME :>)

Business (Writing) vs Personal

In my last post I included information about why I would be absent for a day or two (an assumption that I have some huge readership that would even notice).  Explaining the why details of my absence was another mistake.

I initiated this website to build a community of  like-minded readers and writers who would exchange support and information on the  path to publishing books. What they call a writer’s platform,  is a #1 must-have for anyone publishing in this new computer based world; whether traditional or self-published, you must have an established following online.

I knew that I could do my part in supporting fellow writers and welcoming readers; although I am a cave girl/hermit/beach gypsy I am a great anonymous hostess. That is because I feel deeply. This is no marketing ploy, it is who I am.

Off-Line Family and Friends (F/F)

That said, I also maintain an e-mail bloggish kind of thing that is sent semi-regularly to my little circle of family and friends. My intention was to keep personal stuff on the F/F e-mails only. It’s tough to maintain that when a lot of my writing includes my personal life. All that to say: I intend to get back to my initial intention and keep details of  my “real” F/F off this site. It’s not that they mind at all. And it’s not just the mention, but there are aspects of my family’s life that I do want to keep off this public venue. Nothing mysterious, just not for public consumption.

Viewpoints

Now, onto my other assumption mistake. I was blown away to see what my blog site looks like on my aunt’s pc and my daughter’s smart phone. My aunt can only see 2 columns and the smart phone only shows one. You can see in the pics above, what I thought everyone was seeing (3 columns with header). Big difference, huh? So, now I get to do some homework and see if there is a wordpress  “theme” (template) that will work better for everyone who views this site. I also know that browsers make a difference, so I will explore that too. I use the  Google Chrome browser, so I will check out IE, foxfire, and others. I am growling over this, since I have spent the past 3+ months building my little cyber home.

Comments and “likes”

I got to see firsthand why some can’t comment on or like my blog posts.  You do have to sign up with wordpress, but you only have to give your e-mail addy and make a password. That is good, because it gives one level of security to my site. Sorry for the hassle though. I can’t remember what you click on, but you’ll know it when you see it…scroll down to the place that says “log in” “RSS” etc and it is there. When you get to the WordPress  page it looks like you have to make a blog, but you don’t. On the right is part of a sentence that is colored (hyperlinked) and says something like, “I want to sign on without building a blog page”, click that, put in your e-addy and a password and you’re in! I went through this process with my aunt, but forgot to take notes.

I will add the word you click on as soon as I get it from someone who is not on wordpress :>)

If you have wordpress website or browser advice I would love to hear/read it.

Please add comments, questions or “like” if you are able to.

Patti