Turns Out, Change Intimidates Me

But I went for it, anyway.

Jun 21, 2025

I have an exciting announcement, about a lot of changes coming to my personal website, www.charitysplace.com. If you click through, you will find new in-depth analysis on The Spanish Princess (highlighting the inaccuracies), insights and thoughts on all of my books, and a growing collection of essays on historical events.

It was hard for me to decide no longer to review costume dramas in the same way, but it feels like the right decision. So, let’s talk about it!

I remember the first time I uploaded a site onto the internet, in 1998. I didn’t know how to import pictures, so I copied and pasted them where I wanted them on Front Page, resulting in duplicated images and gigantic files! Those were the days of dial-up. (Yes, I have been here that long.) At first, it was a slapdash collection of whatever held my fancy, but over time, I started writing movie reviews. Thousands of them. I had collaborators sending me more, recruited from online communities that no longer exist. Over the years, I streamlined more, focused on period dramas, devoted sections to my books, and outsourced my other writing to blogs.

A month ago, my html maker gave me trouble, and that led me to discover I would have to manually move my site to a WordPress format. I had always wanted one, because it’s so much better than HTML. At first, I felt excited about all the potential, the tagging system, the search engine, etc., and dove into it, editing and shifting 200 reviews in a mad frenzy of activity one weekend… and my excitement tanked as I realized I had 1,800 more to go and was looking at four to six months before I could share it with the world. Doubts set in. Were my reviews still relevant or necessary? Now that thousands of YouTubers are doing video reviews, hundreds more are sharing them all over the net?

I paused to reflect.

A year ago, I helped a friend move and as we went through her stuff and she packed too much into her boxes, I kept thinking, “A move is a fresh start. You could let this stuff go and make space in your life.”

Yes, the Lord nudged me, you could.

It meant letting my past go, to make space for who I am now and what may interest me going forward.

Then came a process of doubt and grief. I wrestled with insecurity—what would you, my reader, think of me deleting two thousand reviews? Would you still like me? Do you care? What would I replace them with? How much content would I need to launch? And do I have to write it all from scratch?

Beyond that lay a deeper sadness, whose fragrance clings to me like a lost whiff of perfume. My former site and all my reviews represented 28 years of my life. Over two decades of friendship. Of learning, of coding, of watching the internet change and trying to adapt to keep up with it. Memories of people now dead or whom I haven’t spoken to in a decade. The portfolio of a young, ambitious writer who didn’t yet know proper punctuation, but who now combs through her novels on a ruthless quest to eliminate clutter words.

It surprised me how much I grieved over the death of this former self, and it made me realize as much as I think I like change on a superficial level, it is painful and scary to let go of the past. I want to cling to it, fearful that what I replace it with won’t be as good. But you can’t find what is new and exciting if you hold onto something old that no longer gives you the fulfillment it once did. And that is okay. It’s part of life. I opened my hand and let the grains of my past flow through them, scattered to the wind. That site represented who I was; this one represents who I am.

This morning, I woke up and my domain had done what I told them to, and made my new site live. I am excited to share it with you. The past is gone, the future has arrived. It’s going to be a little messy for a while, as I figure out what new direction I want to go in, but hopefully you will stick around so we can learn together.

Please go check it out. I LOVE how the new format looks, how readers can change to a white or black reading experience, and how the improved search engine and tagging system works. I will be adding new stuff in the next few weeks, and letting you know about it here on Substack. ❤︎

CONCLUSION

Thanks for staying a part of my mailing list!

Have a wonderful summer, and I’ll see you next month!

- Charity

Charity Bishop: Author & Amateur Historian

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Charity Bishop: Author & Amateur Historian

Turns Out, Change Intimidates Me

But I went for it, anyway.

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