Hmm. WordPress, here I come. Again.

I think I might be changing back to a privately hosted WordPress format. I haven't decided for sure yet.

(Which, of course, as we all know means I HAVE decided to do it, but I just haven't slotted it into my massive to-do list yet.)

Yes, yes, I know. For years, I've been a "Blogger is da-shizzle" kind of gal. And I still believe that.

Here's the thing, I had, for years, several reasons for switching back to and using Blogger. And, I STILL think that Blogger is a better alternative than most of the "freebie" sites out there. For starters, there are a shit-ton of freebie templates available for it that you can customize to your heart's content, without having to pay Google/Blogger for the privilege of doing so. I think it's FAR better for an author to stake their URL for their pen name and point it at a Blogger blog than to do anything else with it if their budget is limited. If you can't scrape the cost together of three Starbucks venti drinks to register one .com URL through Godaddy, then I really can't help you with your brand.

And no, this isn't a delayed reaction to the uproar a few months back about Google going after certain "adult" sites (which, really, had nothing to do with erotica authors' sites, they were targeting pay-per-click porn advertisers).

When I jumped off the self-hosted WP platform a few years back, one of the top reasons for me doing so was that I honestly didn't have the time to keep up with security updates. It was a pain in the ass. I was constantly battling to stay one step ahead of hackers. But now, there are so many WP-dedicated hosts out there who do all that stuff for you, for a very reasonable monthly fee, with few/no limits on bandwidth, it doesn't make sense not to look at all the options.

Also, I'm in the process of creating reader guides for my Triple Trouble series and my Suncoast Society series. I want the ability to self-host the downloads, as well as things like my printable book list, without having to depend on other third-party sites for those downloads.

I was happy with Yahoogroups supplying that kind of support, but now they've fucked up beyond all recognition changed how Yahoogroups is set up, and I'd rather have teeth pulled without the benefit of anesthesia than not deal with them. I'm also looking into alternatives for my newsletter/update list, which I could potentially piggyback onto a WP hosting installation.

Another thing is that I'm getting more and more readers emailing me that they can't access my site from work because I've got it tagged as adult in Blogger's system, meaning you get that click through splash screen when you first jump on it in a session. While yeah, some of my content on here isn't necessarily work safe or kid safe, it's not pictures of nekkid people doing stuff you wouldn't want displayed in your living room in mixed company, if you know what I mean. In the grand scheme of things, it's relatively tame. But to keep from running afoul of Blogger's guidelines, I had no problem setting the tag as "adult."

Basically, this is all just a heads-up kind of notice, that if you start seeing changes, or you show up here one day and it's all...different, you'll know why. LOL  So let the cyber-construction/renovations begin!