A Change of Plans!

Dear Readers,

Recently, Google decided to drop two of its services, Reader and iGoogle.  The reason boiled down to declining use (and the decision to focus on fewer, high-demand products).  I am one of those busy people who relied on Reader to sort my feeds and save hundreds of tagged posts.  The options do not work as well as Reader and much of my content will not migrate to another service.  I will no longer subscribe to many great blogs (sorry bloggers).  Google seems to not care about its devoted and passionate followers, of which I was one until a few days ago.  The company doesn't seem to realize the impact this move will have on bloggers everywhere.  Or maybe they do and just want to push everyone to use Google+ no matter what.  Not everyone wants to get their updates via Facebook or Google+.

I have three blogs (including this one) on Blogger, another Google product.  I have loved Blogger and I still think it is amazing that the designers were able to so easily and simply make web design available to everyone.  My concern is that, eventually, Google will yank Blogger as well.  There seems to be a pattern, provide a cool (and yes, free) service, get people hooked, then yank it or let it decline into crap.  As Google has become a larger company, I've watched their customer service decline.  I am concerned, not just as a web user, but as a creator of content.

I suspect that this pattern will only continue.  Up until now, I've been happy to allow Google to trawl through my content and do whatever they do with it in return for a fantastic free service.  Well, no longer.  I am going to begin the process of migrating all of my stuff over to my website. 

For those of you who know me, you know I hate change.  You know I don't work quickly.  You know my personal motto (do the minimum).  You can imagine... I...am...not...pleased.  This strategy will mean a lot more work for me (damn it), but I will have control over my work. 

The new work I had planned for this blog will have to wait.  So sorry.  Thanks for your interest.

So who is this black beetle?  Most people call her Pinacate.  She has a few other nicknames, but they aren't entirely positive, so we won't bring them up now. She's pretty well known in this desert (and even in some of those desolate, empty ones, too) because she spends a lot of time outside the burrow visiting with her neighbors. She gets along with just about everyone. She is in pretty good shape because she walks everywhere. She's not the most elegant of beetles, nor the most colorful, nor graceful, but she is very special nonetheless.

The Story begins...

Chapter 1

In which we meet the heroine of our story

magine yourself in the desert.  Not the desolate, empty type, but the other kind.  The kind that has secrets and surprises tucked under every rock and beyond each mountain.  Maybe some extra dust here and there to cover the secrets and surprises and make them harder to see.

The sun seems to shine a bit brighter in this desert.  You may have to squint a lot and shade your eyes.  It's harder to see things when you are squinting.  At night, when the moon and stars rise high over the mountains, their shadows seem extra dark and deep.  You can't even see most of the rocks... but you know they are there!  

Imagine you are in this desert, and it is a warm, pleasant afternoon.  The sun is shining extra bright.  Most everyone should be squinting.  You look around and see all the rocks and mountains.  You look closer and notice other things: twitchy grasses and grey-green bushes and tiny yellow flowers peeking out.  Now that you are paying attention (and not squinting) you see lizards glaring and scaly-grey on the rocks, birds flying towards the mountains, and in the dust (so much dust!) you see zillions of tiny footprints...

You follow a set of footprints.  It meanders here and there, then back, then forward, then, what's this?  Is something moving over there?  It looks like a beetle -a common, everyday, black beetle.  But remember, you are in the desert and there are surprises everywhere.  Even common black beetles have a few surprises...

Welcome

Hello!

This will be a new blog to try out ideas for my Pinacate y Paisano stories.  For those of you unfamiliar with the local NM terminology, that's Stink Bug and Roadrunner.  I'll be showing images, sharing drafts of short stories and other ideas for my two characters as they get ready to become famous in children's books.

Stay tuned and please be patient while I set up this blog.

In the meantime, head over to my website or to my other studio blog to see examples of my work.

Thanks for stopping by.