It’s all about metamorphosis in my writing career this year. No, I’m not planning to go from unknown to bestselling, but I am transforming. My website is the first caterpillar to morph into a butterfly.

In the three (or is it four now?) years that I’ve had my website, I’ve changed the theme multiple times. The last time I gave it a serious overhaul was in the fall of 2016. I hired a consultant to help me with it.
This time, I also hired a professional…to help with branding. More on that next week.
At the end of last year, my local writers’ group had a brand specialist speak to us. She has an online course that helps creative types design and build their own website.
After I got her five FREE emails about the subject, I asked her to recommend a WordPress theme that I could use. She recommended one that I would have had to purchase, so I asked about free themes.
And thus my introduction to Make came to be.

What I Want

What I’d really like for my website is something fantastic and unique.
For example, I visited Cornelia Funke’s webpage in 2016 and sighed over it. (Check it out here. Isn’t is amazing?)
I showed it to my son (the one who worked as a website designer for awhile) in hopes he would step up and transform my very non-unique and unexciting page into the wonderful world of WOW.
But my cajoling and begging had no affect on him. Even when I offered to PAY him for the work, he wasn’t compelled to help me.
So I resorted to using a new theme and doing what I could to spice things up.

What I Have

This past summer, I attended the Oregon Christian Writer’s Conference (read about that here), and in the class I took from Susan May Warren (whose website is also nice but in an entirely different way from Ms. Funke’s).
If you want to be a successful novelist (or nonfiction author), you have to have a clear brand, and your author website is the obvious place to begin.

I sighed at the truth of it.

Now, I have a redesigned website. It still isn’t as amazing as Cornelia’s or as mood-inducing as Susie’s, but it’s a start.
I have TONS more graphics that promote my books. This is something that most authors do, but I hadn’t really stressed it as much in my previous designs.
Why not?
Because I didn’t want to look pushy. Or appear to only care about selling books.
But what’s the chance that someone would show up at an author’s website looking for information about their books?
*hangs head*
Now, I’ve checked my reluctance at the door and delved into the task of giving multiple opportunities for visitors to my site to interact with my books.

What Do You Like?

I asked my Facebook groupies to check out my new page. And three people responded after they did it.
All of the feedback was positive. One comment compelled me to revisit the placement and design of a couple things.
Now I’m reaching out to you…the person who faithfully reads my blog. Maybe you’re like my husband and get every post delivered to your inbox. Cool! (And thanks for subscribing to my blog.)
This means you may not have EVER visited my page.
If that’s you, would you do me a HUGE favor today? Click over to my website and wander around a bit.
Then come back here and tell me what you like about it. And what you didn’t see but would have liked to see.
What do you like to see and learn when you visit an author’s webpage? This is your chance to raise your voice.
I promise to read every comment, respond to them and consider the comments as my page continues to evolve as my career transforms this year.

In February, I discovered a fantastic author. I’ve read two of her nonfiction books and recommend them highly for anyone struggling to find their calling or purpose in life.

First of all, I read You’re already Amazing by Holley Gerth after my pastor’s wife read only a few paragraphs from the book aloud. It sounded like this woman was speaking with me directly. Her voice was honest and authentic.

After finishing that book, and it’s a process that takes several weeks because you don’t read – you journal and soul-search, I opened one that seemed even more appropriate. This one was called You’re made for a God-Sized Dream. Yep, perfect for someone who quit their day job to pursue the old goal of becoming a published writer.

I wasn’t disappointed in either book.

Since that time, I’ve followed Holley’s blog. Every Wednesday, she writes a post of encouragement. On her site, she encourages her readers to link up their own encouraging posts. It’s an excellent idea that she call’s “Coffee for your Heart.”

Today’s post spoke to the heart of an issue I know many of us struggle with: comparison. We look around us and see people who look better, drive a nicer car, make more money, have designer clothes or seem to have their act together while we’re struggling to keep our head above water. Read the encouragement here.

What do you think? Do you struggle with comparing yourself to other people? If you do, have you noticed that it never helps you attain what they have? Instead, it demoralizes you and makes you want to throw your hands up and quit.

Let’s brainstorm ways we can change this destructive tendency to compare. In fact, I DARE you not to compare yourself to anyone for the rest of this week. Can you do it?

Sharon Hughson, Author

Tag: unique

Transformation: Website

What I Want

What I Have

What Do You Like?

Dare NOT to compare yourself to others