If you write a lot like I tend to do, sometimes you find yourself in a niche. It’s not a bad thing, but when you find yourself here, it’s really hard to just be yourself from time to time. The blog that used to have an objective now feels like a place you have to be someone you aren’t really. For me, it happened on my personal site and I felt like I couldn’t be myself on my personal blog. I started to give myself excuses. I redesigned the site probably 300 times now over the course of eight years. Why? To better show the person behind the site. Some of the excuses were legitimate. Some were just plain dumb. Truth is, I used a domain I had bought, that meant something to me back in college. Since then, I’ve changed. My identity is different than it was then.
I can’t promise I will write more. I’m done with promising that and not living up to my own expectations.
I will promise to be more authentic though.
I am working today on a new wordpress theme for churches and ministries. There’s really not too much to see just yet, lots of editing of css. I will say that it’s more graphically oriented than many of my projects… I may actually be able to release it this afternoon if I keep at it. Who knows? Between a baby and a puppy, I might get something done.
Christian Music has always been a part of my life. So a few weeks ago when I was talking with a friend from back in my b5media days he asked me if I would be willing to write a bit about Christian Music on his site, Mission Notes. Also, Jason (www.bnpositive.com) should keep me accountable with writing a bit more frequently even around here. It’s hard to talk to a guy who writes around 1000 words a day on 5-6 different blogs and not feel like you should come up with something to write about.
Here it is and enjoy. If you would like to change the footer information, go ahead, but I would appreciate (not require) a link back to http://www.williamlehman.net as a gesture of goodwill. 
Download “am-i-in-sync-v1.1″ WordPress Theme Here (updated as of 10/14/2009)
This theme natively uses some plugins that it won’t look or work right without – These are listed below:
Image Widget – This handles all images including the logo and the top three placements. Alternatively, you can just drop html for images into a text widget, but this makes it a little easier. Images are handled via a image upload script – just be sure to remove the title of the image when uploading to the ad placements at the top.
All in One Adsense and YPN – for adsense placements under posts. The top adsense area in the header is added via widget.
PixoPoint Menu Plugin – This is the plugin for the menu at the top of the header area. Without it, the theme just displays a black bar up there. I like it and thought it looked classy while offering some great functionality to the theme. If you want your menu to look like mine here, you can download this text file, and copy and paste it into the “advanced settings” main menu css editor in the options panel for this plugin. UPDATED in v1.1 – Now you can just disable the default css in the plugin options as I have written in the css into the main style.css file.
Simple Post Thumbnails – This theme is set up to use this plugin optionally. This makes it nice to add thumbnails to posts without having to use custom fields to do it. I hate working with custom fields so I avoid it at all costs.
TweetMeme Retweet Button – For that handy little retweet button in post headers. Make sure you specify the compact size.
Screenshot of the widget areas
I spent the evening tweaking decloned to add a few new features and set it up more professionally than it has been in the past. Natively, it is set up to use several different plugins, but I may go ahead and release it into the public if there is enough interest.
I originally based the theme off of the Gluttony Theme by wpdesigner but it got a bit more altered in my take of it. The theme has 6 different widget locations… including the logo, the header ad placement, the three featured areas as well as the sidebar. I may add some to the footer as well. We’ll see…
Anyway, it was inspired by Hugh’s new theme (http://www.gapingvoid.com) after David Hayward told me about how he liked it and possibly wanted something like it for nakedpastor.
Goodbye Sidebar Ads. While I am not completely kissing advertising goodbye, I am reclaiming my sidebar for more important information and purposes. I’ve had sidebar ads for as long as I can remember and always been frustrated with them. I finally got rid of them. I move links to a dedicated page (so I could add more) and updated the sidebar with actual information about who I am and what this blog is about.
Other places I do still run ads are Text Link Ads (though I haven’t sold any for awhile), the bottom of the first three posts on any page, and in feeds. Overall it’s a lot cleaner looking and ads are in designated areas rather than just clutter.
I’ve also taken a bit more of a family friendly approach to the ads displayed. If you see a questionable ad, let me know and I can get it in the blocked ads queue.
Other site updates.
- There is now a new video sidebar area that I hope to make more use of in the near future. These videos open full-size on the main page so you don’t have to go anywhere else to view them.
- I also have a finalized logo up in the top of the sidebar. This has been a long time coming and I am happy to report it’s going to stay.
- Overall, there is a better, more defined purpose to the site (as seen in the info area in the sidebar).
I’ve been giving a lot of thought of going back to pro blogging here on decloned. It’s been awhile since I considered blogging on that level again. I guess I always kept this little blog running to keep me sane. Anyway, stay tuned… Things may get interesting around here.
As I look back over the last few months in the backend of decloned, there were 17 posts that either were never finished or just never saw the light of day. Lately, I have felt overwhelmed with even trying to say something. It’s not that I have nothing to say, it’s more that I have felt that I have nothing original to say. It’s a grand lie that I am dealing with.
I put a lot of pressure on myself to come up with new things to write about and say. More than most. I enjoy the creative element of writing and blogging everyday. The problem is that I read way too much and the sheer volume of the things I read leeches my creativity.
The solution is that I am my own person. I am who I am for a reason. Even if I take on a particular topic that someone else has already done a great job of writing about, I would take it on in my own way from my perspective. The topic may not be unique. In fact it probably would not be even if you thought it was. What makes any content unique is you. The way you say things, the words you employ to get the job done make it yours.
Blank pages scare me. They really shouldn’t but they do. Often, I mimic drawing something fifteen or so times before I ever really put my pen to the paper. Oh, and pens, what an unapologetic page staining mechanism could ever be contrived?
Lately, I’ve been drawing all in pen, in my favorite sketch journal and using primsacolor art markers with them for color. It happens when I write too. Blog entries are sometimes rewritten 5 times before being published.
I think this is why for the longest time I tended toward digital art. CTRL+Z is my favorite combination of keystrokes. I even have it programed into one of my quick buttons on my Wacom tablet. I need to write the word “fear” on that button.
Wrong stroke. The word “oops” comes to mind. The fear that when I am done, I will look back on the work as a failure. I guess it’s really silly though. Art is something you grow with when you do it. Writing is the same way. Even photography. Taking that same shot six times to get that one expression, or a better version of it anyway.
When will I let it go? Stop being afraid of messing up. When will I begin embracing failure as a learning experience rather than fearing it and keeping the creativity locked up for fear of the unknown failure that could be. Just as easily, a masterpeice could come about too.
