Skip to main content

Misadventures in Digital La La Land

My first post in 2017 -- after a long break from blogging -- is ironically enough about my misadventure in digital La La Land.

Sometime just before the launch of my latest book I decided to overhaul my Wordpress website and give it a spiffy new look. And like all my "projects", I went on a mega research exercise. I checked out websites of romance authors and believe me there are some REALLY impressive sites out there. After much deliberation I decided on the "look and feel" and got a web developer to design it for me. The site was launched and those who have followed my blogs might agree with me when I say it was one good looking site.

Problem was it was too pretty for its own good!  I'm a bit embarrassed to say that it intimidated me. 😂My blogging went downhill and my excuse was: lack of time.

When 2016 came to a close I was appalled to see that my blog was languishing in its perfectly pristine state. And I was getting tired of seeing the same images and posts day in and day out. Just proves that too much beauty can also be boring!! Determined to get back into blogging mode I started tinkering with my website when disaster struck... the website crashed. Yep! Panic time.

Meanwhile, the website designer had decided to switch careers (I kid you not!) and I was left high and dry with a website that wouldn't work. Time for a complete overhaul -- I got rid of the Wordpress site and opened a no-frills Blogger site.

So, here I am. This time, no fancy-pants website but a functional blogging platform where I can share my thoughts, a few images, some trivia and fun stuff and above all, reconnect with my readers. All designed by yours truly.... maybe I will get the hang of designing a good-looking website. Maybe not. But who cares...functionality and not just aesthetics is what counts at the end of the day. And as you can see, it's still a work-in-progress. Lesson learnt: there's nothing better than D-I-Y.

Have you had any such disasters in digital la la land? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. (Also, bouquets and brickbats for my maiden website-designing effort are welcome.) 😀



Labels:

Comments

  1. Indywrites12 February 2017 at 21:19

    Congratulations on the new site, Adite, looks spiffy. I hope you were able to save your old content.
    Keep blogging, keep writing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adite12 February 2017 at 21:27

      Thanks, Indy. Fortunately, have been able to retrieve the content. :)

      Delete
  2. iluvfiction12 February 2017 at 22:11

    Well, functional always works! Its indeed spiffy and different. Looking forward to some good reading in 2017!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adite13 February 2017 at 07:23

      Thanks, Ruchi. It's a new start and hoping for the best. Keep visiting. :)

      Delete
  3. Reet Singh13 February 2017 at 06:18

    Very well done! Love the banner and the colors.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adite13 February 2017 at 07:24

      Thanks a ton, Reet. Here's to a new beginning! :)

      Delete
  4. maheshsowani13 February 2017 at 08:06

    Yes I can relate to what you are saying. I earlier had a blog on rediffiland. Then they transferred all the blogs to a new system. Many blogs were lost in the process and mine was one of them. Just imagine my plight. Having lost everything for no fault of mine. Then I moved to blogger. Accustomed to rediffiland, I found blogger very unfriendly and my blog lay unused for a year. Then I started writing again. Now with five hundred posts I have come a long way on blogger. I hope the same happens with your blog. All the best

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adite13 February 2017 at 08:44

      Losing all your content must have been such a nightmare! The best part is that you chose to move on and learn a new skill. So kudos to you. Thanks for sharing your experience and your good wishes. :)

      Delete
  5. Unknown23 February 2017 at 09:31

    Good luck on the new site. Looking forward some more good writing in future. keep writing :)
    http://www.quickcustomessaywriting.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Maria3 March 2017 at 16:55

    You know what, Adite? I love Blogger. There are so many bloggers out there who say that WordPress is the only way to blog. I totally disagree. I shared my thoughts with a writer/blogger from Canada, Sagan Morrow and she told me that one of her friends did very well out of a blog on Blogger and even got a book deal out of it. Sagan herself recently returned to WordPress after a not so wonderful experience with some other blogging platform. Her advice was, stick to the blogging platfor with which you're most comfortable. So there you are. I have to get myself a domain now and I think I'll get one for the book blog, which is more business oriented than the 'gaelikaa's diary' one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adite3 March 2017 at 17:10

      You're so right, Maria. I learnt that the hard way. Good luck with your adventures in digital land. :)

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Basu Chatterji's "Balcony Class" Films

Basu Chatterji's Rajnigandha was like a breath of fresh air in the 1970s film universe of Bombay. At a time when the Angry Young Man was beginning to dominate celluloid screens, Amol Palekar was as un-hero-like as you could get. He was the Common Man who traveled in buses, did not have hero-like mannerisms and did not breathe fire and brimstone at his opponents. Basu Chatterji's Middle of the Road Cinema burst on to the scene and surprised the movie-going audience with its everyday situations and storylines that had an undercurrent of humour. Chatterji catered to an audience that he liked to call the "Balcony Class".  Anirudha Bhattacharjee, author of Basu Chatterji and Middle-of-the-Road Cinema writes an entertaining and heartwarming account of the life and work of Basu Chatterji, one of the most under-rated directors of Indian cinema. Recall of Chatterji's brand of feel-good, slice-of-life movies is perhaps highest for his Rajnigandha, Chotisi Baat, Baaton Baa...
5 comments
Read more

Facing my fear - one Pitch at a time

Pitching makes me freeze up. In fact, the very thought of it makes me wanna run away.  For a screenwriter that's simply bad news. Because no matter what, if you want to get your stories out of your computer and hit the big screens, then you need to get comfortable with selling your story to potential producers and studios. And the first step in that journey is pitching.  My fear of pitching has prodded me to find different ways of overcoming the hurdle. So, for a few years I tried to work with agents in the hope that they would read my book and be able to handle the job of pitching. But soon I realized that agents were not into reading. So, I was just another name in their long list of clients. How that helps them grow their business is a different story, and one that I will perhaps share at a later point when I get around to solving that mystery! But the turning point (life does imitate screenplays!) came when I was called to pitch my book to a prominent OTT channel. This was...
1 comment
Read more

The biggest Challenge is to Pitch your Story to Producers

I have been writing books and screenplays for a while and it's been a process of learning and re-learning. In this interview with Namrata of Kitaab.org , I share my experiences with regard to writing scripts, pitching and book to screen adaptations.  Team Kitaab: Your career began as a business journalist before you transitioned to fiction writing. How has your background in journalism influenced your approach to writing screenplays and adapting books for the screen? Adite Banerjie: Journalism has shaped my career as a writer – both in non-fiction and fiction. First of all, by working on news stories, specially those with a human interest angle, I got the opportunity to observe first hand various situations and events and how they impact lives. It provided me with invaluable experience of the entire spectrum of issues that shape, impact and change people’s lives. At some subconscious level this stayed with me. So, when I started writing fiction, my journalism experie...
Post a Comment
Read more