I had my first WordPress Website anniversary the other week. I barely noticed and didn’t celebrate with a post the way most people do.
As happy as I am that I still have my website a year on, I can’t say it’s been easy.

I wish I had more content, more blogs full of the interesting stuff me and Sean have done, more cartoons and illustrations. I mean, they’re in my bag I just haven’t uploaded them because a lot of quality is lost. You really need access to a scanner and unfortunately I don’t have one in my backpack. I’m working on that.

I could have filled in the empty corners of my site. The “Countries Visited” section has been empty for about a year since I made it. It may be the case that I delete it or replace it soon.

The breaks I’ve taken off this year haven’t done me any favours. Regardless of time off (mainly my 3 month recent trip in Europe), not having a computer is probably the main reason for not progressing with anything. The list of what I wanted to achieve this year is quite extensive. It’s October now and I’ve not done an awful lot. 

Blogging on a phone is hard. Setting a blog up on a phone is even worse. 

I set up erinreki.com whilst on holiday/workacation in Bali. 

Everywhere we had wifi and I had plenty of time to scream and curse when technology didn’t do as it was told.

I set up a lot of pages on my phone.

I took and uploaded photographs on my phone. 

I designed it using paper, writing out what content I wanted, all the little bits and bobs on scraps of paper and anything that couldn’t be done on a phone I borrowed Sean’s netbook (aka piece of sh*tbook).

Design wise, if you know the difference between wordpress.org and .com, (I’m a .com at the moment) there are things that can’t be done using a phone. Layouts had to be changed on something that vaguely resembles a computer.
First of all, the netbook Sean’s. Sean’s phone is not as good as mine so anytime he needs to use the internet or access documents he needs the netbook. This gives me limited time and use.

Plus Sean and I both use the netbook as our TV. We don’t watch terrestrial TV (daytime TV both bores us to death), we tend to watch films and series. Usually the same ones on repeat, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, The Wire, Adventure Time, Modern Family, 2 Broke Girls, survival shows, and anything Pixar and apocalyptic.

I don’t really watch them. I listen to them whilst I work. Many people listen to music, I like to listen to the audio of TV. I can quote many movies word for word and if this ever becomes a useful and employable skill someone let me know please. Please.

Why don’t I have a computer?

Around 2 years ago when we left the UK I had the not so ingenious idea of not taking my laptop. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I had no intention of blogging and hadn’t even thought of building a website.

We started our first leg of our journey with a three week trek in Nepal. Not the best place to be bringing a heavy old laptop. And Sean’s netbook was good enough for what we needed it for. I sold mine before we left along with a load of other stuff and I haven’t had one since. 

I’m saving up for one but in the last year of not having a computer this is what I’ve learnt.

You need good apps.

1) A platform app. 

This could be blogger, tumblr, wordpress whatever you decide suits you. Download the app have a play with a mock site if you like and see which one you prefer. I had a blogspot at one point but forgot about it as it bored me a little. Now I prefer wordpress as I find it more engaging.

2) Writing apps.

I’m lazy and tend to just write straight onto wordpress however I’ve lost a lot of work this way and it doesn’t do any spellchecking for me. 

Get yourself the Word docs and do it properly.

I’ve gone one extra on the laziness and am currently trying to find an app that will convert my text to speech so I don’t have to type anything at all.

It’s just a matter of downloading them, testing them out and uninstalling the ones you don’t like. For example all the ones with unacceptable excessive adverts.

3) Photography apps.

There are an abundance of photo editing apps available. I like Snapseed. It’s got nice sliders on it. It’s not overly technical but it does the job.

Other people use and recommend VSCO and Pixlr. Again I think it depends on what works for you. 

For taking photos I love Candycam, it’s filters are just loads of fun!

For videos I love Boomerang! Short, fun repetive clips are the future of photography!

I also have started included gifs using Giphy!

For storing photos and video I use Google Photos. Because 64gb was apparently not enough space on my phone. I filled that in a few months.

In the future…

I’ll start using Buffer and Google Analytics. 

Buffer automates the posting process for you. Unfortunately I don’t have enough content to warrant using this app at the moment. 

Google analytics gives you insights into your readers habits. I’ll use that when I get more readers.  If that ever happens.

Also I should use the dictionary and thesaurus I have.

A Note about Typing…

Physically typing up notes and blog posts, or any text really, is done using a combination of texting on my phone, sometimes with my fingers, other times with my stylus, and with a bluetooth keyboard (until my “niece” broke that). I would strongly recommend buying a bluetoothkeyboard. Even a cheap one from amazon is better than the nonsense your phone will come up with. 

P.s Apologies for any weird autocorrects in any of my Bogotas.

P.p.s 

I may limit the blog posts to once every two weeks from now on. Even when I get my new computer I want to spend more time drawing rather than spellcheckinh.