Today marks a big milestone for my From Brain to Keyboard blog, it turns 5! That’s right, this blog has been running for 5 years. And while it may not have been as consistent as I would have liked the entire time, it has endured none-the-less.
So it goes without saying that I should do something special for this occasion. And I have done just that. In honor of my five years as a blogger, I have moved away from the generic Blogger website, to my very own custom WordPress website. From Brain to Keyboard has a new home!
I owe a big thank you to my boyfriend, Jason, for helping set up the website and finding a theme, and then finding another one when we realized the first one was broken and causing issues. I’ve put a lot of work into this website and I’m very proud of it. I even started learning how to code to be able to build my website, through a subscription from Codecademy. I still have a lot to learn, but I hope to be able to further customize my website even more soon.
For now, let me guide you through the site.
There was a lot that I loved about the first (broken) theme, the homepage had a cool background image, buttons, and some fun sections. I had most of the content updated by the time we realized it was crashing the server, every time I updated more than one post. So it was not meant to be and it was back to square one, to find a theme that would be close enough to what I wanted but would also offer the customization either now or in the future once I had the skill to update it exactly how I wanted. I think that is what we found with the new theme, and even if it doesn’t work in the long run, I was pressed for time at that point, to have the website up and running in time for the anniversary. So that was that, I have moved on, and I am happy to show off some of the aspects that I was able to carry over.
Before I get into that, let’s check out the homepage. There is a slider at the top beneath the top menu which cycles through 5 recent blog posts. Beneath that are recent posts from the blog and recent podcast appearances. You can then continue going through the various pages of the blog feed at the bottom or you can navigate using the search bar and the Categories section on the right hand side. Below that you can contact me via twitter or the blog email address. If you’re interested, you can also check out the blog roll and find blogs from my friends: Agent Palmer, Bill Sweeney (who Palmer says needs to write more), Kristin Maier, and Dr. Sara Netzley.
Now, for what I’m most proud of, the top menu with it’s four sections: About, Blog, Podcast, Friends. The About section is of course an About Me page, with information and a photo. But the Blog and Podcast sections have all of my blog posts, as well as every episode of my podcasts Gotham Lights and The Orville Lights, plus all of the podcast 
guest spots and the rebooted Moving the Needle podcast that I am also a cohost on. So if you’re only interested in the blog, you can head over to that page, and if you’re interested in podcasts you can hop over to check out that page. Then we have the Friends page, and true to the title, this page is dedicated to the blogs and podcasts of my friends and podcasts that I listen to. There is also a link to the podcast network my podcasts belong to. From this page you can click on any of the links and be taken to that podcast’s website or the websites of the blogs featured on the homepage under the blog roll.
It’s taken me a long time to update all of the content, links, logos, and probably close to 150 podcast episodes, but it was well worth it, to have one consolidated place for both my interests; writing and podcasting. I hope people enjoy it and get a lot of great use out of it. I know I certainly enjoyed creating it, even with the setbacks.
So don’t be shy, let me know what you think and then keep an eye out as the website continues to evolve.
Happy Birthday From Brain to Keyboard, here’s to many more!
