Subscribe To This Site
|
Dalene's Ramblings 
Rebooting I have a friend who is the IT guy for a large bank. I call on him sometimes when I’m having a computer problem. He always tells me the same thing. Turn off the computer and reboot. Well, first he sighs, because he always tells me the same thing, then he says if there is a problem always try turning off the computer and rebooting. Nine times out of ten this works, therefore the sighing. I like that about him, he gets right to the point, doesn’t mince words and always makes me feel like I knew the answer to the question before I called him, I was just looking for confirmation.I thought of this advice when, after two years, we realized we weren’t having any fun at our magazine. The initial surge of excitement and anticipation we’d felt when we began had turned into drudgery and frustration. As much as we love the magazine, the process of putting it out each month had turned in a rote mission. We were doing the same thing over and over again. We weren’t getting what we’d hoped out of the magazine. It had become vanilla and bland to us. Now, don’t get me wrong, we had hundreds of fans who checked in with us every month to see what we were up to and some even took the time to write us to let us know what WEENC meant to them. It was gratifying and humbling at the same time. But we wanted more. We wanted more readers, more laughs, more information, more excitement and, frankly, more fulfillment from what we were doing. That, and we’d both come up against some personal challenges that were simply kicking our butts and forcing us to put the magazine on the back burner. It was almost like the universe said, “So, you little ladies think you want to help others embrace their challenges? Here are some challenges for you to embrace.” So we just stopped. We stopped writing, we stopped publishing, we stopped Tweeting, we just stopped everything. We shut off the computer. The thing we didn’t stop doing was analyzing what we wanted. We talked endlessly about what we thought the magazine was going to do for us and what we’d hoped to put out there into the world. But then we became exhausted. The idea of starting from scratch, starting over, was simply mind numbing. We began spending our Saturday morning “staff meetings” discussing everything from family to work, anything but the magazine. Then someone said something really profound to us. They said, “You know how when a woman really wants to have a baby and she tries and tries and it just isn’t happening for her, it’s almost like she’s trying too hard? Then when she quits trying somehow she gets pregnant. Maybe you’re just trying too hard.” We were trying too hard!! We were trying to be all things to all people. We wanted to appeal to the masses and along the way had lost our own appeal. People who know us best know we are outrageous, opinionated, funny, bossy, warm, loving, sassy, crazy, smart, insecure, eccentric, warty, optimistic and jaded. When was the last time you read anything outrageous, opinionated, warty, etc., etc. in WEENC? Me either!! My personal hero is Ali Brown. That gal knows how to get things done. She tells her clients to always put a piece of yourself out there. People want to know who they are dealing with. She also says it doesn’t have to be perfect, just get it out there. It has taken us months to reboot. You were probably wondering just where we were. But reboot we have. What it comes down to is this; we’ve had challenges in our life. They haven’t always been pretty nor have they been easy but that’s what makes it a challenge. We have something to offer and we’ve never shied away from offering our opinion or our advice. So hang on, this is WEENC. Rebooted, funny, opinionated, sassy, crazy - warts and all. Want to print this out? Click here. Something new for 2012 - WEENC now have an Editor's Archives Page. If you miss any of our ramblings, you can simply head over to the Editor's Archive Page and get caught up. Thanks for your continuing support of our magazine. We'd appreciate it if you'd check out our advertisers as well. Follow WEENC's FanPage on Facebook WEENC Newsletter Sign up for the FREE WEENC Newsletter. Your e-mail address is safe and you can unsubscribe at any time. |
