Whew. The Great Website & Newsletter migration is finally done. I had some big setbacks at the beginning of the month that made me devote my full time and attention onto this project, but the result is like a phoenix rising from the ashes: better than I could have dreamed. 🐦🔥
Long story short, I initially thought I’d just copy my old website’s and newsletter’s format, and I even hired someone to help me do it so I could focus on writing, but the results were transferring so poorly (and that was not the person’s fault) that I scratched that plan and decided to rebuild everything from scratch myself using Claude Design and Claude Cowork.
My stance on AI
For those of you who are new (and a reminder for those who’ve been here a while), I do NOT use AI to write any part of my creative fiction for me. I write creative fiction for the personal challenge, exploration, and fulfilment, and writing with AI would rob me of that. However, I do see business uses for it as long as (1) they are clearly disclosed, (2) I pay a human whenever possible, and (3) a human is always kept in the loop, especially to interact with humans. Hence my brand new AI policy page. If you want a deep dive (and I mean deep) on what tools I use for what task and why, check it out. I get very specific because I’d rather overexplain than leave you wondering.
Now was the time
I’ve been following the progress of AI tools for nonwriting applications for over a year now, and Claude (Anthropic) in particular has shown promise for the past few months. When I realized I was going to have to recreate my website from scratch, I knew it was time to try it.
And I am so glad I did.
It was WORK
Oh, so much work. I have been putting in fifteen hour days for nearly this entire month, guys. I did not use Claude as a shortcut, I did not allow it to make slop. I used it because, with the tools it gave me, I accomplished something I could never have done on my own. Something I could never have PAID a human to do for me. Something that went beyond my wildest dreams. Far from taking creativity away from me, Claude gave me creative power that I thought I would never have, opening a whole new set of skills.
And everything Claude created, I went over with a fine-toothed comb. (Seriously, a human web designer would have been SO freakin’ annoyed with me at how I nitpicked every little thing). It took hours of refining, reviewing, and debugging before I felt the result was truly polished and truly me. Now it’s something I would have created myself, had I had the years of training it would have taken.
I actually teared up at seeing the final result. It took me back to my teenage reading years when I’d pour over my favorite author websites, obsessively trying out every game or quiz, reading every blog post, and checking back frequently for updates, just to immerse myself in my favorite worlds once more. My old website was OK; it did the job when I couldn’t do anything else. But now I have something much closer to what I had as a teenager: a truly immersive experience.
I wrote the Blood of the Covenants for that girl. Now I made this website for her.
I think a piece of me healed because of it.
And…everything else followed
Because a website is the hub of a business, I couldn’t just update the website. I was having to move my newsletter anyway, so that meant a new newsletter template anyway, so I might as well make it match the new branding, and…you see where I’m going with this.
Basically, I had to rebuild almost everything relating to my author business over this past month. But everything is so much better for it.
Writing/release update
Unfortunately, putting out those fires and rebuilding from the ashes meant that I didn’t have time to write much at all this month.
I’m still around halfway (ish) through the second book of the new series. Now that I’m done with all the migration and rebuilding, though, I really hope I can hunker down and get the second book done by the end of July, as long as my health allows.
Bonus stuff
On the plus side, there’s so much new stuff to explore!
For instance, check out the revamped clan quiz!
Take the Seven Clans Personality Quiz →
Same questions, same scoring, but now with…
- a major glow-up,
- no third-party app (everything is completely native to my website),
- downloadable/printable/shareable clan cards,
- and 28 possible results.
(Because your clans can technically tie. Though I’ll warn you that the true ties are very rare. You’re much more likely to get one of the seven originals as your primary and a little line on the page that lists your close second.)
With all that, it’s worth a second pass now even if you’ve taken it before.
I’ve also tucked a growing collection of bonuses into a special Reader Library for my subscribers. Join my newsletter and you’ll get the key to all of it.
