I launched this new website on the summer solstice, right on schedule. A few days later, I had lunch at Panera with Thom Francis, my web designer, so that he could bring me up to speed on how to use and expand on the various features. I took thorough notes, but I’ve misplaced them—unsurprising, considering the chaotic state of my office. But it’s high time to forge ahead regardless.
Fortunately, Thom used WordPress to create this site, and the screen that pops up when I want to add content looks a lot like the screen I’ve been blogging on for years at www.julielomoe.wordpress.com. My old blog posts—all 269 of them—have been transferred to the new website, and I trust nothing has been lost in translation.
So why this peculiar performance anxiety? Why now, when I’ve been blogging for years? In part, it’s because I feel I’m reinventing myself, embarking on an entirely new direction at 75. I’m excited about my Creative Crone book project. Ideally, maybe all my blog posts should relate, at least tangentially, to the theme of aging creatively and joyfully. But realistically, that’s probably not what’s going to happen, and I’ll go on blogging about whatever strikes my fancy, just as I’ve always done.
I’m cutting myself some slack this summer. July and August offer so many tempting diversions that I can hardly expect to lure in a bunch of new fans and followers. So I’m setting my sights on the day after Labor Day for a full-scale launch of my new persona. In the meantime, I hope to bring myself up to speed on all the bells and whistles this new platform has to offer. But so far this summer, I’ve been spending quality time in my garden, swimming in the lake that’s a mere 500 feet from my driveway.
And I’ve been taking full advantage of the many cultural opportunities upstate New York has to offer: going to outdoor festivals, concerts and theatre—the musical Ragtime in Washington Park, Rod Stewart and Cyndi Lauper at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Porgy and Bess at Glimmerglass. I’ve sampled three major festivals, with a day at each: Mountain Jam, Country Fest, and Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival at MassMoCA. The racing season is in full swing at Saratoga, and I plan to go next week. I love hanging out in the picnic area next to the paddock and snagging a spot at the fence where I can watch the jockeys mount the horses at amazingly close range.
But I’ll also be devoting time to readying my September launch. I’ll be scheduling guest bloggers, and I plan to set up a YouTube channel where I can read some of my poetry and conduct interviews with other authors and artists. Please get in touch if you’re interested. Leave a comment here, or email me at julielomoe@gmail.com. And please subscribe to this site by clicking on the box to the right and giving me your email address. That way you’ll be notified when I publish a new blog post. I promise I won’t use it for any other reason except eventually for a newsletter, and I won’t share it with anyone.
I’d love your feedback about this website. Please leave me a comment. Let’s keep in touch!
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