Due to the drama surrounding me creating my WordPress blog, I decided to write this short entry. (I have learned a lot since this clumsy adventure. I’ve discovered WordPress has a plethora of videos and training tutorials. Their support team is also pretty awesome.

Clumsy First Attempt at Creating My WordPress Blog

Today I danced a victory dance. My blog has been on the world wide web for a week, and it hasn’t crashed the internet. I’m not joking. about this achievement.

When this blog idea became a reality, me blowing up something became a real possibility. To say I’m technically challenged would be an understatement. Therefore, I believe the fact my computer is still operating is a major accomplishment.

When I was in high school, one of my teachers made an outrageous statement.  He said one day a computer would be found in every home in America. The class laughed at him in amazement. Back In the dark ages, computers were the size of a house. Therefore, the only people who had access to them worked for NASA, the United States military, a prestigious university, or the CIA.

Consequently, my teacher had the last laugh. I heard he became a wealthy man before he retired because he bought stock in Apple and Microsoft. I guess you could say he was a visionary.

My first experience with a computer didn’t go well. I signed up for a class in computer basics when I went to college to get my degree. I was in my forties. I’d never touched a computer let alone turn one on.

Our first assignment was to go to the lab and play with the machine.  I pushed the button on the front of the screen. It lit up, but nothing happened. I must have watched the bluish light for fifteen minutes before I asked the guy next to me what was wrong.

He was going about his merry computing business clicking on different icons like a pro. He told me my machine would probably do something if I managed to turn on the power.

At least he was kind enough not to laugh when he pressed the button located on the tower under the desk. I overcame some of my computer ignorance since I took that class. I suspect it was tenacity rather than competence which enabled me to learn how to navigate the complicated terrain of the World Wide Web.

The point about my technology klutziness being made, we’ll jump into my experience with WordPress. I finished doing a rewrite on the first book I completed for Nanowrimo four years ago. My writing schedule is part of my morning routine. The strategy is to get up early and write until it’s time for me to leave for my day job. (Yes, I now can turn on my computer without help. I can even navigate my way around a word program.)

I  found myself with a little free time on my hands. There wasn’t any point in jumping into the fourth book in my Henhouse series before Nanowrimo started. This year’s participation is going to be a challenge. I don’t have a clue what I will be writing about, only it needs to include a vampire. Vampires make cool villains.

I thought now would be the perfect time to bite the bullet and start creating my blog, Sound easy, right? Wrong.  I planned for my WordPress blog to be my first great adventure. It turned into a mystery I couldn’t solve.

I went into this project as innocent as a lamb being led to the slaughter, not realizing I was about to step into blogging hell.  As soon as I entered my credit card number into the WordPress order page,  I descended into the underworld of widgets, plugins, domain names, and host sites. I felt like Dante taking a casual stroll through the Inferno.

The support team’s main function seemed to serve as demons poking me with invisible pitchforks as I stumbled along my merry way. WordPress makes it sound so simple in there adds. All you have to do is a few simple processes like selecting a theme for your blog and you’re set.

Then you jump right into the deep water and write your first entry. It’s not complicated, right? The first thing I discovered on my trip through the blog torture chamber was I was in over my head.

What I needed was a Virgil to new my guide through the firey pit, so I went online and watch a couple of UTube Videos.  The experience left me dazed and confused when it came to creating my WordPress blog.  I couldn’t make my WordPress blog look the way I wanted no matter how hard I tried.

Rooster gets involved in creating my WordPress blog.

Rooster felt sorry for me. He’s the type of guy who always wants to solve a problem, so he ordered me WordPress for Dummies from Amazon. (You know the situation was serious because Rooster is a frugal man.)  The book four working days to arrive at our doorstep. Thus, I was ready to throw my hands in the air and call it quits.

To make a long story short, I discovered I couldn’t use the Admin portion of my WordPress blog to add the theme and plugins I was attempting to select. I”m still a WordPress rookie, but at least I’m no longer stuck in one of the rings of blogging purgatory.

Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana, who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh.  To read more of her short stories and adventures click here.

Be sure to follow Molly on Twitter!