Never too old to Learn

This beautiful watercolor created by Rachel DeMasi
for this site is the backdrop for my new website.

I am someone who loves to learn. I think I've always had this trait, although there have definitely been times in my life where it has gone dormant. I think our professions can sometimes feed this desire -- or squelch it -- and my current professional endeavors have definitely fed it.

I'm always interested in learning new information to share with my students. While initially this was a sort of trial by fire, it's now become something I seek out. At any given time, my reading list includes a few non-fiction selections that pertain to psychology -- or writing.

And sometimes, if I listen, my students teach me, too. Sometimes, it's through questions they ask -- the ones I can't answer off the top of my head -- and sometimes, it's inadvertent.

In my summer class, for example, one of my students asked if she could submit an ongoing assignment as a website. I wasn't sure how it would work but her novel idea fit the parameters of the assignment, so I told her to do it on a trial basis for the first week and we'd take it from there.

It was gorgeous. Not only did I allow her to continue the assignment but I also spent several nights on that website builder, creating a website of my own.

Longtime readers may remember that, once upon a time, I had a website separate from my blog. It was, at that time, expensive to maintain for a writer just starting out and I lacked the tech skills to update it when I wanted to. I also had trouble coming up with a vision for what I wanted it to look like and how I wanted it to function so, needless to say, I struggled to describe my vision to the person who was designing it for me. Since then, I've gained some practice promoting my books and playing with graphics and visuals and, while I'm not a whole lot better at envisioning what I want, I've learned how to play with different elements to create a satisfying end product.

Kranich17 via Pixabay

And that's just what I did. So, I'd like to introduce you to my new website, located at lisalawmasterhess.com. I hope you'll check it out because I'm sure I'll keep finding new things I want to do with it and on it, in between Duolingo, the graphic design course I'm taking, the house projects I want to tackle and the pile of books and writing projects I've been collecting for "after my summer class is over."

I can hardly wait to dig in. :-).