The Last Word on Reader Meet Author…

July 14, 2008

Update (8/4/08): After careful reconsideration, I’ve decided NOT to retire RMA. There’s still a lot I can do here. But you will have to get used to the more sporadic posting schedule….

A lot has changed around here over the past four years. Pages have come and gone… features have been added (and some have been taken away)… and, of course, the theme has changed about 50 trillion times. I’m indecisive at times… sue me.

A quick glance at the archives will show one other thing that’s changed: I hardly ever post here anymore.

At first I thought it was because I was suffering from writer’s block. Then I got busy with other things and just didn’t have time. When I left the hospital I lost a great source of inspiration. But I’ve been back there for almost a year now… and the inspiration hasn’t returned.

And it’s because I’ve changed… and so has my approach to blogging.

I’m just not into writing the big, wordy posts and running my mouth as much as I used to be. When I’ve got something to say I prefer to say it and move on. Short, sweet, and to the point.

But that wouldn’t fit in very well with what’s been going on here at RMA for the past four years. I feel confined here. And I feel like a massive change in both topic, style, and format would be awkward… and it would impact the content that’s already here in ways I wouldn’t like.

Luckily I found the answer to my blogging dilemma in Tumblr.

Tumblr is short, sweet, and to the point - just like my new blogging style. Oh sure… you could write and ramble on for hours using Tumblr. But I’m not sure that would work very well with the format. If you’ve ever looked at the back-end of WordPress (which powers RMA) you’ll understand what I mean when I say “complicated”. Options… settings… boxes… buttons… tabs… EVERYWHERE.

Tumblr is the epitome of simple. You can customize it and change some settings here and there. But it is simple enough to use that I honestly think my parents could use it without me having to show them a thing. And not only is it simple - it’s portable as hell. I can post from anywhere and from any device: my computer… my iPod Touch… my cell phone… anywhere.

If I take a picture of something funny or strange with my phone… I can just shoot it over to Tumblr with a caption and call it done. No more emailing it to myself, setting time aside later to format it and write some big wordy post around it.

It fits my lifestyle and my personality perfectly. Unfortunately, WordPress does not any longer.

So it is with both sadness and joy that I make two announcements:

Reader Meet Author is being retired, at least for now. At some point in the future I may decide to come back and pick up where I left off. I doubt it. But never say never, right? Everything will stay as it is - nothing is being deleted. And feel free to comment on any posts that are already here. I still get notified of new comments and will respond just as I always have. There simply won’t be any new content added.
I’m inviting anyone who wants to join me to the new place I now call home: Derick Phillips dot Com (original, huh?). As the name implies, Derick Phillips dot Com is just me. It’s not about any one thing… there’s no theme or category to stick it into. It’s just me. It’s what I originally started RMA to be and have wanted to get back to for quite some time. Oh yeah… and it’s powered by Tumblr. So you’ll notice right away that the look, feel, and format is quite different from RMA. It’s simple. Posts are short. And there’s no telling where I posted them from. I LOVE IT.

So there you have it - the good news and the bad.

Reader Meet Author is going into retirement. It’s been an awesome ride over the past four years (and several blog-related breakdowns). Thanks for coming along.

Luckily it’s not over, yet. Hopefully I’ll see you around Derick Phillips dot Com.

Category Posted in Blog Related, Personal