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A
monthly diary of current postings and quick train of thought entries
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March
2023
It’s the end of
March…
Twenty years of
In My Backpack. It’s been quite the ride so far, and
we’ve got so much still to do.
Thanks for joining
me—for supporting me—along the way.
It’s Friday, and
that means new material. Look for the links to two new essays
at the end of this entry.
Secret Invasion
has
a brilliant cast. And now, we appear to
have a release date. Look for it to arrive on Disney+ in late
June.
“The
snow melt”
“The
view outside your door”
Let’s take a look
at the Travel Trilogy as we head toward the upcoming release,
Once in a Lifetime…
Back in the early
days of In My Backpack. I added travel journals and
such to the site. Over the course of several adventures, the
efforts evolved. A lot.
In 2013, many of
the trips were brought together in a trio of books, the Strange
and Unexpected series. Released on
the same day in April 2013, the three volumes collected stories
and events from Florida, California and Las Vegas. It also showcased
three things that have become the most important elements in
my travel writing: Learning about the place you visit, having
fun, and interacting with people (from those you share the experience
with to anyone you meet along the way).
Continuing adventures
led to the addition of a fourth book in the trilogy—Something
Old, Something New—which documented
multiple trips to Orlando and a few days in Savannah. This book
was released in 2016.
Following that publication,
I began to wonder about making some slight adjustments to how
travel was presented on the website, and potentially in the
books. Diaries and day-by-day journals had become a part of
the works. “Best of…” columns covered the favorite items and
advice learned from our experiences. And we occasionally brought
in other travel partners to investigate other aspects of travel.
Considering and
leaning toward that transition, I thought about bringing together
one more book to add to the Strange and Unexpected
efforts. A fifth title that I expected would wrap up the Travel
Trilogy before any changes were made. That effort is set to
come together in Once in a Lifetime, which will focus on Seattle
and Nashville.
And, with that in
place, reality came about.
A funny thing happens
when you travel. You often encounter strange things. Unexpected
things. In the swirl and timing and work that was involved in
making the decision to look over and potentially revamp travel
coverage in the future around The ‘ville, I set off on a very
personal, very special, very important trip. 1,500 Miles
from Home is the result of that journey.
Once in a Lifetime
is up as the next release. While the date is still being set,
it should be out in May of 2023. 1,500 Miles from Home
is in development, with expectations for it being published
targeting late 2023. And with those releases, the six book Travel
Trilogy will have a ribbon put in place. (With a pretty bow.
Strange and unexpected indeed.)
Moving toward the
final week of the twentieth anniversary month.
We’ve announced
some plans for upcoming projects. Last month we released a new
book. Things have been busy. (Speaking of the new book…)
Suspiciously
Picturesque
The effort was designed
to celebrate the nineteenth anniversary of In My Backpack.
It contains seventy-one-essays, dating back to the early days
of the site. Six were crafted exclusively for its pages. Print
and Kindle editions are available, and the book is spreading
to additional online sources. If you’d like to learn more (and
thank you for that), you can look around this website, or visit
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the sites of several other booksellers.
Suspiciously
Picturesque at Amazon
Suspiciously
Picturesque at Barnes & Noble
Today marks the
second week of the new schedule, where the plan is to post something
new every Friday (usually essays, but in the future it will
likely involve interviews, photo galleries and other content).
Today, we’ve got two new pieces to share.
“An
honest mistake”
“The
greatest find”
A few special announcements
today. We’ve got a bit of ground to cover on five—yes, FIVE—upcoming
book release schedules.
Initially I was
looking at three more releases in 2023 and targeting mid to
late April for the next book, and those plans have been pretty
consistent. The work in arranging an appearance schedule, along
with a few personal commitments, has me thinking of adjusting
that a bit. Plus…
I had been tinkering
with inserting another book into the mix. I have several manuscripts
moving along at good clips right now. Getting some ribbons and
bows into place, sharing the material, and moving on to other
projects makes it important for me to get these set.
So, I’m pleased
to announce…
Once
in a Lifetime
May 2023 release
You
may never get published (Horror stories and thoughts to help
you try anyway)
July 2023 release
Untitled
October Fires project
Late September to early October 2023 release
1,500
Miles from Home
Late November to early December 2023 release
A
Parkside View: Volumes 7 & 8
February 2024 release
I’ll be sharing
more about each of these efforts over the next couple of weeks.
Mephisto is a really
terrific Marvel character. Hiding basically in the background
(we haven’t seen him yet, that we know of), there are whispers—whispers
people, just rumors—that a project may be in the works with
Sacha
Baren Cohen taking on the role.
If
you’re looking for great, fun, mindless comedy, Broken
Lizard is the group that should be your go
to source. Start with Super Troopers and build from there.
Here’s an interview with the gang. (Their newest effort, Quasi,
hits Hulu on April 20, 2023.)
This week we’re
going to try to bring some structure to The ‘ville. Beginning
today, Friday will be something of an automatic post day, with
at least one new piece being added to the site.
As we move along,
my expectations are that material may be posted at any time.
So, there absolutely might be essays and such put into place
and released on any day of the week. What I’m trying to do is
simply create a set schedule that makes it a bit easier for
you to be able to count on finding something new when you drop
in.
So, today we’ll
close with two new pieces and kick that off.
Full
trailer out for The Little Mermaid.
(And, it looks pretty sweet.)
Season three of
Only Murders in the Building is looking
better and better.
“A
moment of silence for baseball”
“Closed
for business”
Happy
Anniversary!
In
March of 2003, the In My Backpack website made its
first posts. We’ve developed, reorganized, grown, and, well,
let’s just say there have been some improvements over the years…
Just a quick entry
today. New essays coming up soon. Other stuff to be shared.
For now, let’s point at the latest release…
Suspiciously
Picturesque
You can find it
in print and Kindle editions, available now at Amazon (and beginning
to show up at other great online booksellers like Barnes &
Noble).
Suspiciously
Picturesque
print edition at Amazon
Suspiciously
Picturesque
at Barnes & Noble
Bob’s
author page at Amazon
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