Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Updated: I wrote this post and the title before the news broke about David Bowie. He will surely continue to have influence over all aspects of our culture.

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Last week, I let our fabulous WanderBloggers know that the Wanderlust and Lipstick site would be going through a pretty radical design change in the coming months. As part of those changes, I would no longer be publishing the blogs on the site.

This makes me very sad. But ultimately I believe it’s the right thing to do.

So, how did I come to this decision?

It started with the need to update the website design because we were experiencing slow load times and site-wide crashes. I was told by both my web mistress (the lovely and talented Cathy from WP Barista) and my hosting service that the use of old plugins and an outdated design were the primary causes of the site’s issues.

When I started thinking about the redesign, I also started thinking about the direction of the site.

First and foremost, I’ve always wanted Wanderlust and Lipstick to be a place where women could find inspirational and motivational information about travel. I think the site (and the WaL books) have been able to achieve this to a certain degree. But I think that in my desire to grow the site with a lot of contributors, my personal messaging has gotten watered down.

For sure, all of our bloggers and contributors (including writers for both Tips and Tales) have been instrumental in growing our audience and building an amazing community of Wanderlusters. But I feel like my voice has been lost. I’ve been told it’s difficult to find my writing on the site and that readers aren’t quite sure what our message is. On top of all that, a lot of my time is spent managing the site resulting in me not having the time keep up with my blog the way I would like (causing more lost voice).

With this new year, comes the new design and a more focused website!

While our bloggers had a mix of emotions (shock, sadness, relief, angst, nervous, enthusiasm, gratefulness), there has been an outpouring of support for me and the change. I wasn’t happy about being the bearer of such news. But I’ve appreciated the support from this amazing group of writers. Many have and will go on to do other awesome things with their own blogs/websites/writing. I know they’ll do fantastic things as they leave the nest.

Ultimately, it’s time for us all to move on and Be Bold.

As I mentioned in my 2016 Year Ahead post, I have many new projects in the works this year. You can expect to hear more about a Kickstarter campaign this spring as well as a new book (focused on Be Bold) that’s already in the works. Personally, I’m excited to write more, speak at more events, work on the book and just generally have the time and space to get my message out to a larger audience.

I hope you’ll join me in making this a year to Be Bold!

Beth

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