Let's Turn the Lights Back On

Is this thing still on? Bueller? Bueller?

Hello there, to whoever out there might be reading this. Thank you for stumbling onto my humble little blog. I have been very, very busy these past seven years and decided it was time to seriously focus on my writing once again. Instead of going to all the trouble to starting a new blog, I felt it would just be easier to dust off my existing blogs and get back into the game.

My name is Daniel Thomas MacInnes. I once wrote on a pair of sites called Ghibli Blog and Daniel Thomas Vol 4, where I wrote about Studio Ghibli, animation, film, television, videogames, and whatever strange thoughts had crossed my mind. Before that, I built and maintained an arts website called DanielThomas.org, which was mildly successful for a few years.

When I last left this place in 2017, I had written a new zine and a trio of books, all self-published by my own independent publishing label called DT Media. Since that time, I shifted my focus primarily on publishing art & photography ebooks, and the total number of titles to my name now stands at 33. I have two more titles "in the can," plus several others in various stages of production. By this time next year, I shall have written and published over 40 books, which is an achievement that feels unreal, almost imaginary. And yet, here we are.

I'm planning on reviving my two blogs, as well as my mailing list that has been, unfortunately, neglected for ages, in hopes of drawing attention to my work and advancing my career. I do realize that the online world has changed radically in the past decade, especially where blogs and long-form writing is concerned. Everyone now seems obsessed with social media and eight-second video clips on TikTok, Instagram and other such places.

Is there still a community for writer & artist blogs? I do hope so. In the end, it doesn't really matter, since I have the mic and I'm on stage. Just like my publishing empire on Amazon, I'll keep pumping them out until the Powers That Be finally shut the whole enterprise down once and for all (I hold no illusions about Amazon KDP standing forever and treat it as a Divinely blessed opportunity). That is the only advice anyone really needs, after all. When I began writing online, I had no idea who, if anyone, would ever read my work. Yet I kept writing, and eventually they did arrive.

Hopefully, my skills as a writer have matured over the years, and that I have something worth saying.

In my personal life, I am now divorced and have a four-year-old daughter who I raise during weekdays while her mother is at work (we share joint custody). Writing and art may be my profession, but being a stay-at-home father is my career, and it's easily the most demanding, challenging and important job I've ever had in my life. Nothing else will ever come close.

All of which is my way of saying: Be patient, please. I will write as steadily and reliably as I can, but time and scheduling are very tight and there are only so many hours in the day. That said, I will try to do my best.

Thank you for reading this, I greatly appreciate it.