Blogging woes

Way back in 2006, my daughter-in-law Melanie looked at me and announced, “You should start a blog.” Blogs were pretty new back then, and I had never even thought about it. “I don’t have anything to say,” I protested. “Sure you do,” she said. “You can talk about grandmothering and cooking and writing. Call it Judy’s Stew, because it will be a mix of all those things.” And that’s how Judy’s Stew began.

I should add that Melanie, who works in the health care insurance industry, is a talented writer herself. She started a blog some time later, called The Raggedy Edge, if I remember, and the post she wrote when my oldest granddaughter turned into a teen—a loveable teen, if you can imagine—blew me away. I hope I have it saved someplace.

Ever since Mel’s suggestion, I have written on my blog more nights than not. It’s been a joy for me—let me keep sharpening my writing skills, kept me alert to things around me that I wanted to talk about, made me lots of new friends.

Somewhere along the way I added a food blog once a week, Potluck with Judy, and solicited recipes from others. It worked and it didn’t, was a hassle, and I let it drop. When I published the cookbook, Gourmet on a Hot Plate, after my move to a 600-square foot cottage where zoning laws forbid a stove (can’t have two kitchens on one property), I started a new blog, picking up where the cookbook left off. That too has been a joy, forcing me to think creatively about cooking and to try new recipes and techniques.

Now it’s all threatened, and I’m bummed. I’ve always posted my blogs through Blogger.com (Wordpress seemed too complicated). Blogger has done the unforgiveable and “upgraded.” It’s called fixing what ain’t broke. I cannot figure out the new system—my attempts have led to disaster. The other day I posted a picture smack dab in the middle of the carefully-designed header to the blog and couldn’t get it out. Last night’s, Gourmet post suddenly had a sidebar of gigantic pictures of my Tomball family when they were here last weekend.

I sent an SOS to the computer guru who designs my web page. She fixed the first problem, but today, due to Isaias, she has no power, promises to fix delete those pictures as soon as the power comes on and to maybe figure a way to lead me through the new Blogger. They are threatening to take down the old version—they call it the legacy version—August 24, but I don’t really want to write a farewell blog on August 23.

I’m not alone in this unhappiness. There have been lots of complaints on the Guppies listserv (Going to be Published—a sub-group of Sisters in Crime) and on Facebook. I’m going to lodge a complaint, although I’ve queried for help twice and heard nothing.

And my fingers are crossed for what this one looks like tonight. Life does not have to be complicated by “upgrades” which make things worse.