Blog Updates

I owe an apology to those of you who subscribe to this blog via email. For some reason, my mailing app decided to grab a bunch of (very old) random posts and spit them out all over you. I'm so embarrassed. Can I get you a napkin?

This oops may have been prompted by some changes I've been making. An unfortunate side-effect of doing construction is always the mess. Well that, and the fact that you never know what you'll find when you start to dig. Anyway, since the work is ongoing and I haven't figured out yet exactly why this happened, it could happen again. Consider this my advance apology for any further weirdness over the next few days.

Regarding the updates: It begins with those old posts, most of which I have been removing. I've found many of them are no longer relevant and don't really serve any purpose. Some were announcements regarding books I published over the years, or events that happened long ago, or references to articles and websites that aren't even there anymore. I'm trying to get all of those gone. I'm also removing the pages and articles regarding my projects. While it was fun documenting some of that stuff, and I hope it provided some entertainment value, it really doesn't serve any purpose. The truth is that the vast majority of readers don't care that I enjoy making wine, building canoes, and restoring classic cars. Those are details that have nothing to do with writing, and when it comes down to it, you aren't really fans of me. You're fans of Hank Mossberg, Valkyrie Smith, and Breeze Tinkerman. So in the future, I won't be delving too much into the personal stuff.

Also gone are my articles on cover creation. They're fun to read -I think they really do show some good examples of going from crap to okay to maybe even good- and it was interesting to revisit them and see just how bad some of my old covers were. But most Indies have figured out how this works, and if they haven't by now, they never will. The internet is full of articles, tutorials, and books that go into much greater detail and will prove far more useful than my little experiments. Besides, cover making is an ongoing discipline. What looks good today will be outdated in a few months or a few years. Fads come and go, technology improves, tastes change. So if you're like me and you're still trying to master this ever-changing craft, then I probably don't have much to teach you anyway.

Most of these changes are complete now. In the future, I'll try to stay more on top of the housecleaning. I'm also looking into a new design for this blog, but I haven't settled on anything yet. That's all the news for now. Have a great day!