Identity crisis and clown cars

My blog has been going through an identity crisis for weeks now. If you're a regular reader (hi Mom!) you may have noticed the clown car of blog templates running through here faster than Lohan going through rehab. The busier I get, the more I want to fix what ain't broke. I can't tell if it's OCD or if I'm flexing that Gemini awesomeness (i.e. ADD) again.

Nevertheless, I'm going to stick with this one for a while, I love the orange and swirly bits on the Zombie Dating Guide website so I'll try to link the two together in readers' minds as suggested by Beth from Wisecrack Zodiac. That woman is clever.

When do you get the urge to change your blog design? What colors or style do you look for?


Updates on writing:
  • Zombie Christmas carols and a short story submitted for the upcoming The Undead That Saved Christmas anthology
  • Futzing around with a ghost-themed romance short story
  • Flirting with NaNoWriMo
  • I've added Undead Fred's Top Ten Zombie Dating Tips to BuzzFeed

14 comments:

  1. Love this template. I'm terrible at choosing one for mine.

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  2. Thanks! It's been a loooooong process just to settle on this today. Good thing I'm better at writing than design. ;)

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  3. I like what you've done with the place. It has the new blog smell. Seriously, the shabby chic ones didn't mesh with the underlying zombie theme. This has a hipper and funnier feel to it.

    Terri

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  4. (And reposted with corrected spellings)

    Did the Partridge Family and its bus explode in here? :) I'm a fan of every design you've chosen this year.

    I would recommed sticking with one for six months to a year. Choose a design that suits not only your brand, but what you do. For instance, my blog is used to showcase some writing samples, house my blog and serve as a billboard for me. As a rule, I prefer neutral tones to surround one branded item like a logo or banner.

    After six months to a year -- when you've had a chance to assess the statistics and garner informal and formal feedback, then change to suit new needs. I'm in that phase right now, deciding if I want to buy a WordPress template or spend a week modifying someone else's to suit my needs.

    However, I'm very tied to my current theme because it also offers me so much flexibility to display the content.

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  5. A year? Jason, I can't even settle on a hair color for more than a few weeks. Terri, I agree about the shabby templates - I liked them but they weren't fun enough and while I tried darker colors to gel with the zombies, meh, they didn't play well with my inner twelve-year-old. Go figure. ;)

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  6. I love it, Stacey! All of it. The colors, the header, the background, everything. Except... do you mean for the header image to only go 2/3 across the top? The mouseover goes all the way, so I'm thinking you mean to make it go all the way... Okay, I sorta looked at your source code, and in the header-inner div id, where you put the img link, you've got the width set to 679 instead of 860... (Sorry. I like doing this stuff, LOL.)

    I've been wanting "new clothes" for a while, but I can't really figure out what I want changed. I just know I'm not crazy about mine right now.

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  7. I like orange. Therefore, I like the look of your blog right now. But what is this "flirting" with NaNo? Flirting? I thought you were committed and I was flirting!

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  8. Natasha, I wish I could change it! It's part of the blogger template, I'll make a new banner tonight and adjust the settings (hopefully), you're a peach for the dimensions!

    Nancy, my ML put the thumbscrews on me today at lunch. I'll.be.back.

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  9. I think it's fun! One word of caution -- granola looks like granda because the kerning is a little tight. (I know you can't really control that though).

    I agree with Jason on keeping a look for at least six months. Otherwise people feel unsettled. I'm planning to flip out my pictures every couple months, but keep the header structure the same.

    I am, however, planning a major overhaul for Owen's blog.

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  10. I kind of dig "granda" but I see your point. Font re-do on the banner as well!

    I realized tonight that I had the wrong URL on my twitter link. Yay me.

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  11. Wheee! I am playing in the swirlies!

    It would be fun if you found a theme with chocolate pickles. :)

    And yes, I change mine now and then too.

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  12. Thanks for your help!

    Now to find chocolate pickles as post dividers...

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  13. i change my blog design whenever i'm feeling like i need a change but don't want to do anything drastic. i wish wordpress had a circus template, since you mentioned clown cars.

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