WTF?

So, I did something rash.

Back in 2012 I shut Bookninja down to concentrate on my personal life and writing. When I started the site in 2003 with Pete, there was very little else like it. Dennis, Jessa, Maud, Mark and a few others were all doing it, but it was mostly American-centred and I wanted something similar for good old Glacierland. But after 8 years, the comments section was often toxic and it seemed to me at the time that many other blogs had sprung up, that could do just as good a job. Why not let younger, more interesting folk might take up the mantel on their various blogs?

Over the last couple years, though, I realized that the unmitigated dumpster-fire known as “The Literary World” had driven me completely underground. I could barely read the news, much less comment on it. I hate living like that.

Recently I realized that when my kids ask me what to do when they feel out of place or under siege by life, I say things like: “Well, then create your own space” and “Time to sally forth with your troops and break the siege.” Which kind of makes me a hypocrite for hiding for seven years.

Further, I feel like I was always out of the loop in terms of what’s happening in the world. Bookninja gave me a chance to go out and seek out daily news that I was interested in.

So, this is me not being a hypocrite anymore. And me trying to “get out” more.

Besides the technical pieces (the new WordPress is bizarre and scary to me), the literary news landscape has changed while I was gone, so please send me stories you think I’m missing. There’s a tips link above that you can send through. Even anonymously.

My goal is to post a few things each day that I find interesting, using the same character/voice I used to use, but tempered by the existential dread I’ve come to rely on in my day-to-day decision making. I’m doing this for me, people. Not you.

Well, a little bit you.

Hope you enjoy. We’ll see how long it lasts! Now to not burn out.

(The old site is lost to time, but there’s a capture at The Wayback Machine, if you’re interested.)