I wrote yesterday about my possibly retiring this space in favor of migrating all of my blogging to ForgottenStars.net, because of Reasons. I am now pulling the trigger on this move. I will no longer be using this blog as my main area of content-creation. I am not deleting this blog, or re-setting it to redirect to the main site, but there will be no new content at this URL.
Thanks to the people behind Blogger and BlogSpot, going back to way before they were snatched up by the growing powers of The Google, for creating this service and letting it grow. It's been a blast!
Now join me, if you will, at ForgottenStars.net! I've already run an import tool to bring Byzantium Shores's content over there, and with my recent switch to using Flickr as my primary image host, the recent history over there should feel familiar. I still have kinks to iron out, but work-in-progress and all that. Come on over! The water's fine!
So, as social media companies exercise more and more control over the content users post, and as those companies employ algorithms that are more and more quixotic in their moderation (I've seen people put into Facebook jail for using normal words that are homonyms of other words that may or may not be less normal, given the context), it's more and more advisable that people with the intent of making at least some portion of their livings on content creation (like, writers!) own their own outpost online where there is no moderation save that which one applies themselves.
I already have such a space: my personal site, ForgottenStars.net, which I launched with the idea of using it as my base of operations for my "writing life", while I've kept this blog going for all of my content that is not specifically writing-related.
The problem is that I don't use the space I pay for enough, and that I've got what seems to me too many outposts online. Also, I don't own this space: Google does, via their ownership of BlogSpot. So what I'm very strongly considering is migrating Byzantium's Shores to Forgotten Stars. I'm not entirely sure what would look like, as I'm a wee bit nervous about pulling the trigger, but I'm told it's not super hard to do. The problem is going to be that there is almost twenty years of content here, and I'm not sure how well the migrating will work.
The more I consider this move, the more likely I think it's going to happen. I'm not sure when exactly I'll pull the trigger, but it will likely be sooner rather than later, because I tend to be a "rip the bandaid off" kind of person. Ultimately I'd like to set up an automatic redirect here, but I'm not sure if that will work. We'll see. It's not as if I expect to lose a ton of traffic if I move, since this blog doesn't get a ton of traffic these days; not many blogs do, in all honesty. But blogging does seem to be making a comeback, whether it's on individual sites that people own themselves or on Substack or Medium or Patreon. So...be ready for things to randomly look very different here, pretty soon!
I have to admit to feeling a bit odd about such a move! As noted, I've got almost twenty years invested here at Byzantium's Shores, but the arguments for consolidating and migrating elsewhere honestly do seem to outweigh staying on BlogSpot and keeping multiple content management systems going.
You may have noticed that I've been posting very little music-related content here of late. That's mainly because I went really hard-core into music posting the last few months of 2020 (December especially), and this month I've been focusing on some other goals (starting a book, celebrating the end of Issue 45 of The American Presidency (worst issue ever!), watching horror as my own fellow citizens tried to perpetrate a coup with the help of actual elected Republicans). Music posting will return in February, which is just a few days away, so...yay!
The way this works is that when someone comments, I get an email at my Gmail address telling me there's a comment to check. I do, and I publish it if it's not spam. Every so often that system gets screwed up, either by not sending the emails or by Gmail plonking them all into the spam folder. The result is comments that sit in moderation forever, until I notice by checking the "Pending Comments" thing in Blogger. I do not do this very often, which is why I just found a bunch of comments stuck in moderation. I have now published them all, and apologies if anyone was wondering why their comment didn't appear. It's not entirely my fault....
I spent a bit of time this past weekend making a few changes to Byzantium's Shores, which you may notice if you're particularly eagle-eyed and you're familiar with the old lay of the land here. Some of these changes were long overdue, and given that Blogger has recently updated its interface, I figured I should make some of the obvious (and less-than-obvious) changes.
By way of itemizing the alterations, here's what's up:
:: New masthead image, obviously. I think I did a pretty good job at creating a masthead that reflects my personal branding!
:: I updated the blog tagline, to run beneath the masthead.
:: I moved the menu of Blog Pages up, so now it's the first thing you see on the sidebar. You may notice that the Comments Policy is not there anymore; the page still exists but I want to tweak it a bit. That link will reappear when that's done.
I have also created an information page for my books! As of this writing, the page contains nothing at all, but getting that page done is a priority for the next week or two. It seems weird that this particular blog, which is in many ways my main outpost online, never had direct information about my books and their availability. That changes...well, soon. Stay tuned!
Also note that I have removed the blogroll. This is, sadly, permanent, at least as far as I can foresee. Blogging is more and more of a niche thing, and as I clicked around my blogroll's links a few days ago I discovered a distressing number of links that go to blogs that are, sadly, no more. An on-site blogroll is just not an important resource anymore.
:: I tightened up the wordage in the "Informational" section of the sidebar, which is now titled "Greetings, Programs!" (This is a geek reference to the movie TRON, if you must know.) This includes a link to ForgottenStars.net, as well as a link to my LinkTree. LinkTree is a service that manages links, so links to all of my various social media and other web hangouts are there, instead of taking up lots of sidebar space.
:: There was a section for old blog aggregation services; I've removed this entirely.
:: All that remains is the shifting about of the photo sections and my sidebar quotes.
Does all this mean that I'll be posting more frequently? Ummm...look, over there! [runs away while you're distracted]
I've just discovered that Blogger has again done that thing where it fails to notify me via email that there are comments awaiting approval (a few from my Christmas music posts!), so I apologize if you thought I rejected your comment. I would sack those responsible, but that would be me, so...sorry!
Here is a selection of my favorite posts from the last ten years. How much longer will this go on? Who knows! I'd like to get back into more essay and photo content around here than the YouTube music selections, so here's hoping.
In all honesty, I don't use my Official Site as strongly as I should, because I've never really figured out a focus for it. That's something I hope to do in 2020.
I have also been writing for the last few years for The Geekiverse. Here is a selection of my output:
It's been a somewhat crazy busy week between work and my relentless focus of late on finishing the first draft of FORGOTTEN STARS IV (which I may well complete this weekend) and breaking in a new computer after my trusty old machine finally malfunctioned, hence the lack of posting of late. I"m still going to be focusing on finishing this draft, but meantime, here's a march by John Williams, because you can't go wrong with John Williams.
So for the last while I've been wondering why nobody comments on anything here anymore...and then Roger emails me to say, "Hey, I'm leaving comments and they never clear moderation, so are you getting the notifications emailed to you?"
Guess what! I have NOT been receiving notifications of comments, so I had a pile in my "Awaiting Moderation" queue. I've just released them all (save one that was spam), and I'll try to remember to check that on a regular basis now. For anyone who was seeking to engage conversation, my apologies!
I do this quiz every year, so let's get on with it....
Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
As I pretty much keep my resolutions to “Read a lot, write a lot, and do cool stuff,” I think I did pretty well on the ‘keeping resolutions” front, since I did all of those things. 2016 was a bad year for me for reading, but I nicely rebounded in 2017: I set a goal on Goodreads of reading 50 books, and I did 57!
It wasn’t a New Year’s resolution, but at some point I decided that I want to add a lot of pink to my wardrobe. And I did. Yay!
In 2018 I’ll stick to “Read a lot, write a lot, and do cool stuff.” Works for me. (I thought about bumping my Goodreads challenge to 60 books, but my reading list currently has a lot of really long books on it, so I’m keeping it at 50.)
And one more: I will be engaging my elected representatives more often, most likely by either e-mail or physical letter. I like my Senators and I deeply dislike my Representative, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.
Did anyone close to you give birth?
No. A woman at work is very near to doing so, but I don’t think she’s gone yet. That’s about it. She’s not particularly close to me, but I get along with her, so there’s that.
Did anyone close to you die?
No. I’m increasingly wary of my continuing to successfully dodge this particular bullet.
What countries did you visit?
Never left the US, as occasionally tempting as it was to do just that.
What would you like to have in 2018 that you lacked in 2017?
More writing success. Less elected Republicans.
What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting Amongst the Stars out the door, and completing edits (for now, before I make one more pass) on The Chilling Killing Wind, which is something totally new! I also learned how to use my Instant Pot and started a very overdue reorganization project of my workspace at The Store. (My work room looks like an Ace Hardware store caught fire and a True Value store was dropped on top of it to smother the flames. Not good.)
What was your biggest failure?
There was actually not a lot of failure in my world this year, thank goodness. I do need to engage my elected representatives more (see above), and I do not like making phone calls, so I’m leaning toward good old-fashioned letters in the mail. As long as we have a postal service, that is.
What was the best thing you bought?
Acquisitions I liked: jewelry for The Wife, a new pair of raw denim vintage Lee overalls for me, and a pit bull mix for The Daughter.
Whose behavior merited celebration?
My whole family’s, many of my friends, and nationally, anyone in The Resistance who protested, worked to advocate against bad policy (and there was a shit-ton of that), and who showed up to vote against Republicans.
Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Republicans. That party is one giant ball of moral rot right now.
Where did most of your money go?
Food, rum, whiskey, books, clothes, and a couple of expensive trips to an antique mall in Rochester.
What did you get really excited about?
The afore-mentioned antiquing trips, the afore-mentioned pair of vintage overalls, and most of all, the entire family getting together (on both sides!) for The Daughter’s high school graduation.
Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?
About the same, which is amazing given the state of the world. I am in this odd place of being long-term optimistic about humanity and pessimistic about my own country.
Thinner or fatter?
A little fatter. That’s a disappointment. I need to eat more veggies.
Richer or poorer?
A little richer.
What do you wish you'd done more of?
Reading and writing. Always reading and writing. I didn’t blog nearly enough, and only two pies found their way into my face this year.
What do you wish you'd done less of?
Late-night staring at the Internet. I have been working to do that a lot less.
How did you spend Christmas?
With family, unpacking wonderful gifts, and eating and drinking way too much. In short, it was exactly what Christmas should be.
Did you fall in love in 2016?
I fall in love on a daily basis.
How many one-night stands?
Pshaw. Like I’m gonna tell you.
What was your favorite TV program?
We’re in something of a transitional period as far as teevee goes, with not as many shows we catch regularly. Stranger Things made us happy, and I deeply loved Luke Cage. We also discovered Blackish, which is always funny and often brilliant, and we continue to love Brooklyn Nine Nine, which is always funny and even more often brilliant.
Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I really try not to hate, but in these times, it’s hard not to. There are some local political activists on the right who are as ugly a bunch of souls as I’ve ever encountered, and I’ll be honest: of the current pack of miscreants dominating the political scene in Washington DC, the one whose image tends to anger me the most when I see it is Speaker Paul Ryan’s.
What was the best book you read?
The Sculptor by Scott McCloud; The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker; Memoirs by Hector Berlioz; The Girl with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke.
What was your greatest musical discovery?
I spent a lot of time listening to classical works by composers who, for one reason or another, never quite broke through into the “standard repertoire”, even though the music is often very, very good. It’s always sad to me to reflect on how much art gets forgotten that in no way deserves to be.
What did you want and get?
Some really nifty new Star Wars music by John Williams! That’s always a delight. I hope there’s one more in store from him....
What did you want and not get?
I’m honestly not sure I want an impeachment, given what a dunderheaded weirdo the Vice President is. I don’t know, really. Maybe more book sales? I never have enough book sales.
What were your favorite films of this year?
As always, I tend to be pretty bad at seeing movies in the year they are released, so I’d go right now with Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2 and The Last Jedi.
The best movie experience I had was either seeing Castle in the Sky or Casablanca on the big screen. I love both films (indeed, the latter might be my favorite movie of all time that doesn’t take place in a galaxy far, far away), and to see them in their big-screen glory was just fantastic.
What did you do on your birthday?
On my birthday? Went to work. We continued our tradition of enjoying a weekend getaway right after my birthday, to a farm-and-craft festival in Ithaca, NY. It was a great, great time.
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2016?
Vintage workwear chic, now with added pink!
What kept you sane?
My family; the cats and the dogs; writing; reading; going on adventures and doing silly things.
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
So many brilliant people doing brilliant work! I can’t name any, but for a time that feels as dark as this, there are an awful lot of brightly-shining lights out there.
What political issue stirred you the most?
Oh lord. All of them. I’ve never seen a political party stake out stances on issues that are so completely wrong and just plain mean.
Who did you miss?
Barack Obama.
Who was the best new person you met?
Captain Fashnatan Strel of Orion’s Huntress. If all goes according to plan, you might get to meet her in 2019.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2017:
Elections matter.
But the old lessons apply, don’t they? So, as I always end up copying-and-pasting:
Read a lot, write a lot. Listen to music. Go for walks and look at sunsets. Take all the pictures you want. Learn new things and try new stuff. If you have a dog, take him for walks. Buy books for your daughter, even when she complains that she likes to pick her own books (let her do that, too). Nothing fits your hand so well as your lover’s hand. Eating out is fine, but learn to cook things, too. Have a place to go where they know you and what you order. Don’t be afraid to revisit your childhood passions now and again; you weren’t always wrong back then. Overalls are awesome, it’s OK to wear double denim, and a pie in the face is a wonderful thing!
And if I pass this way again, you can rest assured
I'll always do my best for her, on that I give my word
In a world of steel-eyed death, and men who are fighting to be warm
Come in, she said
I'll give ya shelter from the storm.
I’m not sure what I hope 2018 brings most, but what I think it all boils down to is that I hope we can all come in and find shelter from the storm.
I also had an interview on another website! The fine folks at The Geekiverse had me over, and you can read that here. And don't forget to check out my content at ForgottenStars.net.
I've made much better use of my Goodreads account this year, using it to track my reading. Most of my content that relates to specific books is over there now, and to see what I read (and what I thought about what I read) in 2017, check it out.
I kept on blogging in 2016, but the focus was more on picture posts and music links than anything else. Still, I did come up with some things that I liked:
So I’ve been considering doing some occasional vlogging, as a way of mixing some stuff up and staying relevant and all that jazz. So, Dear Readers, some questions!
First: Would you be inclined to watch vlogs posted by Yours Truly? (I’m thinking of doing it no more than once or twice a month.)
Second: If you watch vlogs already, is there an ideal length for them? I’m kind of thinking that I should never be more than ten minutes.
Third: If I start vlogging, what manner of content should I mainly provide? Thoughts on writing? Reviews of stuff? Or all of the above, combined with random thoughts on stuff?
Some of the writer-folk I follow online in various places have added vlogging to their content lineup, and I’ve been kicking the idea around for a few months. The “hold-up”, as it were, has been my general sense of existential horror that I experience whenever I hear my own speaking voice. But, I suppose I can get over that, in time. (Or I just won’t listen to myself.)
Is anyone experiencing a problem with ads playing when I embed YouTube videos? Somehow my Google account has become eligible for "YouTube Red", which means (among other things) that I never have to watch ads when I'm viewing YouTube while logged into my Google account, which is pretty much always. So I have no way of knowing what ads are running for people who are not logged in while watching the videos here.
I'm honestly not sure what I can do to solve this problem, but I would like to know if it is a distraction with a high annoyance factor.
Yes, I'm doing some redressing of the blog today! It's a work in progress, so as of THIS writing, not all details are set. I've been finding the old layout increasingly clunky with too much un-updated stuff hanging about, so I want to tidy it up and make it look better. Stay tuned!
Hey everybody! For some reason, Blogger is doing that thing again when it doesn't e-mail me about incoming comments all the time. So, as always, if a comment of yours gets stuck in moderation longer than usual, that's why. Annoying, but that's the lay of the land.
