Launching (lift-off) is near

My website www.CancerRD.com went live in early 1998, way back when I was one of only a handful of Registered Dietitians (RD) to have created a presence in the enormous world of 'cyberspace' with an individual website. My website went up before websites were available for the American Dietetic Association, American Cancer Society, American Institute for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, you get the idea. In fact, both my website as CancerRD and the now enormous and popular website WebMD went up virtually simultaneously, and I have always loved the 'coincidence' of the timing and the similarity of our names.

However, as time has marched on, I have not 'kept up'. I have two, no three, problems. My webmaster from the 90's 'left me' (yes, I was jilted!) several years ago, leaving me with a website 1) I could not manage myself and needed very expensive 'maintenance' because the coding was so old, 2) a website that looked old (so old that in fact I have now been called an 'accidental hipster' because apparently the 90's look is coming back - haha!),  and finally 3) ever since I started my dianadyer blog in 2007, added my kale blog and cancer victory garden blog in 2009, I feel like my brain is both jumping up and down and back and forth. I am unable to keep up with or track of myself!

When writing and publishing my book A Dietitian's Cancer Story in 1997 (yes, way back to the 90's again), way back when I had no idea what I was doing because I was an 'accidental author', I made the decision to trust the Universe that the help I needed with this book would come my way. Thus my job was two-fold: 1) to recognize that help and then 2) invite it in to my life. I have had lots of practice developing that skill.

I forget the exact straw that caused me enough (too much) frustration, leading me to finally put out 'the ask' a while ago, seeking help with a better sense of 'place' on the internet and a more settled place in my mind. A clear answer did not come overnight, but when I finally looked at and tried to understand all the responses I was receiving, I was able to see that all roads were leading to same person.

The process of bringing the various interests of my life (at least those I share on cyberspace) to one place, under one roof, to one home has been easier and more fun than I dreamed it could be. I'm told that we are almost ready to have an open house, that my new website is almost ready 'to launch' and that I need to start reviewing, reviewing, reviewing everything we have done to date.

In a nutshell, everything will be in one place, all three of my blogs, ALL of my recipes, all the relevant content from my CancerRD.com website, all easily found and navigated from one homepage at www.dianadyer.com. You will still be able to subscribe to each blog on an individual basis. Not interested in kale? No problem! Only interested in kale? No problem - that is the only blog you will receive!

Oh this makes me nervous but excited. I hope there are not too many glitches, I hope I love 'the look' and 'the feel' when it's official, that I love it as much as I have while creating it. However, guess what, Diana? Remember this new website is a home in which I can move the furniture around, I can repaint the walls (all wallpaper is gone, gone, gone - woohoo!), bring in cut flowers from the wilds of our property and put them in a special spot for a day or two and replace them with something else. I am being metaphorical here of course, but you get the idea. I can update at will or leave one room to be the 'comfy' room where updating is not needed.

Please do not expect me to finish all the reviewing to be ready to 'go live' tomorrow. I still have such a long list of 'farm things' to do, and of course, my patient dog Phoebe really wants me to be done with this thing I sit in front of (my computer, of course) at the dining room table while she gazes outside through the sliding glass doors at the pond and fields where she would rather be exploring.

However, it is close, close, close, and I want my readers to be ready and maybe a little bit excited, too.

PS - This new website creation is not 'the opportunity' I mentioned in my last post that needs a decision. I will bring you up to date on that when the time is right, and I can find the time to collect my thoughts. :)

PPS - Also in that previous post, I added in some photos and text about my own white-crowned sparrows to complement what I wrote about Julie Zickefoose's white-crowned sparrows in her book Letters from Eden.

Cultivate your life - you are what you grow - inch by inch, row by row,

Diana Dyer, MS, RD