Last year I wrote three articles on this site. In 2015, I also barely wrote three articles.

So even though I LOVE what I’ve created on this site, I know it has been stagnant.

So imagine my dismay when I began receiving messages from a website security company. There was a scan on my account and a security alert went off.  There have been over 11+ messages, same guy, just different variations of the message.

Bottom line:  I need to call him immediately to make sure we get things resolved so that there is no disruption in service.

The messages sound serious and scary.

But, rather than call back, my first instinct is to google:

xxxx website security company scam

Terrible stories…scam…fraud…malware extortion…people spending hundreds of dollars…sites closed down!!!

But you can’t always trust the internet. So I texted my brother, who knows all computer things. “SCAM” was his reply.

But how do I stop the calls?  Do I just call them back?  I don’t really know anything about website security.  They can tell me anything, and I won’t know if it’s true or false.  All I know is that I cannot spend any more money on a website where I’m only eking out THREE posts a year.

I don’t sell anything here.  There are no pop-up ads or links to buy anything.  I am just a writer, “trying to make my way to the next stop.” (p.s. I’m still working on that “by line”)

It’s so hard to tell what’s a scam and what’s real.

Is website security as serious as when the IRS left me three phone messages informing me that they were filing a lawsuit against me?

Last week, I got two emergency messages saying, “this is from Windows Microsoft your windows license key has been expired all services has been suspended on your computer.”  Seriously, there were no pauses, just one run-on sentence.

If somehow my lack of action to this security alert really does ruin this website, then I’m going to take it as the final sign from God that this wasn’t for me.

But let’s see where this goes.  I’ll continue to research this thing.

Any thoughts on how to proceed?

I have not posted an article in almost one year.

At first I was actively participating in a group for bloggers and sticking to a writing schedule. But I just couldn’t seem to write an article “good enough” for me. Group members were writing about surviving cancer, starting businesses, and saving the world. How could I share a post about the struggles of cleaning my basement?

I wasn’t really having any success with the things I wanted to write about. As an aspiring minimalist, I was struggling with the second layer of stuff to toss. As a gardener, I lost my enthusiasm when I found cat poo in the soil of my vegetable garden. And even though I really enjoyed running those 5K races, I did not have fun training and putting in the work.

As the weeks turned to months, I began to think maybe my website was just another phase. I didn’t like anything I was writing. Documenting my failures seemed too whiny. Writing about success seemed as unrealistic as posting only gorgeous selfies. And so I didn’t post at all.

I recently got an email reminding me that the renewal fee for my domain name was due. Did I really want to keep up this blog? After a lot of back and forth, I’ve decided to try for another year.

Here are the 2 things I learned (not) blogging this year:

1. My fear is paralyzing. Is it a fear of failure or success?  Whatever…I have to find a way to move past it and just write. I will post and if you like it, tell me. If you don’t like it, tell me why not and offer advice on how to improve. I would love to hear either way.
2. This is MY blog. Why am I so stressed? No one pays me to do this.  I have full creative control. I want to write good articles and establish a relationship with my readers, but it should be fun. It’s not that serious. So I will try to just write.

So, I’m back!  I’d love to hear from my readers who have stuck around.  Tell me, what’s new?

Captain Compost has nothing to report.

As much as I love this name given to me by one of my favorite readers, I feel I haven’t earned it.  My compost bin just sits there.  I think it’s working–it doesn’t stink and isn’t slimy–but there’s just nothing to report.

When I first started this blog, I had plans to post twice a week.  I bought a new binder and filled it with schedules and possible post ideas.  Seven weeks later, I’m questioning if I can really keep these posts interesting.

My projects will take time.  As much as I would love to embrace this whole minimalist movement, I really am having a hard time throwing out my junk and buying less stuff.

I’d love to start my new “raised garden” project but there’s heavy lifting involved and not many strong backs around here…so now I have to add delivery costs to my budget and the project starts getting tricky-er.

I don’t want to keep writing about the things I’m NOT doing.   Eventually even my devoted mom will stop reading.  At the same time, I don’t want give up just because things are getting uncomfortable.

So, I’ll keep working on these projects until I can share with you my progress.

In the meantime, I’m also going to try to learn more about blogging. There’s just so much information out there.   I’ve downloaded a course by Courtney Carver called “Zero to 100: a Microcourse for Beginning Bloggers,” and Becca Ludlum’s book “Everything But the Posts.”

I’m determined to get better at this.  How do you handle slow moving projects?  How do you stay motivated?

NOT FOUND – It looks like nothing was found at this location. Maybe try a search?

That’s the error message I’ve been getting all morning.

Do I call my computer genius big brother to quickly bail me out?  I read somewhere that’s like asking a dentist friend to quickly give me a root canal.  My writer/director friend, Patrick, once posted on fb that he hated it when people asked him to quickly “read their scripts.”

So what now?  Do I deactivate this blog and call it a day?  Go finish the laundry?  Walk the dog?  Empty the dishwasher?  Find my pile of almost-due bills?  Cook dinner? These are all the things I’ve neglected today, while trying to solve this problem.

Did I check the FAQs on the WordPress sites?  Of course.  They lose me as soon as they start talking about FTPs and Permalinks and deleting and re-installing plugins.  Huh?

So bear with me as I figure this out…or help me come up with a way to sweet talk my brother…OR if by some blogging magic you see a “Tell me something good” box at the end of this post, then please tell me how to fix this thing!

**UPDATE:  Since I only had 6 posts written, I just decided to cut and paste them to new posts and magically, they’re fixed.  I don’t know how or why…but I found all the posts.  Yay Me!