My first ever “website” was an angsty Xanga account called “La Vie En Rose,” which I began approximately 20 years ago. That blows my mind – 20 years! Thus began my first experience with publishing my words and thoughts on the Internet and having an online “presence” (this was pre-social media). I just discovered that a Xanga 2.0 is in the works, which tracks with the millennial need to revive crazes of the past. I now wonder if I could request access to my old account. And if I did, would I even recognize the voice behind my olds posts, which I wrote in between classes in a dusty computer lab back when computers were still clunky, slow, and heavy.

Since then, I’ve had various blogs and websites, each with a different scope, tone, and purpose. My long PhD journey combined with the painfully slow publishing industry has resulted in me not doing a great job of keeping up with my sites. I hope to turn over a new leaf here. I made the decision to build a website through the same company that hosts my URL. In doing so, it’s all linked to Go Daddy. This is significantly less complicated and more centralized than previous ventures. And, we’ve all heard that good habits are often built from establishing more doable, straightforward methods.

For many years now, I’ve had my eye on christiecollins.com. Whoever owns it – an actress I believe – hasn’t used it in a long time. Maybe some day, it will free up. I got the idea for bychristiecollins.com from the writer/illustrator Mari Andrews who uses bymariandrew.com and @bymariandrew (side note: I wholeheartedly recommend her warm, emotionally accurate work). This seemed a clean and accurate choice for me, as well. The content here (as well as on my Instagram and Twitter) is “by” me after all. 

Consider this post the breaking of the champagne bottle against the bow of this new vessel of online communication, marketing, and story/idea sharing. Cheers!