andreasviklund.com

During the last two weeks, I have felt much better than I have in a long time. I've been able to do much more, to be more creative and actually get things done. All in a way that has reminded me about how I used to work years ago. I have felt that the energy has slowly started to return, and it has been a great feeling.

Today, I called my doctor to get an update on the latest blood tests that was made last week. Even before I explained why I called, he could tell that I should probably feel better than in a long time. The tests revealed that the anemia treatment has been very effective: The blood is completely restored to a perfectly healthy level. I still don't know what was causing it from the start, so I need to continue the treatment for yet a while to keep the levels up. But some clues have been found and I've been told that I should not worry too much about it.

In other words, the boosts of inspiration and the ability to spend all night long working on some crazy idea that I got from nowhere, was not a co-incidence. I have been slow, tired and lazy for years, all for a reason. Having found the error and a way to restore it, I should be able to do a lot of exciting things that I've avoided for a long time. Perhaps it is time to bring back the music again?

Local newspaper Norrbottens-Kuriren has an article about my work today, following up the current interest for website templates and for my ideas about making a living from giving away things for free.

The article is written in Swedish, but I recommend everyone to take a look at it anyway since there is a pretty photo of me, Johanna and little Elven in it! Johanna has done a lot of invisible work by helping and supporting me in many ways since we first met more than seven years ago. She is an amazing person and naturally a big part of everything I do, and the fact that she is getting into template design as well makes our project a lot more fun to work with. I am a lucky man…

Edit: The other local newspaper (NSD) runs a similar story today. It is a bit longer and more detailed, and since the interview was made more than a week before the NK interview I still have hair on my head. Summaries in English will be posted here in a day or two.

NK: "Snällhet lönar sig"
NSD: Webbdesign från lilla Jokkmokk

She turns 23 years old today, so today will be a day of birthday celebrations and of course… Cake for friends and family who comes by!

Here is a recent photo of her with all our Papillon dogs: Elven, River and Theo:

Sorry once again for the lack of updates during the last two months. This website is not managed very well right now, so I need to write a short status report to give you an idea of why…

I have been feeling bad for a longer time, usually very tired and lacking all motivation and inspiration. Returning readers of this blog should know that by know, mostly from the lack of updates and broken promises for new releases. Last Thursday I went to the doctor to see if I needed any medicine for an annoying 3-week long cold that made me even more tired, but the standard blood test discovered something else. I suffer from Anemia, and have probably done so for a long time. The test values were not good so I was immediately sent to a hospital where I have stayed a few days while doctors have tried to find the reason for the disease. It will probably take a few more days before they know for sure, and before any kind of treatment can be applied.

I am OK, still walking and in a good mood. But there is no energy, I get tired whatever I try to do. I have accepted that it has been laziness, that I have simply been an extremely lazy and slow person who has had problems with finishing whatever I take on. But it may be a ghost in the machine, something that may be possible to treat to give me my energy and inspiration back. I'm hoping for the best now, and I will do my best to make a nice comeback once I know more about what has been wrong. Thanks for your patience, and for still finding the templates useful. That means a lot, and it is a great reason to get well and start doing good things again…

Like many others, I have have signed up on Facebook some time ago and discovered that it is a great place to keep in touch with friends and colleagues. My Facebook profile is completely public, all Facebook members can see everything that I have posted. At the moment, you will find some photos that are not available on this site, including a public Lagoona photo album and a few pictures from my personal collection.

But Facebook is not in any way supposed to take away any focus from my own website or from my work. I'm hoping to use it as a communication platform rather than as anything else. I do not want Facebook to end up being all about work, but at the same time I am of course open for all ideas and suggestions that others may have. The first suggestion I got was really good: In order to keep my work separated from my personal life, I was asked to set up a Facebook group called "Andreas' website templates" and direct template users and designer colleagues there. And so I did!

I don't know if anyone will actually want to join it, but if you happen to be a Facebook member and want to discuss the designs, exchange ideas, get comments on your site, get help or ask me about anything, then you are very welcome to join the group! As always, I can not help everyone who may need help. I will still spend more time on answering e-mails than hanging out on Facebook. But if the group gets a number of members, perhaps designers could help each other as well…

I'll give this some time to see how it works, and I will write more about the response and how it all turns out in a few weeks or so.

Tjuvlyssnat is there too!

Tjuvlyssnat.se is also launching a Facebook group of its own. The group was created earlier today, but it has already got more than 750 members - including the entire site crew (Damon, Jennie, Marie, Petter and me).

And finally…

With that said, I have a request. I really appreciate all the friend requests that have been sent to me from template users all over the world during the last couple of days. But unless we actually know each other since before, please join the group rather than adding me as a friend. Or at least write a message and let me know who you are… Thanks!