2003 News

November 15, 2003

The editor is on a roll (or possibly a small Danish) with more useful advice for the aspiring writer—Writing From the Inside Out.

On the other hand, the web master is having difficulty in cutting back on his social engagements. "Who knew I'd become more popular, as I got crotchetier! It seems like the less I try to do, the busier I become. The problem with being over the hill is that you continually picking up speed, now that it's all downhill."

September 14, 2003

From the less is more school of storytelling: a thoughtful critique to an aspiring author—Trimming the Fat.

On another note, the web master is cutting back on his social engagements in order to have more time to devote the site. You should be seeing more frequent changes, as he works on the site.

August 11, 2003

And now, for something entirely different… an apology and explanation from the editor—A Sour Belly. OK, maybe not exactly an apology, but as near as we mere mortals are likely to receive. (Be gentle; it's his first time.)

July 20, 2003

Too much to do and too little time to do it in. We are slowly recovering from the ISP fiasco, an unexpected increase of our workload, and preparing for a long over-due vacation. New and revised content in the site are now our top priorities.

We have several new rants from the editor, which we will post over the next few months. First up, for the aspiring writers among you, more good advice from the editor—Read Your Manuscript.

The Mentoring Elders Program based on our e-book—Neo-Paganism & Wicca 201: Mentoring Elders is being well-received and is continuing to expand. The comments and feedback from the program are generating a number of new insights—to be included in our online version. Expect to see bi-monthly revisions to its content.

June 29, 2003

As they say, "When it reigns, it pours!" And insanity has been reigning for the past several weeks. All of our sites were off the net for two weeks, when our old ISP shut us down. They did send us notices, but they sent them thru a third party and it seems their notices were marked as spam by the anti-spam filters, so the first we knew there was a problem was when the site was erased—very unprofessional, in my opinion. We finally found the notices when screening all the old spam, before throwing it out!

Of course, with the old ISP erasing the sites, we had to rebuild our sites from our emergency backup files. Fortunately, I'm both a professional and paranoid, so I have multiple backups. (You never know when your off-site storage might suffer storm or fire damage.) But what with figuring out what was going on, then finding a more reliable ISP, and re-setting up the sites and associated e-mail, two weeks went by. We apologize for any inconvience this may have caused our users.

The up-shot of all this is that we now have a new, more professional ISP, and "Weee're ba-ack…"

May 5, 2003

Another program from the Our Programmers Have Entirely Too Much Free Time and Too Little Supervision department—The Villain Name Generator. Are you having trouble picking a suitable nom de guerre that will strike fear and loathing in the hearts of your enemies? This little gem will help you establish your reputation long before you show up.

March 26, 2003

We have joined with Evenstar Bookstore and with Evenstar School of Sacred Paths in sponsoring the Mentoring Elders Program, based on our e-book—Neo-Paganism & Wicca 201: Mentoring Elders.

January 19, 2003

The Wicca 201: Mentoring Elders title has been changed to Neo-Paganism & Wicca 201: Mentoring Elders to reflect shift towards a more ecumenical approach. In has been repeatedly pointed out to the editor that the information contained within it has a much broader application than just to Wicca. Also, on the advice of an instructional designer, we are finally including a much needed How Do I Use It? section.

January 4, 2003

Another pearl of wisdom, drooling, er…dropping from the golden lips of our much maligned editor. "Sir, throw down the gun and tiara, and come out of the float with your hands up!" Don't Lose Your Audience provides guidance for those writers lost on the Machiavellian machinations of their novel.