Busy Going Sideways

byRussellGr

163 followers

Updated 2 years ago

So, I’ve been a premium member at Wealthy Affiliate for nearly 9 months.

I love the community, the owners, and the resources. A shout out to everyone that contributes to the WA family!

I’ve connected with quite a few of you on the live chat and/or PMs. I’ve even helped some of you out (though usually it’s me doing the asking).

This part of the training - posting a blog on WA - I skipped, and only got back to this evening. I guess I always felt a bit inept, or inadequate, to write to you all – a selfish and silly way to feel, I know.

Well, better late than never and here I am. I hope you’ll entertain me for a short while.

I’m clammy from the extreme heat the UK is experiencing today (it’s meant to be worse tomorrow, and I’m travelling to a funeral if my train isn’t cancelled!).

I don’t expect to sleep tonight, so I’ve some spare time to write this before I iron a shirt.

Sadly, my creative juices have dried up in the sun so I apologise ahead of myself for these dehydrated words.

My progress has been far too slow. My niche is in relation to Robert Jordan’s fantasy series The Wheel of Time (and Amazon Prime’s TV adaptation).

When the show was due for release towards the end of last year I thought, not stupidly, that there would be an avalanche of merchandise I could capitalise on.

For some reason, it never materialised. A lot of money was invested in the show, so I wonder why Amazon chose not to sell the show to death.

Anyway, my site had little to sell that the fans of The Wheel of Time didn’t already have (the books, for example). Worse still, my domain name leaned into the “shop” dynamic so started to feel a bit silly.

I went on a tangent and started a new site to promote WA, but my original concept was still my draw.

I ended up spreading myself too thin, playing around with themes and writing posts that didn’t meet my standards.

Oh, I also procrastinated a lot… like I’m doing now because I don’t want to iron a shirt (I haven’t needed to since the last funeral I went to).

Anyway, more recently I decided to draw a line under the preceding months and refocus. I picked up a new domain – theshiningwalls.com – and started to take my existing content and bring it up to scratch. I’m proud of that effort and, even if I am a tinkerer, I think I’m ready to set and forget (if I can get social share working properly… my latest headache!).

I got some help to boost the speed of my site and made sure none of my images would be in breach of copyright laws.

Yesterday really, I got to a point where anything I do next will be new. That’s exciting, and it will be another rewarding journey. And, yes, despite its frustrations I have found my journey rewarding.

Thanks to Wealthy Affiliate I have too many domains on my hands but one I can focus on with confidence. I’ve learnt lots about imagery and optimization. I’ve course corrected and overcome the challenges that came my way. I gave up alcohol along the way too – a good job with this weather!

The writing is coming more naturally, though my proofing remains forensic. I’m planning better and have a path to follow. When I hit my anniversary, I think I’ll look back on the year with some praise for myself. That’s worth a lot!

So, yes, I’ve been busy going sideways but I’m looking out of my window to the future – and it’s looking… sunny!

The Light shine on you all, my friends!

Russell

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