I have owned this domain since I was a junior in college, when I decided that I wanted to be a freelance writer. I built a small business and wrote copy for other small businesses: a body piercing jewelry e-commerce website, a bra e-commerce website, and a fitness franchise were my most interesting clients.
(Pictured at left: A photo from my first professional headshot session)
I wanted to create a website so that I could promote myself. I didn’t have a lot of money so, using Craigslist, I found an aspiring web designer who agreed to build a website for $200. To make a long story short, I almost cried when he created a Flash-heavy site with two animated characters named “Comma” and “Period.” My younger brother still makes fun of me for this.
After the “Period” mess, I hired Groovy Web Design, a small web design company based in North Carolina. They designed a cute and very girly (neon pink and bright green) website that served me well. However, I began to neglect the blog in favor of coursework, and I rarely updated the content.
(Pictured at right: “Comma,” my alter ego)
When I returned to the site, in the summer of 2008, I accidentally deleted everything from my server. My designers could only recover some Photoshop files, and I was forced to start from scratch.
I have come a long way since the first version of Comma ‘n Sentence. Today, I officially launched a redesigned version of Too Shy to Stop, an online arts and culture magazine that I founded and currently edit/run. I am so proud of the new layout and have been wanting to upgrade it since September, when I started to recruit writers.
I placed an ad on professional Wordpress listserv and met Bill Erickson, a Wordpress consultant from Texas. I met him for lunch while he was passing through Washington, DC, and I was completely on board with his knowledge and enthusiasm. The site has been in production since November, when I flew to Houston to meet Always Creative, a small group of very talented web designers from Bryan, TX.
On New Year’s Eve, I hosted Too Shy Oh Nine, a party to celebrate the new design. The party took place at Stain Bar in Brooklyn, NY, and we had live music, free food, door prizes, and lots of fun!
(Pictured at left: Party hats and a preview of the new site)
The event was sponsored by some very generous businesses: Carmine’s Pizzeria, Countryside Cookies, FoodShouldTasteGood, Chrysalis Cookies, Buffalo Nickel Food Company, Blue Marble Ice Cream, Simply Neutral, Photowow, Coach Joe Palmer, SixFigureStart, Picada y Vino Wine Shop, Beth Dunn, New York Reality TV School, Bethany Somers, and Buddha Board.
If you want to see more photos from the party, check out this Flickr set by my good friend Shaun.
From now on, I am going to blog about my experiences as editor-in-chief and creative director of Too Shy to Stop. Every day, I learn something new from my writers and readers, and I want to share and document these moments. I have many ideas about the future of my online magazine, and I want to ask you for your feedback. I hope you will join me on this journey, beginning today, with a new website that I completely love.
