Break, Part Two: Content

All right. Step two. We have navigation, now we need content. I am a little surprised by how nervous I am about this whole "plan-a-website" project. Maybe it is because usually electronic and technological things are the hardest for me to pick up. I tend to struggle for a long time to even get the basics down, I get frustrated very easily -- this is way out of my comfort zone, so my creative side (which is already a neurotic little thing) wants nothing more than to run and hide somewhere safe.

On the other hand, by necessity if nothing else, I will have to drag that creative side out of the closet and onto the computer screen, because the smoothest navigation means nothing without content.

If I am going to make a personal website, I want it to be about writing. I joined this MFA program because one of the most important things in my world is that stories exist, and I want to be part of making that happen. Plus, I don't see myself making another kind of site. Personal? No way. I'm happily open with my friends, but the Internet doesn't need to know every in and out of my life. As for my hobbies, I am very excited to be developing a decent repertoire as a fledgling cook and when I have time I like to knit things, but there are a hundred zillion better sites about these things.

So the thing is, at this point I am also still in the early stages of being a writer. I'm not published yet, and am still putting together a selection of stories and poems. I'm okay with doing a beginning writer's site, but what to fill it with?

1. Bio. We need people to have an official section for who I am and what I do (or want to do).
2. Journal. It seems at least in the beginning, this site may be as much about the process as the finished work, and anyway I would like to have a means of communicating with potential viewers of the site.
3. Creative writing. Info on any poems and stories I publish, and a few freebies up on the site, just for fun.
4. Technical writing. I've done some of this work, and really enjoyed it, so I would like to have information on what I can do in case people want me to do more of it.
5. Awards. I got a few, and I am proud of them, so why not briefly mention them?
6. I would like to have a little section on what I'm reading. I am as interested in other people's stories as making my own, so having a Cool Books section will let me promote other cool people, and give my viewers a better idea of what I am all about (you are what you read, yes?).

I will likely change/add/modify this as I go, but it is about getting a sense of what might work. I am still very nervous about trying to make and maintain this, but I will see how it goes.