Last month sometime I decided to make a change to my web presence. It’s taking time, but slowly taking shape. It’s all part of a gradual shift in my life in general, which is like this.

Last year I took on a new position at the university, which I’ve written about below. Now put this in context. For the past ten years I have been very happy in my job, teaching and researching and writing, and for service building a theatre festival. But a number of things have come to a head.

1. Shakespeare in Paradise has grown as much as it’s going to unless there’s a fundamental change in its administration. It needs full-time attention. At the same time, it can’t pay for full-time attention. So I have to fix my life and its existence so it can begin to pay for full-time attention. That will take a while, but has to be done.

2. Ringplay Productions have also grown — we’ve established the theatre season (piloted it this year, and realized that it could be done so …) and also needs full-time attention. Time to make the theatre a business rather than a service. Again, lives have to be fixed, etc.

3. I turned 56 this year. In four years, I’ll be entering the retirement decade. It’s never too late to make a change.

4. And finally, I want to write full time. Plays, poems, novels, books. Or to put it another way: I want to give my writing my first and best attention, rather than the other way round. And so I’m exploring the professionalizing of my web presence.

There you have it. First things first: I’ve moved my online presence to this single location. nicobethel.squarespace.com is the permanent address, but the other addresses that belong to me—nicobethel.net, nicobethel.com—will also bring you here. I am not totally sure what will grow here, but the seeds are being planted.