Celebrating three years with WordPress

By Emma Palova

Lowell, MI- On this day three years ago, I boarded the WordPress flight 101 to destination unknown.

I came across WordPress just by pure coincidence as I was doing research for my memoir “Greenwich Meridian” about the family immigration saga.

The Hawkins Chamber site had a WP like box. In order to like it, I had to get on the platform. So, I did because I needed Internet presence anyways according to the agents whom I approached about the book.

It was an easy pick compared to the other complex blog/web building sites. Plus it was free.

Looking back at those three years, there were definite milestones when I wanted to just plain quit without explaining anything to anyone. There was this strange voice that kept whispering into my ear, “Give it up, you can’t do it. Go back to the store.”

I actually even attempted going back to the store where I worked in the nineties, but the manager discouraged me.

“You can do better,” he said. “Keep trying what you’re doing. You will master it.”

Initially, there is a steep learning curve on WordPress, just like with anything new. I compare to a child learning to walk. All those bumps and falls and getting up, crawling along the walls for support, and then suddenly a bang. The child stands up and takes his or her first steps.

I spent hours behind the computer with tutorials and the support team as my wall. I was dealing with  an avalanche of information trying to sort through it all.

“Why don’t you let someone else do it for you?” asked my husband Ludek shaking his head when he saw me crunching my teeth and pulling my hair out.

“Like who,” I said. “And mainly where am I going to get the money to pay a person for a decent job?”

No, answer.

My persistence prevailed. I finally had the first post ready “About” on Jan. 14^th with a Jan. 15^th date.

The WP team welcomed me along with other newcomers into the community graciously with the slogan, “Thanks for flying with Word Press.” I still didn’t know what to expect just like when you take off on a plane for a long journey across the ocean.

As time ticked away, more things became clear. Having a traditional publishing background with knowledge of QuarkXPress and InDesign, the real design on word press became easier.

I have to say that I never had serious trouble coming up with copy. And as serious, I mean not being able to pound out a story or a post every day. Traditional newspaper journalism was a lot like an army boot camp.

“A story and a photo a day will keep the editor away,” we used to say at the Ionia Sentinel-Standard newsroom.

Easier said than done and that goes for both worlds; ink and the grid.

I find it helpful to have the right mindset even before I get out of bed. The right mindset was, is and always will be that, “Content is the king.”

I always think about that before I sit behind the screen and as I look at the Stephen King calendars filed in my library, year after year, until they finally stopped publishing them in 2014.

“The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that things can only get better,” wrote King.

I agree. Whenever I have trouble coming up with ideas or writing, I start procrastinating. To avoid procrastinating further, I go for a ride, take a walk, and swim a few laps if I am lucky enough to find a pool or dip myself in a hot tub.

Once I physically exert the inner frustration, the writer in me is reborn. I shake everything off and step into a new world of creation. The destination remains unknown.

To be continued with “Milestones” and “If I could turn back time.”

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