TL;DR: I updated my website and it's ugly, but it needed to be done. Forgive me.
As an author one of the things that can kill us is thinking that something has to be perfect before it can be released into the wild. How many apprentice authors never got beyond a few chapters or a few thousand words because they were trying so hard to make every word so right, so perfect before they even wrote it down? There lies unwritten, unfinished books that will never see the light of day. That's a sad thing.
Perfection is the killer that defeats us every time. This is why NaNoWriMo was invented, and why I am such a champion of it as a tool for every writer at every stage. Being able to slap words on a page and not judge them is an important skill set. Never fall into the mindset that a word can only be perfect before you write it down.
The purpose of a first draft is simply to exist. That's all. Git them wurdz down and worry about them later. Once you've got your first draft, then you can work on refining it. You can't edit a blank page. I hope you all have heard that before today. If not, you've heard it now.
Granted, that's not to say that you should make your first draft your last draft. Get it down, then use your skills to the best of your ability to tweak it until it's as good as you can get it. Good enough is good enough while you learn to level up.
So I present to you my new website, in all its imperfect glory: https://heidikneale.com.au/. It is nowhere near finished. Certainly not perfect, but it is out there and I will continue to improve it. Right now it's doing what I need it to do--be my footprint in the world. It has the bare-bones basics an author's website needs: It has presence, it says who I am, it lists my books and it has a way to contact me.
It's ugly, far uglier than my old website, because I used a new method of creating it. I miss coding my own HTML and CSS. However, technology has exceeded my skill set and I need to learn to master the new tools. I'm not doing a good job of it, though. I hate trying to figure out Wordpress. It's a tool designed for people who don't have any background in coding webpages. It has most of the work done for you, so all you need to do is pick a theme, stick in some plug-ins and populate your pages. You struggle in putting together your design, but once that's done, you pretty much forget about it and simply update what is there. A set-it-and-forget-it kind of thing.
If you are moving beyond that first vital stage of throwing down a first draft, a website is a necessary tool. It's your calling card. It's your presence in the world. It's your shingle, your footprint, your hat in the ring. Editors and agents will ask, "Do you have a website?". They don't ask, "Do you have a pretty website?". Readers will seek you out here. Sure, they will probably judge your website the way they judge the covers of your novels. Do not let that daunt you into not putting one up at all.
So if I'm pining for the fjords over the glory days of coding my own HTML, why am I trying this new thing? Because my old web site host is dying. I'm needing to move away from the host we've called home for the past thirty years. My web site is no longer secure. Certain web design protocols have advanced and I did not keep up. Certain design elements are coming into necessity and I don't have the time to learn them. Gone are the days when maverick web design was acceptable. I've got other things I need to devote my time and energy to.
Like writing very good novels.
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