It was time for a change.

I started my blog seven and a half years ago, with pretty big plans: I had four buckets that I was going to fill — Prattle, Projects, Diversion, and Utility — all as a means of “creative procrastination,” all in service of developing a robust writing practice.

I definitely missed that target. It was the creative equivalent of having eyes too big for my stomach.

I loved the theme’s design (still do!). But it was created under an old paradigm, and it was thus not “responsive” — it didn’t adapt to whatever screen it happened to appear on. It was especially bad on a phone.

So I decided the site needed a refresh — and I decided I wanted to keep it simple, both in structure and in design.

In structure, as you can see in the header’s menu, I’ve organized what I already have into fewer categories, and I’ve focused more on my work than on vague visions of all the things I think I want to do.

And in design, I chose to build on WordPress’s basic theme (“Twenty Twenty-Five”), learning how to lay everything out using the new-fangled Block Editor. No paid theme, no expensive galleries — and fully up-to-date with what WordPress is doing.

It took a bit to figure everything out, and I took some wrong turns (including prematurely launching the new site — oops!). I have a lot of little things that I’ll need to repair or refine, too. (If you notice anything broken or wonky, please let me know.)

But overall, I’m happy enough.

Feel free to wander around. You can listen to my songs, or read about my old band’s new record. You can read the (two) stories I’ve written, including Emily’s Grave, the long short story in a several formats — one of which is a video visualization created by my former student, and award-winning animator, John David Irvine.

And, I hope, there will be more to come!