It has been a long and twisty road since I first set out to build a community site for the greater La Crosse, Wisconsin area (also known as the Coulee Region) over two years ago. And it's a road that I continue to travel. Coulee Region ONLINE, as I call my site, has been running (or maybe limping) for most of those two years on Drupal 5 but is in a constant state of undone filled with glitches and promises of good things to come Real Soon Now.
Along the way I have made several aborted attempts to document the process of building the site. Some of it turned out to be useful like the user profile tutorials that eventually turned into Advanced Profile Kit. And then there was my frustrations with flatforum that turned into Advanced Forum. Some of it was not so good like my promising to write up how to create an area directory that never went farther than a tease of Views dumps.
As I approach the second anniversary of launching my "public alpha" (beta would be too kind) I find myself not wanting to start a third year of making excuses for a site that doesn't quite work right. So I am taking a break from freelancing, which has consumed too much of my time this last year, and am going to focus on making the site that's been living in my head, waiting to be expressed in Drupal. In conjunction with that, I am going to finally write that ebook that I've been dancing around for two years.
It won't be done in a hurry; even without having computer time going to freelancing I still have two young children who don't like mommy at the computer too long. I expect this will take several months to do, but I will get there, slow and steady. I have a goal, I have the desire, and I even have an outline.
So, enough announcing what I'm going to do. Time to get doing it. :)
Comments
Good luck Michelle! :)
Good luck Michelle! :)
Good luck, Michelle! I, too,
Good luck, Michelle! I, too, hope to cut down on my freelancing work to focus more on Drupal stuff this year. I'm looking forward to the book!
You go girl! And don't be so
You go girl!
And don't be so hard on yourself: everyone is in a situation like that, really, it's impossible to do everything that finds itself on one's plate.
People need stuff, you get a great idea... and it's on your plate.
You can't do everything at once, you have to pick and choose, be more choosy.
Which is what you are doing!
So here's to you, best wishes for success and that beautiful feeling of accomplishment will be yours before you know it!
Thanks everyone. I just hope
Thanks everyone. I just hope there's some interest by the time I get done. There's already one ebook on SN sites, though it doesn't quite cover what I plan to and then there's an actual physical book due out in March that looks to go step by step through it all. I'm thinking I should have taken the time to write this a year ago. LOL
Ah, well, I still want to update my site so I'll have that even if no one reads my book about it. :)
Michelle
Hi Michelle, thx for your
Hi Michelle,
thx for your superb modules. I am using author pane and APK and I am working now on integrating AF to my site. So far I am very satisfied and looking forward for updates ( please, don't take this as rushing you).
You now that I am a real noob to this stuff but so far I figured out most of my problems and I am pretty pleased with the results. By the way this is a good way of learning Panels. ; )
I would never be able to achieve those "looks" by myself - so your modules are pure gold for a guy like me.
I am planing to go online within the next week and I will let you know how your modules are doing in the wild.
I really wish you all the best for all your plans and projects,
Dave
Glad you like them and I look
Glad you like them and I look forward to checking out your site.
Have a good launch,
Michelle