The Windy City Author is Shifting Gears

I wrote last week that I was rethinking this blog. Blogs are like houses; they need to be lived in for awhile before they should be redesigned and decorated to make them feel like home.

You need to get the feel of the place... see how it looks and lives and breathes in the seasons... kick around in it awhile.

I knew Absolutely Nothing About Blogging when I rolled this one out. There's a great story about how this all came to be and perhaps I'll share in the future but right now I want to get to this blog back on track because I think I know what I want it to be... how it should be lived in and decorated. I've had a few months to do this very thing and now I see more clearly how this blog should be used -- for your enjoyment and mine.

The Windy City Author is going to publish a book review today & this review will represent some of the direction this blog is going to take but let me explain further what you may expect to see in the future: 

1.  You're going to see periodic book reviews and book recommendations, fiction and non-fiction.

2.   I'm going to periodically recommend movies (old & new).

3.   I'm going to publish book reviews about my own books.

4.   I'm going to publish excerpts from my own books, already published and pre-publication status.

5.   I'm going to discuss the exciting and promising world of indie publishing and try to keep abreast of the rapid changes in book publishing.

6.   This blog will serve as my "home base" for my ramblings, rants, and experiences as an author.

In the main, the Windy City Author blog will be about books, movies, writing, and living the life of an author.

As you know, I also write historical and political commentary. I feel at home now at The Pragmatic Progressive Forum. I love Dave Phillips, the editor, and I'm impressed with the many other talented bloggers who make wonderful contributions to Prag Pro.

I've decided to make a clean break between the Windy City Author and Prag Pro. What they're doing over there just can't be beat; it's excellent balanced blog-journalism. So I'm going to continue to publish my historical/political commentary -- as well as those articles that I'm assembling for my history book, "Daylight & Deja vu" -- at PragPro and am going to reserve the Windy City Author blog for my life in the world of fiction.

So, if you follow my writing -- and I hope you do -- it may be easier for you to know where to find me according to what kind of writing of mine you enjoy the most.

Want history and politics? ---> Prag Pro.

Want to follow my journey as a fiction writer and meet other novelists? ---> The Windy City Author is the place to be.

If you enjoy both, well then hot damn -- go for it! I'll welcome you wherever we meet.

Consistent with this new format, I'm posting a book review. If you don't know Kathleen Valentine then I'm delighted to help you make her acquaintance. Kathleen is is one of a new generation of HUGELY talented authors who's lifting the bar in American literature and independent publishing. Her second novel, Each Angel Burns blew me away.

Happy Saturday!

~mick