I have a website

a little-known fact?

My description of myself on the banner of this blog includes the words "aspiring writer." I guess I should have said, "aspiring published writer," because the truth is, I am a writer.

I even get paid for writing. It's a big part of my radio station job. So, I haven't written the great American novel yet...or any novel, for that matter. I'm constantly writing, and I've always wanted a platform for it.

I guess that's why, when my very web- and cyber-savvy friend Don Elbourne suggested I have a website, several years ago, and offered to help me, I jumped at the chance.

There were a couple of problems, though. 1) I didn't know anything about putting together a website, and 2) I didn't have any extra money.

So Don found a free hosting site, kindly put together a lovely template for me, and graciously gave me some basic HTML lessons (via e-mail. Don lives in New Orleans; I live in Illinois.)

I was hugely excited about having my own website, although everything I added to the site was done laboriously because I had to manually change everything I wrote to HTML.

This was 2002, and the concept of blogging hadn't really entered my consciousness. I remember Don actually suggested it. "You know, there are these things called weblogs--blogs. You can just type in your entries, as easy as posting on an internet forum."

But a blog seemed somehow less official. And why would I want an online "diary"? I wanted a REAL website.

Well, the website is still there, and will probably remain there as long as crossspot.net allows it to be there. I still occasionally add a book review to the reading section there, and there's a lengthy bio, and a couple of stabs I've made at short-story writing, and a few other things.
I would love for you to check it out; it gets very few visitors now, because I now concentrate on my blog.

You see, once I discovered blogging, I took to it like a duck to water. I found it could be much more than a diary or a journal of the mundane things that happen in my life (although there's certainly plenty of that in my blog as well.)

But the thing I really love about my blog is that it's my own little platform, easily updated and managed, from which I can give my opinions on things, let people know about wonderful books, add another dimension to the things I talk about on the radio, and just give vent to my creative side. I really, really enjoy it.

However, I do have a website. If you have a moment, I'd love for you to visit it.

Do you have a website, separate from your blog? What purpose does it serve for you? Please leave a comment.