A recent lunch with a friend brought an issue that has been rummaging around in the deep recesses of my mind for years to the top of the pile. George is an avid and intelligent reader, and he includes MORE TO COME in the rotation of works he reads. He’s the best type of reader in that he talks with me about his perspective on the books, authors, and issues I discuss here.

Over our trout* he asked me, “What do you call MORE TO COME? A blog?” We then proceeded to have a discussion about how the sound of that word — blog — is just so unpleasant to the ear. It is awkward, clunky, and unappealing. It also just sounds outdated. I’ve thought about this off and on for years, but never acted on it. Until now.

Blog came, of course, from a shortening of the word weblog: a term that was coined for “a website that contains a log or diary of information, specific topics or opinions.” MTC certainly fits that description. But we can do better.

I’ve noticed that other writers on the web have also moved away from the term. Never one to be a trendsetter, it was time to finally take some action … indecisive as it may have been.

So MORE TO COME is now my newsletter. That’s the term that many writers on Substack use, and I think it fits my purpose just fine. In practical terms, all I’ve done to banish “blog” is changed my email electronic signatures to reflect the new moniker. (See, not all old-fashioned terms are bad!) I’ll also go back and update some items on the site, such as the About DJB and MORE TO COME post.

You’ll see me refer to the MTC newsletter going forward. I haven’t stopped writing and posting those thoughts online. Nothing has really changed. I’m just through with cringing when I hear the word blog!

More to come …

DJB

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UPDATE: One of my regular editors saw this after it was posted. They said that while they agreed with dropping the name “blog” they weren’t sure that “newsletter” was the best new term to use. I encouraged them to give me alternative suggestions, and I’m doing the same to others if you have a perspective on this. Thanks!

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*The Trout Meunière Arc-en-ciel at La Piquette is just sublime. Photo of the dining room from LaPiquette.com.

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Photo by Johnny Briggs on Unsplash