The Move to Ghost

If you’ve followed my work for a while, you probably know that I love designing and developing websites—usually with the latest tools or platforms. Since you’re in the know, you might glance at the footer of this site and say, “Powered by Ghost, eh?” Looks like this old web slinger has gone the hosted CMS route… and picked a default theme.

And, yeah. I did. So while we’re on the subject, here’s why.

Time to Let Up

For almost 30 years, I’ve designed and coded every website I’ve had—while also managing the server it ran on. It’s my career, after all. Spending countless hours perfecting templates and adding features was how I learned. I wouldn’t even consider using a tool for work unless I had already built something for myself with it.

I got good at what I do because I couldn’t stop dicking around with my website.

Back in the day, I wanted you to notice the design. I wanted my site to make you think, this guy knows what he’s doing—I should hire him.

Now? I just want you to read my stuff.

I don’t need to do all that work when a well-made template gets the job done just fine. I spend my workdays discussing HTML and CSS at such a deep level that building a personal design system for fun sounds about as appealing as [insert dream here that wasn’t bad but God did it leave you feeling icky].

And honestly? Let someone else deal with server maintenance. I have less important things to do—like sitting on my porch, rocking in a chair, and yelling, “In my day, salad wasn’t fruit!”

I’ve stepped off most social media. It used to be a big part of my work, but now? It’s a toxic mess of burning diarrhea that I have no interest in feeding. Since I’m not there, I’m not going to be sharing links to my writing, nudging you to click over and read.

RSS feeds? Basically extinct. At least in the sense that most people don’t know what they are or keep a list of them anymore.

So, what’s the next logical step? Email.

At first, the thought made me queasy—because modern spam filters have to handle an absolutely staggering flood of junk. I didn’t want to be associated with adding to that mess.

But then I realized: if you subscribe, you’re literally asking me for the content. So I’m not spamming you. And I promise not to flood your inbox. Plus, there’s something beautifully old-school about publishing through email—it feels almost 30 years ago, back when email was our only universal mass communication tool.

So, Yeah—This Blog is an Email Archive Now

Here’s how this works:

• Posts land in your inbox. No need to visit the website to read. Just subscribe. And if a post doesn’t interest you? Toss it in the trash and move on. Want to share with someone? Forward the email or use the handy link in each email to share a website link on social media.
• Ghost still supports RSS if you’re into that. Respect.
• I’ll post links on Bluesky, which is the only social platform I really use these days. Well, not only. I hate that Meta owns it, but I just can’t stop looking at Instagram.

I could technically set up a bot to announce posts on X and Facebook, but I don’t want to send even one more scrap of data in those directions. If you’re reading this, you already know where to find me.

It’s wild to think that blogging and self-publishing have evolved so much that we’ve somehow come full circle—back to email. However you look at it, that’s fascinating.