Friday 1 June 2012

Spring Is In The Air


Okay, it may actually, officially, be summer now, I'm not sure to be honest, but I'm feeling the spring clean love. Love in the way of my writing career that is, lets not be too hasty and start putting mops, buckets and hoovers in my hands please.

Anyway, after a bit of a lull and an energy sapped couple of months, I'm feeling the need to re-invest in everything that is to do with my aim for a writing career. So with that in mind, I came up with a list of things I needed to address. These are a few of them;


  • I need a new, more professional looking profile picture.
  • I need a domain name.
  • I need some business cards for when I attend Harrogate Crime Writing Festival in July.
  • I need a new laptop - Yes I do! It will actually help me become more productive. I promise. 
  • I want an online space that looks professional and represents who I am and what I write.
  • I would like to blog on a regular basis, be that even once a week, just regularly, so people can find me.
  • Oh, yes, I need to make sure I find time to write more.

This morning I made a start on the list. 

I have bought my own domain name. It doesn't currently point anywhere and as rebeccabradleydotcom is taken, I have bought rebeccabradleycrime.com

I have ordered myself that new laptop. I am serious about it helping me become more productive. My old laptop is about 7 years old and feels like it takes an hour to wind up so I am loath to turn it on. My desktop in the living room has the most hard uncomfortable seat in front of it, so at the end of the working day, I tend not to spend any time on it. With a new laptop, I can work in comfort where ever I park myself and can maybe put up a blog post or turn out 500 words on my current work in progress. 

The third decision taken this morning was that, I am going to change my blog. I think it needs freshening up and tidying up, so I have registered with Wordpress and will attempt to get something up on there. This may or may not work out, but it's something I need to look at so I'm in a position to make a decision. 

So, I have made a start and you should hopefully see gradual changes over the coming weeks, especially when that new laptop arrives! 

32 comments:

  1. Good Luck with your new venture, Rebecca!

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    1. Thanks Glynis. I have put some of it into action, so I'm quite pleased. Still some to tick off though. The move to WP will be the biggest and most difficult one to sort!

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  2. Excited to see the new changes you'll be making. Yum! New laptop!

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    1. The new laptop is here and I absolutely love it! It genuinely is making more productive. Maybe not here yet, but elsewhere, I am getting on with things. My plans are being implemented slowly :)

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  3. The most important factor toward change is making that first step, and you've made several. Hope things go smoothly with the shift to wordpress.

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    1. Thank you. It's the WP shift I@m most worried about!

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  4. Good for you, making such great progress. If you want any help, just pop over to my new blog http://caroleannecarr-creativewritingtutor.blogspot.com. Kind regards, Carole

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  5. Lots of good thoughts going on there! I love new laptops - I like testing out the keys, I chose mine because of the click the keys make :-) Good luck with the new blog.

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    1. It's just such good fun to play with new toys isn't it :)

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  6. Great plans! You won't regret buying a new laptop and yes it WILL help you be more productive (particularly on speedy social networking which means more writing time).

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    1. It really is Denyse. I've managed to have it on and do something I may not have done otherwise. It helps that boring football is on the TV for the next few weeks :)

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  7. That's a lot of changes. But changes will make you feel so keen to get writing they're a great idea. Good luck and put in the new link when you have it!

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    1. I've started them. I think I'm leaving the hardest to last, which is the wordpress blog, but I will hopefully tackle that at the weekend. There will be a fanfare of a move from here to there :)

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  8. A new laptop! Nothing like having new gear for stimulating the writing muse! Good luck with all your plans - you sound so organised...

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    1. Thanks Pat. I'm not always this organised! This is new for me!

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  9. Well, you're making plenty of changes in your life. I agree that the most important thing is comfort when you work. If you are well supported where you intend to sit with your laptop, that's fine. I don't have one. I need complete quiet while I work, so I choose to sit at my desk in the study in front of Ciboxer, my trusty pc. I hope the changes work for you. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you about the progress of your submission. It took me five years and about 100 queries until I found two successes within months of each other.

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    1. It's a difficult process and we certainly have to learn patience. keeping busy with new things is good for me though, so I'm throwing myself in :)

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  10. Yes, the new laptop would definitely help as I found out. Now I can sit anywhere and write.

    Try vista.com for business cards. Try the free ones for now.

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    1. I've looked at Vista, and I@ve also looked at Moo.com Both great sites, Mind making up time will come shortly.

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  11. Great goals! I'm a big fan of making lists - without them, I don't think I'd get anything done!

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  12. I've been thinking about some of these same things, good for you for making a list and getting organized! How awesome that you bought your own domain name, I'm sure that was a thrill. No doubt the new laptop will be great as well. Good luck with the rest of your goals!

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    1. Make that list Julie. It's great for motivation. once the list is there, you just have to do at least a small thing off that list at least every day. Excellent for fighting against procrastination.

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  13. I'm impressed. I too have an old slow laptop which, as I type, is in the doghouse for refusing to print remotely. It's being defragged. Goodness knows how long that'll take. Having business cards can look really professional at conferences. I tried making some myself but they didn't quite say the right thing... unless I really am fuzzy with jagged edges!

    Good luck with your revamp and don't forget to let us know if your blog moves house.

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    1. I'll definitely let you know when we move house.

      If you can, I'd get a new laptop. It's changing the amount of time I can actually do things, even in just short bursts if needs be.

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  14. Good luck with your new venture. Looking forward to hearing how you are taking all of this forward. xxx

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    1. Thanks Susan. It's going well so far. Though I haven't actually tackled wordpress yet!! so hold that thought!

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  15. Thank you. I'll look all professional-ish at Harrogate ;)

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  16. Good luck with your list. I think I need to do some of that too, thanks for posting it as a reminder to the rest of us as well.

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