[insert excuses here].

Actually, no. There are no excuses. There were certain editorial reasons that various features were deliberately not added to the site. Last time I teased a couple of ongoing features: Monster Memories, an examination of the classic horror films and The Prisoner Episode Guide, an examination of the influential sci-fi program. Both of these features had several articles written and queued up and ready to go when during some final editing (yes, believe it or not I actually edit from time to time) I realized something, they weren’t that interesting. Just kind of boring really. I came to the conclusion that I was just rehashing old ideas and simply recapping TV and films that had been done dozens of times before and not bringing anything new to the discussion. And so, back to the drawing board. (Wow, there are a lot of clichés in this paragraph, I should edit. Nah.) I do plan to revisit these when I feel I have something worthwhile to add. Just not now.

In fact I spent a whole month or so feeling like I had nothing new to contribute. It happens.

I blame winter.

Yeah, screw winter. Getting dark a 5 o’clock and cold all the time. And it’s cold. And dark. And dark and cold. Winter, I am not a fan. I always get in a funk during winter. Not depressed mind you, because that’s not what it is. It’s just a general malaise, a feeling of overall blah. And I always just end up staring at a blank screen or empty paper and feeling uninspired. Nothing comes. Cold and dark.

So this year I did something different. Instead of just sitting around groundhog-like waiting for spring, I changed my routine. I went away, just for a few days, budget be damned. I drove to Keystone, a little ski resort west of where I live and got a little room that overlooked the highway and the mountains beyond. I had a couple of good meals and a bottle or two of wine (possibly three, but who’s counting) and I planned. Sure I wrote some, scribbles really. But mostly I just planned. I gathered notes and made outlines. I made lists of stories and ideas and concepts I wanted to talk about. I researched details online. I thought of funny things and serious things. I came up with opening lines recalled memories to embellish.

And I made a schedule.

I know that does not sound like much. And it may sound like common sense to you, but I cannot emphasize enough how being prepared can make a world of difference. See, I usually just let things come and not try to overthink it. Or, as a good friend of mine likes to say: drop you pants and slide on the ice and hope everything works out. This tends to be problematic when, to keep the metaphor going, the ice is thin and the water is cold. And winter is here. And it is dark.

But this time I have a plan. Yeah, screw you winter.

So in the upcoming days you will be seeing several things here from comic book reviews to pretty space pictures and various Christmas and holiday related silliness. And a pretty cool little story about some kids and a train set.

At the end of the year there will be the usual look back and emotional look forward and dreams of spring and warmth. But this year it will be on schedule.

Yee haw.