The Killer Hill in Anchorage Press this week

First, a headline I somehow missed. “Coast Guard rescues sinking Andromeda.” Well, OK, the headline was a little different, and the name of the boat wasn’t mentioned until later, but my first thought stumbling upon this a few months after the fact was: “See? I told you guys I gained weight this year.”

And I really did. But I also did something about it, as you can read in this week’s Anchorage Press cover story. “The Killer Hill” is an essay that seems to be about entering the painful world of uphill bicycle racing, but is really about something else: reevaluating how we Americans spend our free time, a subject I’ve been researching for the last 6 months. I hope you’ll take a look at it.

You’re at this blog, so you know how I’ve been spending my free time lately: creating this blog! And I think it’s going to be worth it. Because despite the media claim that something like one in three people are already blogging (wait? even babies?), only 10 percent of those blogs are updated regularly. (I’m still questioning those figures.) More to the point, only a few blogs seem worth visiting.

If you’re a reader, this will matter to you in the years ahead because print book review coverage is dwindling. (I’m not even going to make a link for that one. It’s an accepted fact.) And if you’re an author, it matters even more, because websites and blogs — especially blogs — may be your last best hope for reaching readers who might actually buy your books.

In addition to profiling Alaska authors, I’m going to spend the next several months sharing what I find out about online marketing and publicity, social networking as it applies to bibliophiles, and so on. Please join me as I spend just a little too much time online (so you don’t have to!).

Additionally, if you’re an author with new book to promote or a writer with something to say, please contact me. The statcounter tells me that people are already visiting this site (Big Brother lives!) but so far, not a single person has left a comment. That’s OK, I don’t mind (yet). Just so long as you keep checking back…