A Toast

You might have noticed I made a few changes to the blog. Yeah I know blogs are not as popular as they used to be but metaphorically speaking I am married to the venue. I believe through blogging I found my true writing voice as well as a large chunk of my reading audience. Abandoning it simply is not an option for me (I sort of tried the last year or so and it called to me like a siren in the night) and if I am not going to stop I might as well embrace it and try to build it stronger.

The old title reflected not only my goals but my original objective. To take y'all along on my journey toward publication. However I soon realized there were plenty of other bloggers far more qualified and more adept at educating and highlighting the path to publication. So I fell into storyteller mode and began sharing my experiences, opinions, and warped takes on life. I figured if I couldn't teach ya''' anything I could at least entertain you. 

Yes, I have achieved my original publication goals of seeing my name on the spine of a novel. Technically speaking THE FEEDSTORE CHRONICLES was not a novel, but TWISTED ROADS is pure fiction so upon its release next month that last rung I originally transcribed is met.

No, My journey is not complete. I am still, and hopefully forever will be, growing as an author. I have not gotten that huge advance from a New York publisher, but times have changed and I perfectly happy with my smaller Indie publisher. Should a book take off I am poised to make more than I ever would with one of those New York houses and while it would be nice to have their clout , marketing, and prestige there is no guarantee they would put those things behind me or that they would lead to more book sales. I know people who got that contract and are no longer writing because they never sold. and I know people who self-published or landed an Indie deal like myself that are now on best seller lists the world over.

There is more than one way to climb a ladder.

Back to the new title. Yes only a few days ago I blogged about this whole bacon thing getting out of hand. Don't get me wrong I do enjoy a nice crispy slice of bacon, but it is not my favorite meat. Bacon is however the glory of the meat world and while I debated the name Beef, Beer, and Books simply did not have the same ring.

I also pondered Meat, Mead, and Manuscripts but not only did that sound rather medieval it was also technically off since mead is not really beer and manuscript really is not the correct term for any of the published books I read.

So here we are together at Bacon, Beer, & Books. To that end I am going to create a new blog series. Not to appear at any regular schedule but whenever the mood strikes me. I think I will simply title this series THE MEAT and in each post I will rave about a delectable cut of meat I've sampled (I will share recipes when possible), paired with a beer I've sampled recently (yes I am a beer snob) and a book worthy of recommendation.

There will still be the regular slate of absurd slice of life stories, of me poking fun of myself and those around me so I hope y'all will keep reading and keep giving shout outs on Twitter, Facebook and wherever people gather. Because while I know it is unlikely I'll ever get he amazing amount of hits I once did, it is nice when I know people are out there reading.

So I raise a beer in your honor ... Y'all make this an endeavor worth doing.