Evolution

"WHOA!" I hear you say. "What in the heck has just happened to your web site? I was just here "x" days ago and it was nothing like this!"

Yeah, very true. The look and feel of www.LauraRSilverman has changed. A great deal. "And why?" you ask. "I was just fine with it the way it was.

Well, it's kind of a long story, but here goes.

2007 has been a year of great changes for me Both for good and also some disturbing. It's been a year of incredible growth and learning opportunities. And new challenges as far as my health goes.

I originally concieved of this web site mainly in response to a traumatic event at Slimmons when I passed out during class and was kidnapped by Paramedics. Although I had kept updated medical files there, the staff - in their panic - gave the medical help old and way outdated information sheets, not realizing that not all the copies were the same. I spent almost the entire visit at the Emergency Room trying to convince the nurses and doctors that they were working with such old information that it was worse than useless... it was dangerous. For they were assuming that I was taking "X" medicines when I was now taking "Y." And the kinds of meds that I often take are often dangerous and have severe interactions with other ones. I realized after that visit that I needed a vehicle by which all I had to do was provide anyone who might witness a situation where I can't speak for myself (more frequent than I like to admit) current medical information without having to ever second guess what they had on hand. And so I got my web site. Those that potentially need my medical information know how to get to it. And no longer does anyone have to deal with multiples of paper.

In the meantime, I'm also somewhat of a writer. I've even been published a few times and may someday take the pen back up again although I'm afraid to send off query letters for fear of acceptance and -because of health issues- not being able to deliver on a deadline. I don't need a reputation of not being as good as my word. But I still have a need to express myself via the written word. Blogging was a natural course for me to follow. And so my web site became mainly an outlet for my thoughts.

Last March, I attended a fiber conference that may have changed the course of my life. I discovered a latent talent for beading and making jewelry. And much to my surprise, I also found out that people would pay for my work! And so I developed a small business in it. And decided that my web site was a good location to post my work too.

And of course, my weight loss pictures and story. I suppose, based on the amount of e-mail I get from others, I am providing some degree of comfort and hope to others who are traveling down the same road that I did. And so my web site also became a vehicle for posting pictures and motivation.

So many purposes for one little site! But a couple of things became abundantly clear as I learned about writing html code and maintaining the site. First, my audience who check my blog has grown at a rather startling rate, but it's still limited because I was not in a traditional blogging site. By that lack of connection, I have been unable to join "feeds" and increase my audience because of exposure. I long to have an impact on a bigger scale. And so I joined blogspot. I'm learning the ropes now, and hope to expose myself on a bigger scale shortly. Another writer I know has said "If you write it, they will come." We'll see about that.

I also realized that my web site had a look of 'fun and games' and was not an appropriate location to send potential clients to preview my work. Jewelry is fashion; jewelry is art. And what I had was a very servicable site, but nothing to impress. It was time to go "pretty."

If you've come here through my site, you probably noticed that it's no where near completion. Some of the pictures duplicate, many of the links are not operational yet. All that will be corrected in due time. My first priority is to re-establish access to everything that was there before. My favorite links, Fab Four pictures, weight loss story. Then I will get other items of business established. My Etsy Store where you can actually buy my work. Clips and credits from the media. And updated show of my jewelry and other items that I have learned to make.

And there are some lovely advantages to how I envision things going. First on my blog... you will be able to comment back to me on my blog. I have lived for your e-mails, but they have mostly been one-on-one responses. Now you can publish on the internet too! You will be able to see what I am working on via my artisan links and connect directly into vehicles to buy it if you like it and think that the price is right.

Because the web page is more efficient, I hope to be able to update the links on a more regular basis and keep you more in sync with what's happening. And along with the updates, I will decrease the size of the memory required to run the site and you'll be able to pull up the information more quickly and more efficiently.

I realize that I am rambling on here and I have an appointment to keep in about an hour. So I'm going to wish you adieu for the moment. I do hope that you enjoy what I am developing and will continue visiting as often as you have.

Thank you so much for your show of support!

Laura