Process Posts

My university experience has been full of ups and downs, but after taking a year off, PUB101 has been an amazing way to jump back into school. I honestly didn’t know what to expect going into this class. I had a feeling that it would include some sort of content creation based on the course description, but other than that I went into this blind. That being said, I was so pleasantly surprised. This is the first course that I have taken that has allowed me to express myself and my ideas so freely. I also loved how challenging it was though. I learned so much about WordPress, the types of content I like to create and consume, the way I like to write, and also how to step out of my comfort zone. I enjoyed PUB101 so much that I have already declared into the Print and Digital Publishing minor!

Before taking this class, I was always so anxious about sharing any of my work with anybody, but having a class full of people who are learning and creating at the same pace as me gave me a level of confidence in my site that I never expected. I have shared my site with so many people and have received so much positive feedback, which always feels great. As I mentioned in a previous post, I plan on transitioning this site over to other social media platforms so that I can continue to develop my short-form video creation skills and build my audience on a platform that I am more familiar with.

To anyone who is interested in taking this course in the future, Suzanne and Christina have been phenomenal instructors. Suzanne creates really engaging lectures, her energy makes it super easy to feel comfortable participating in class, and it’s clear that she cares about improving the education system for all of us. Christina brought a lot of knowledge about both the course and the publishing industry, and she has been approachable and understanding throughout the semester.

At the beginning of the course, I was certain that I wouldn’t post any videos. I had never used any video editing software, and I didn’t take a lot of videos in general, so it didn’t seem realistic to me, but my mind changed after we had to submit a mini assignment without any text. I made a reel-style video and really enjoyed it. It was super simple and the editing is far from perfect, but I enjoyed the process a lot. I made 2 or 3 other videos after that, and they are some of my favourite content on my site.

If I could go back and change anything, I would have turned “Fueling Your Twenties” into a TikTok or Instagram, and I would have focused on developing short-form video content. I used Capcut to make all of the videos, and I think I’m going to continue learning how to use all the features of the app so that I can make higher quality videos.

Rather than continuing with my posts on this site, after the class is over I plan to move all of my content to a social media site, most likely Tiktok. I am going to turn all of the posts that I have so far into some sort of video. Fitness content is huge on social media, and I can totally see myself building a bigger audience there than I can with this site. I also think I would find a lot more enjoyment in posting on social media, as I really enjoy consuming fitness content on social media.

In week 7 I did a presentation for the class about habits to practice to get more comfortable with writing. Presenting is not something I am very comfortable with at all, but at the beginning of the semester, I promised myself that I would do things to get out of my comfort zone. I was pleasantly surprised by how well the presentation went! The class made me feel welcome, they engaged with my presentation, and I even received a few compliments afterwards, which obviously felt super great and increased my confidence. I have felt my confidence about my site slowly increasing as the weeks go on, which has made me feel more comfortable posting videos and photos to my site, and I feel like I am more comfortable writing in my own voice. I have even started to consider starting an instagram to go along with my site, which is something that I have always been too scared to do.

My presentation slides and the transcript I prepared for myself are attached to this post so that my classmates can refer back to it if they wish!

We had the first tutorial since the strike last week, and Christina gave me some feedback that disrupted my progress. She told me that my website design needed some improvement, which I kind of expected to hear but wasn’t ready for because the design process has been such a headache for me. That day, I decided to change the theme of my website once again to one that allows for more customization. The theme and layout of my site does stray quite far from what I originally imagined it to look like, but I am surprisingly pleased with the result. The new theme looks more sleek and refined, I was able to insert a photo into the header, which my previous theme did not allow. I also added a logo to my site, so now there is a little dumbbell next to the URL.

One thing that I have struggled with all semester is trying to create the “About” page. No matter how many tutorials I watched, I was never able to make it a separate page. I originally made the “about” section a post and then assigned the post to a menu category. As a result, when I clicked on the “about” menu section, the content was displayed as a post that I had to click on to read, rather than being directly displayed on the page. I’m not sure how I missed it for so long, but after more exploring I discovered how to add a page to a menu, and it solved all of my “about” section problems. I now have a whole page dedicated to the section that is connected to my sites menu, which is a big win for me.

I found this week’s reading, “Digital gardens let you cultivate your own little bit of the internet,” quite interesting. The author explained that the nature of the internet has changed over time, allowing people more creative freedom over their online real estate. The author uses the term “digital gardens” to explain that blogs and personal sites can really be whatever we want them to be. They don’t have to be these formal pages that follow the same template week after week.

I felt quite inspired by this article. Since starting this blog, I have struggled to find my voice. I have so many ideas, but this blog is the first time I have had this much creative control over anything, and stringing all my ideas together has been difficult. This article helped me realize that I shouldn’t be afraid to take more risks with my content and try out new types of posts. The written posts are still going to be the bulk of the blog, but I am going to experiment with video posts and photos to share with my audience.

I want to create a blog that is useful for others, but I also want to use this space to express myself and share my passion creatively.

When I decided to make my blog about fitness, I knew I wanted it to cater to an audience I have been a part of. More specifically, I wanted to create a space for people just getting started in the fitness world, because it can be so intimidating. When I was first learning about fitness, I found the most valuable information came from fitness professionals and influencers who made their content accessible for all skill levels, so that is what I have tried to do with this blog so far.

There is almost too much information available on the internet about fitness, so to separate myself from the masses, I blog about the absolute basics. I want Fueling Your Twenties to act as a blueprint that anyone can access and apply to their own journey. I focus on using simple language and keep my posts as short as they can be to make them more accessible and easy to digest.

Truthfully, I picture my audience being largely female. This influenced my choice of theme because I wanted to ensure that it looked feminine. Additionally, I made the whole site pink, because as a female myself, everything looks better in pink.

I have been struggling to make my visions for my site come to life. I am happy with my content so far, but I am struggling with the design element. I have watched tutorial, after tutorial, after tutorial about WordPress and Elementor, but I still find myself wanting to throw my laptop across the room every time I try to make a change. I spent hours this week trying to figure out how to incorporate my “about” section onto a page, rather than having it up as a post within a category. I was finally able to get the site set up in a way that I liked, but I had to pick a new theme, which meant that I had to redo everything. After spending a good chunk of time creating pages on Elementor and playing around with the new theme, my site is getting close to what I originally envisioned. Below you can find my original design idea. 

In just a few weeks, I have gone from feeling incredibly overwhelmed by the idea of starting a website with zero previous experience, to feeling excited about and proud of the progress that I have made. I finally chose a theme for my site, which was actually quite difficult. I had a very clear image in my head of what I wanted the site to look like, but I struggled to find a theme that was close enough to this image. I tried five or six different themes and tested the layouts of each by creating test posts and menus, and finally found one that fit my criteria. Once I got the theme down, I spent some time on YouTube learning the more technical side of running a website. There are so many videos that walk you through WordPress and all of its features, but I found this video particularly helpful, especially the section about categories and menus. 

My goal for this week is to learn how to use Elementor to customize my site. I have installed the plug-in, but I need to dedicate some time to watching tutorials. I am going to start with this intro tutorial, and then I will dedicate an afternoon to watching this longer tutorial. 

Comparing where I am at with my website to my vision board has been pretty interesting. I made a Venn diagram as my vision board, and it was kind of all over the place. I tried to look back on the Venn diagram a few times, but it was quite difficult for me to take much inspiration from it because while the diagram is a representation of who I am as a whole, my site only represents one part of me. Rather than trying to expand the focus of the sight and forcing aspects of myself into posts that just don’t belong, I have been putting effort into being authentic in what I am sharing.