February 2009
Volume 7, Issue 1
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February 2009 |
Volume 7, Issue 1 |
New Year, New Look ... |
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Well, not for me so much... Yes, the beard is a bit greyer, and so are the hairs on the top of my head - the hairs that haven't fallen out, that is. But, I still pretty much resemble my publicity photo, even if it is a few years old (yeah, I know, I keep saying I'm going to get a new one taken, but I'm not all that excited about being in front of the camera.) Besides... I have way too much to do right now... yeah, that's it. Too much to do. (If I just keep telling myself that, maybe I'll start believing it - unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, depending on how you look at it, it's actually true...) So, about this new look.... You see, it all started with a horrible and terrible blogging incident... Yes, horrible and terrible. In fact, it will go down in the annals (look it up, I did NOT just say anal) of history as "The Blogging Incident"... But seriously, it really did start with a Myspace glitch that ate a blog entry before I was able to post it. This wasn't something new by any stretch of the imagination - in fact, it had happened so many times that I had finally - and officially - had my fill. And, so, wheels were set into motion... |
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Those wheels, as it turned out, were a big-ass set of knobby, off-road tires... What I mean by that is I left the beaten path... or, the path I had been beating, anyway. It was obvious to me that the Myspace blog interface was not only bare bones, but filled with bugs, which is why so many of my blogs disappeared before even making it to the screen. Or, if they did actually make it, they were filled with bizarre control codes that screwed the formatting of the text and simply couldn't be edited out for all the beer and pretzels in the world. So, I made the leap. I installed a self-hosted copy of WordPress on my website, and within 8 hours had learned a good many of its intricacies and features. Guess what? I fell in love with it. Gone were the days of losing blogs, crappy formatting, and stopping in the middle of everything to keep it updated. With its queuing functions, I am able to write a healthy chunk of blog entries and set them up to be deployed on future dates. |
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And so, Brainpan Leakage: From the warped mind of M. R. Sellars (aka BL) packed up its bags, said goodbye to Myspace, and settled into its new home on the WordPress platform. It hasn't looked back since. Of course, since WordPress has all manner of nifty themes, BL was redecorated with a dark - but somewhat whimsical - facade, as seen above. But, having done this, I was now presented with another problem, that being the fact that my website proper hadn't been to the beauty salon since early 2007 and in truth, the style sheets were a bit bunged up and it was a bear to update (which left me grumbling every time I had to do so...) Therefore, since I was knocking down walls and ripping up carpet anyway, in keeping with the precedent set by the BL theme, I gave mrsellars.com a facelift too. So, as you can see to the right, the insidious darknesss is creeping into everything. Not such a bad thing in my opinion, but then, I like the dark.... |
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Another thing that came into my life during this period of redecoration and virtual "nesting" was the joy of XML. Being a computer geek at heart - I mean, after all, I spent better than 25 years in the biz as a tech - I am all about learning about new stuff. Well, while XML and RSS aren't exactly new, and I had been subscribing to feeds for quite some time as well as utilizing the dynamically produced code from my Myspace blog, I had never worked on the behind the scenes of it. So, to make a long story short, my publicist, Wendy (not to worry, the amazing Chunkee is still my publicist too - I just have both a private publicist, and a publisher assigned publicist) isn't half bad at coding XML and she set up a tour schedule feed for me, as well as the other WTP authors. Well, this inspired me to get cracking at it myself, so I produced my own to feed news updates to my page using an RSS widget (as seen under the "What's New" heading in the picture above). This allows me much more freedom to send updates out to the page by way of "me-centric news items" (hey, it's all about me, right? ROFL! ) and in turn, that freedom actually presents me with much more free time to write, which is what I am supposed to be doing anyway. :) |
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So, getting back to this whole blog thing... As we know, I'm not the best at making sure this newsletter gets out at regular intervals. That's because I'm actually a fairly busy guy... But, blog entries are something I can format and toss out there much quicker than an issue of Beyond the Blotter. (Can you see where I am heading here?) Actually, no, there's nothing to worry about... Beyond the Blotter isn't on the chopping block. It will continue as long as there are subscribers - and given that we are hovering close to 1000 readers of the newsletter right now, I suspect it will be hanging on for a while yet. However, since I'm not the best about making sure the issues get out when they should, and since I do blog on a regular basis... Well, the thing is, if you are interested in regular updates about what is going on in "Murv Land", all intermixed with a bit of humor, a dash of nostalgia, and even an occasional peppering of rant, it might be a good idea for you to subscribe to BL. Just to make life easy, there's a convenient widget right there on the front page for doing so. |
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Drip... Drip... Drip... (No, not ME, the brain faucet...) |
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Just in case you are still on the fence where subscribing to a blog is concerned (I certainly understand that myself - I mean, there really are just so many hours in a day, after all) I have created a "Top 10 Reasons for Subscribing to Brainpan Leakage" list at left, ala David Letterman. Hopefully this will help you take the plunge and not just send you running... ;P |
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What am I thinking? If you're absolutely sure you want to know, find out at Brainpan Leakage the official blog... There's a full explanation of the thought balloon there... |
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In other news... |
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Event Cancellation: The economy is hitting everyone hard, as we all know... This has been evidenced by the unfortunate loss of many independent bookstores, and even cancellations of events. I was recently informed that the 2nd Annual Ostara Fest in Harker Heights, Texas had to be cancelled due to economic reasons, and the fact that attendance would be off because of troop deployments. (Harker Heights is a burb of Fort Hood)... This is an unfortunate occurrence on many levels, not the least of which was the fact that Dorothy Morrison and I were scheduled to be at the event. We'll definitely miss seeing everyone from the sponsoring store, Sisters of the Earth and Sea, as well as all of the wonderful people we met during our last visit there. Bookstore Locator Project: I am still collecting info on bookstores that regularly stock the RGI series. It is now posted on a link from my blog instead of directly on my website - Why? Because the blog software has a nifty "plug-in" that allows for the use of Google™ Maps, which allows folks to not only see the listing, but get directions as well. Kind of a whole, "one stop shopping" sort of approach. I have already entered the stores that were already on the listing from my original website, but if you know of others - or of updates to those already in the database - please feel free email the info to me at mrsellars@sbcglobal.net. |
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In Book News...
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P&E Showing... Blood Moon: A Rowan Gant Investigation, the latest installment in the RGI series, which was released in October 2008, finished #6 in the Thriller category of the "2008 Preditors and Editors Reader's Poll." This is the third book in the ongoing series to place in the top 10 - The End of Desire placed #3 in 2007, and All Acts of Pleasure won its category in 2006. My best bud, Dorothy Morrison, also pulled a top 10 finish, with her debut novel, Lucinda's Web coming in at #8 in the Romance category. Congrats, D! In my estimation, given the stiff competition out there, finishing in the top 10 is something pretty cool. COVR In other "award type news", word came down from "on-high" that Blood Moon was submitted for consideration in the 2009 COVR (Coalition Of Visionary Resources) Awards in the "visionary fiction" category. This is merely the first step - submitting just means that it has been entered, not that it is officially in the running just yet - And, competition will be stiff in this race too - In fact, Blood Moon will be going up against Lucinda's Web... Hmmmm... Wouldn't it be cool if it was a tie? |
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Word Wide Murv...Even though my blog has officially moved, you can still find me on the web at Myspace and other social networking sites my publicists have dragged me into, all while I was kicking and screaming like a little kid... Well, not really kicking and screaming, but I did object strenuously... Even so, if you are all about the social networking thing, some of the places you can find me are listed at right...
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And there you have it... That's pretty much it for this issue of Beyond the Blotter... As I said earlier, I am terrible about getting these out on time, and while I will still continue to issue a newsletter when time permits, in this era of instant gratification, your best bet is to check out my blog. Hopefully it will not only give you the information you need, but keep you entertained in the process... I know it entertains me, but then, I'm easily amused. (LOL) As always, I'll leave you with my current tour schedule just in case you want to make sure you "get out of Dodge" before I come to your town. ;)
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2009 TOUR SCHEDULE |
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January - July: Writing Sabbatical - LIMTED DATES AVAILABLE APRIL3rd - 5th: WillyCon XI - Author GOH, Wayne State College, Wayne, NE MAY23rd - 25th: HOLIDAY WEEKEND - NO BOOKINGS 28 - 31st: Pagan Unity Festival - Burns, TN (with D. Morrison, K. Madden) JUNE13th - 14th: Pagan Picnic - Tower Grove Park, St. Louis, MO 26th - 28th: Violet Flame Gifts - Newark, OH (with D. Morrison) JULY3rd - 5th: HOLIDAY WEEKEND - NO BOOKINGS AUGUST14th - 16th: Southern Maine Pagan Fest - Sanford, ME (with D. Morrison) SEPTEMBER5th - 7th: HOLIDAY WEEKEND - NO BOOKINGS 27th: Mid Missouri Pagan Pride Day Celebration - Peace Park, Columbia, MO OCTOBER9th - 11th: Celebrating the Goddess Rising - Metairie, LA (with K. Madden) NOVEMBER??th - ??th: NO BOOKINGS CURRENTLY DECEMBER??th - ??th: NO BOOKINGS CURRENTLY |
Some of the psuedo-legalese:
M. R. Sellars' publicity photo courtesy Gossamer Girls Photography. All composite photos and artwork, Copyright © M. R. Sellars. Text is Copyright © 2009, M. R. Sellars except where attributed otherwise. M. R. Sellars and his weary brain apologize for any typos. He's been flinging a lot of words lately, and some of them are bound to get mixed up...
