The Lighthearted Dragonfly

I like to think that I’m technically proficient.  Sit me down in front of a computer program, and I can navigate my way through it eventually.  Then, when I want a program to do that really cool thing—you know, the one that automatically does ____, I will spend hours trying to figure out how to do it, normally through trial and error (lots of error).  In the process, I tend to learn more than I ever set out to about how to do other really cool things with a software program.

At my job as an Administrative Assistant, I use Excel spreadsheets a lot.  Over the past year alone, I have learned to manage and maneuver data more than I thought was possible.  Sometimes the reason I’ve discovered how to do something was out of sheer laziness.  For example, I didn’t feel like typing the same thing over and over again, so I learned how to write macros.  At other times, I learn something out of desperation. (Why is this spreadsheet merging all these cells on the bottom of the page I’m trying to print?)  Either way, I’ve come out smarter than I was before—although I like the luxury of learning because I want to, not because a report is due to the boss ASAP.

Setting up this blog has been kind of a mixture of both.  WordPress is not really difficult…I’ve just never done this before.  The closest thing I’ve done like it is setting up a little yolasite for my Girl Scout troop—an effort I abandoned after only about a year because I found out parents never checked it anyway.  And the good folks at WordPress have tons of helpful tutorials and such to help out a newbie like me. Problem is, I just don’t really know what it is I even want to ask at this point!  But I’m learning.  I’m learning because I accidentally deleted a change I made and I wanted to find it again.  I’m learning because my daughter, looking over my shoulder, pointed out that the picture I chose first was not very flattering—couldn’t delete that one fast enough! 

I feel very comfortable at this point experimenting, and it’s so much fun to do that anyway.  The demon every writer knows all too well is that inner critic.  She’s very cruel and stifling.  Writing to post to a blog is so different from anything I’ve done before.  I don’t really have to answer to anyone but my own momentary whim.  It is so freeing.

So I’m hoping the enthusiasm on my honeymoon with my blog continues. Of course, I’m hoping that six months from now I’m looking back on this time as a more experienced blogger.  But not as a tired,  I-gotta-post-something-this-week kind of gal. I want to be like the kindergartner who looks back on her pre-school days as “when I was a little kid”.  Happy blogging!