By Shelley Routledge · September 2026

After a busy, rather hot summer, autumn has arrived here in Calvados, and I’ve given myself all kinds of goals for the new season.

First on the list: sort out my website.

I also made the brave decision to do it myself.

“Brave” was the word I started with. Other words became available.

A little refresh, I thought. A few words here, a photograph there. The digital equivalent of tidying a drawer.

Naturally, I ended up rebuilding the whole thing.

There were disappearing menus, stubborn fonts, buttons that appeared to have no intention of taking anyone anywhere, and several moments when I wondered why I hadn’t chosen a more straightforward autumn goal. Learning the cello, perhaps.

But somewhere between editing manuscripts and getting on with life, I’d allowed my website to become a rather dated introduction to my work. My experience had grown, my services had become more focused, and the way I work with authors had evolved. The website hadn’t quite received the memo.

An ageing website can undersell years of experience. Looking at mine, I realised it no longer gave people a clear enough sense of what I do, how I work or what I could help them achieve.

As an editor, I spend my days helping writers recognise what needs developing, what deserves more space and what can go. Eventually, I had to apply some of that judgement to my own pages.

The Book Editorial Expert now has a refreshed website, clearer information about my editorial services and a Writing Advice section that I’m looking forward to adding to.

It took patience, help and considerably more tea than anticipated. But I’m proud that I tackled it myself. There is something rather satisfying about learning to do a thing you had firmly placed in the “someone else’s job” category.

Meanwhile, this apple tree has been quietly getting on with its work without once asking me to clear my cache.

What have you been meaning to tackle this autumn?

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