Coming Soon: More New Posts!

Yep, I'll be writing about FLO. Image credit: NASA

Alert long-time readers of my online "stuff" will know already that most of what I have been posting on this blog has been "rescued" from my WIRED blog Beyond Apollo. I use the word "rescued" because, while my posts are archived on WIRED, I have no control over them, and I have become unhappy with the way they are being modified.

That said, I have been modifying them myself. WIRED had restrictions on image size, and these have become increasingly onerous since I quit in March. Many images have shrunk to the point that one can no longer read the text or see the details they contain. I have no such restrictions. When I move an "old" post to this new blog, I add new images and enlarge old ones.

The other thing I do is rewrite the posts. I add new information, correct errors I missed, add or delete quotations, rewrite captions (WIRED had limits on caption length), arrange them into series of posts with common themes, and bring them up to date. I feel strongly that I shouldn't simply recycle previously posted material - I should add value to what I post.

This isn't to say that I haven't written wholly new posts since starting this blog in March. In fact, some of my most popular posts are wholly new. All my alternate history posts are new, for example.

Gotta write about L point Gateways. They're just too cool. Image credit: NASA

They will soon be joined by other new posts. While I have quite a few posts left to rescue (about 100), I also have hundreds of documents to write about. They call to me as I try to sleep. (Actually, they don't. I don't know where that came from. But you get the idea.) I expect to ramp up the ratio of new to rescued posts over the remainder of 2015.

So, what is coming down the pike? Quite a few long-promised posts that just never quite got finished, for one thing. Also, posts on more recent documents; my policy has been to write about nothing newer than 10 years old, but I am selectively changing that to five years. The 10-year-rule I put in place to ensure that I understood context before I wrote; I've since determined that some studies can be written about with adequate context after five years.

Specific topics will include some about which I have already been posting: for example, the "Preparing for Halley" series. I don't want to give away too much, but expect a shift toward lunar planning. Mars gets so much attention these days. It's my nature not to run with the herd.

In 2016, I plan to crowdfund this blog. I have no idea whether that is possible. I seem to have a good number of readers (better than when the blog was at WIRED, in fact). I plan to pour contributions back into the blog. For example, your contributions might underwrite a research trip, or might enable me to commission original art. (Some artists have contributed to my blogs on a voluntary basis, but I have seldom been wholly comfortable with that. Creators deserve payment.)

Why do I write this blog? I see it as a hobby, but hopefully one that can be useful to my readers. I love to write, and I love spaceflight, so it's an outlet for my passions. Moving forward, these factors will remain paramount. I hope you'll stay around and that you'll enjoy reading and commenting on this blog as much as I enjoy writing it.

And, more star travel stuff - oh, yeah! Image credit: NASA

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