If you’d prefer not to read the ‘About’ page at this time and want to skip to ALL posts Click me, alternatively if you would like to go to the navigation section to get a better understanding of the headings then Click me and I’ll drop you down there.
Please feel free to leave a comment 
Why did I choose Beyond the Masquerade’ as the blog name?
My masquerade is trying to please others whilst showing a false persona; this blog is where I give you the true me! Well, almost the true me 
Why did I start blogging?
I first joined WordPress to vent about the stress I was trying to cope with while going through a diagnosis of our son. My first blog I called ‘Figments Island’ and I named as such due to my love of Disney, childhood memories of the purple dragon from Epcot and his imagination. The island represented a remote location to hide my thoughts and gain new strength.
I enjoyed the peace that blogging created within me and loved reading others posts on photography so decided to add another blog of my own called ‘Seasons Beauty’ where I shared our photography linked to the seasons of the year. I later decided to create another blog ‘The Mind of Maze’ which was my place to write about me, my thoughts, life in general but over time found I didn’t like jumping between the three so in September 2012 decided to amalgamate the three into one – ‘Beyond the Masquerade’
Navigation
Not everyone wants to read about Autism, look at photography, read about my thoughts, or even my attempts at creative writing. Some will follow or visit just for one area of interest and others maybe more. However, to make it easier to find what you’re looking for, as you can see on the menu above, just below the heading, I’ve broken it down into areas and by categories:
- About Me: If you hover over the ‘ABOUT‘ on the header menu you will see a drop-down which will show the option to select the ‘About Me’ page.
- Photography: This details a little about ‘Seasons Beauty’ and if you hover your mouse over those words you will see further sections within the menu that drop down. You have the option to look at all ‘My Photos‘ or you can select one of the sub-categories such as ‘Postaweek2012′, ‘Black & White’, ‘London‘ or Portugal‘ etc. Also, under the ‘When are the Seasons?’ menu (found within the ‘PHOTOGRAPHY’ drop down) I’ve added the seasons by category which show photos during the season they were taken.
- Creative Writing: I started this after attempting to join in with the DP Challenge which on that occasion happened to be about doing something different on your blog. There is a ‘DPChallenge’ and ‘Poetry’ drop down for this section.
- Design: This is the place where I add things I’ve created, such as Puzzle Mazes for our son. Like the other headings you can use the drop down on the menu to access the different categories.
- Living with Special Needs: This is my area to vent and post about Autism and any extra bits that tag along and mix in the bag. The main posts can be found under the ‘Autism Plus+‘ part of the menu but I’ve added a few additional pages you might like to read and some sub categories that you can get to via the drop down within the ‘Autism Plus+’ header menu.
- All Other Categories: These are posts on what I think; similar to the above, if you hover over ‘‘ALL OTHER CATEGORIES’ on the header menu, it will give you the option to select other categories such as my ‘Dreams’, ‘Memories’ or ‘Food & Drink‘ etc.
I hope you enjoy my blog and that the menu isn’t confusing
Please feel free to drop me a comment on the layout or thoughts on my posts – criticism, approval… all welcome.
1) Yes, downsize your pix (you have some good ones). It does slow loading time, and should anyone choose to nick them, bigger pix are easier to steal. Most of mine are around 800, could probably make them smaller. I only do 1000 when I want to do a specific header pic for the post ie featured image. If you look at today’s post, it is a wallpaper pic of a feature wall that we did.
2) Don’t have too much clart on the sidebar for the same reason. The only reason I keep archives on mine is that I find it personally useful. Otherwise I use pages.
3) Thanks for your comments on my style. ha! Suits some and not others.
4) Replies, to either my DP comment or anywhere else. You write what you choose. Simple as that. You don’t need to respond to every point at all. That’s the good thing about blogging.
5) Conversation? I avoid it. But I do write a lot
You don’t need to be knowledgeable about something to comment. Most people who write on my Gib/Spain blog know little about the countries. They comment on what I write. That’s all. No more is needed. Or they give their point of view which is perfectly valid.
Hope that helps. Give me a shout if you have any more queries, and thanks for taking the time for such a considered response over on DP, which I avoid most of the time, but I thought your comment was an interesting one.
Thanks for the tips – I’ll look into downsizing and reducing some of the gumpth on the pages
(I was going to put gumph but apparently thats the wrong spelling!)
Doesn’t matter how you spell it, I didn’t understand!
If you have a friendly blogger ask them to check out loading times.
Thankyou for referring to my Blog in your recent Post. It was much appreciated. I shall now have a wander round your Blog and try and get to know it better
Thanks for stopping by