For a few years now, friends and colleague have been suggesting that I might want to hire someone to manage my websites for me.
I’ve always been hands on, I’ve always done my own sites, and the idea of giving up any control was—is—probably always will be terrifying.
But I’m working on a course right now that keeps getting bigger, and dealing with site problems over on HowToThinkSideways.com that were getting in the way of this class as they got in the way of a previous workshop and an ongoing bunch of writers learning to market their own work that I’ve been scrambling to keep up with.
And I have stories to write.
And the clock keeps ticking. Something had to give. Every time I pushed too hard, migraines reminded me that I was a breakable part of the equation.
So I’ve hired a site manager for HowToThinkSideways.com.
For now, at least, I’m keeping this site for myself—it’s big, but it’s simple. Not really any moving parts anymore. A lot of articles, a bunch of blog posts.
I want to be here more often—want to have the time to talk to folks again, and play with my stories and my writing.
I don’t know if or when that will become a daily thing again. I’ve just now bought back one piece of my life, but there’s a lot still standing between me and being able to just teach and write fiction.
I’m happy to say, though, that I’ve finally started making the choices I have to make to get back to being just a writer. Not a writer/web designer/site technician/graphics artist/software installer and maintainer/…whatever.
Writer.
That’s where I’m heading again.
Holly, it’s god to know that you finally hired Scottie to man the engine room while you’re at the helm. I can only guess at the man hours you put in before you chose to step back and delegate some of the work. You deserve to remain migraine-free.
Captains solve problems and man the rudder. They don’t usually row the boat too.
Glad you’re taking more time for yourself and your sanity and health. Now I know there’s hope for me. 🙂
Humans have limitations – Gods (allegedly) don’t, but even they’ve been known to go crazy at times. A good (human) general (that would be you 😉 ) knows her limits and picks the right people for the job, so that they can concentrate on the other stuff.
(I know – I can talk such drivel sometimes).
Go concentrate on the important stuff – it’s been cool knowing that it really was you answering techie probs, but it’s even cooler reading your books and following your courses.
I’ll still be doing my own customer service for the foreseeable future. 😀 I just won’t be building the site software, or endangering the databases.
About time. I think its a good choice for all of us. Congratulations!
Control is always a hard thing to let go but I’m excited for you. Sometimes you just can’t do everything no matter how much you want to.
A hard choice, but it sounds like the best one. I’m glad you’ll have more time for writing.
Good for you. Sometimes you just have to make the decisions that benefit YOU most, not us. All of us who get such a lot out of what you do would rather you healthy and happy than running yourself into the ground for us. Best of luck, and I hope those migraines go down again. (Get them myself, though nowhere near your level.)
I’m hoping you’ll benefit even more than I will. Having the lessons in the HTTS classroom laid out by someone who does site layouts for ease of use, and getting a forum with all the features we need already built in will—I hope—make the HTTS classrooms what I’ve always wanted to be, but could never quite make them myself.
Hoorah! 🙂