seawasp | Network

Warning: this is a book business rant.

Talk about a rude awakening. Draft2Digital’s announcement that they would charge a yearly $12 maintenance fee to accounts netting less than $100 per year—allegedly as a means to counter AI slop—made me sit down and look at my records. I’ve had the perception over the past few years that my sales at D2D have gone down. I attributed that status to lack of a new release last year, the economy, the state of the world overall, and the need to change covers. I’ve been running regular promotions, sales, and talking up my backlist, both on social media and my newsletter.

Then this announcement happened.

I was already annoyed at D2D because they were slow to confirm the publishing of my new February release, Vision of Alliance, at Barnes and Noble, which has been my best selling vendor, by TEN DAYS. I had been checking my clicks at D2D’s Books2Read app because I was using their universal links and noticed that—hmm, clicks aren’t happening for a new release, what’s up?

Eh, I figured it was the wackiness of the economy and our current political situation and not so much the publishing issue. Plus it was not a particularly cozy fantasy (look, I’m really bad at cozy, though maybe I should give it a try. One of these days. Though I do have one book that I occasionally call a “cozy apocalypse.” It’s…kinda sorta cozy). Nonetheless, the results for the Vision of Alliance book launch were disappointing, given that I’d lined up what I thought was a good set of promotions, plus I had featured it on my new website that has specific book landing pages. The lack of sales didn’t make sense AT ALL, unless it was the slowness of the Barnes and Noble link to show up on D2D. But I just figured that my readers weren’t interested in a return to the world of the Seven Crowned Gods, so I would need to pivot. I put the second book of the trilogy aside and began working on a new project.

Meanwhile, as a result of the listing delay of Barnes and Noble links for Vision of Alliance, I had put direct links to Barnes and Noble for all my books on their respective landing pages. About half of the Barnes and Noble links on D2D’s universal links were not working. I ended up pulling up my listings on B&N directly to get the page links I needed. Thankfully, part of my preparation for releasing Alliance was changing websites to a setup designed specifically for authors, so it was easy for me to plug in those links. It definitely saved me a lot of energy and angst.

At the same time, I kept hearing mutterings on various indie author social media sites about issues with D2D overall. Poor customer service. Problems getting listings approved. Smashwords authors having more complications during the transition with books not appearing on D2D, or their books getting mangled. Glitches with the ebook catalog getting uploaded to Bookshop. Concerns about censorship. Broken links. I didn’t get into details because at the time I was working with my spouse to help close down part of his retirement side business, which involved a lot of physical labor, and, well, I’m getting up there in years. I don’t have the energy I used to have.

D2D’s announcement made me angry enough to start looking at my books and their links. Good grief. Some links worked. Some didn’t. Some worked one time, but didn’t another. What’s worse, the link to a book I recently had put on sale didn’t work AT ALL. Then it did. Then it didn’t. Up and down over the course of several hours.

That was when I really got angry, and made the decision to leave D2D rather than pay them $12 a year. If I’m going to pay for a service, then I expect things to work. If they’re providing me a universal book link, well, that link should come up consistently—and that apparently wasn’t happening.

But with 32 books, changing this stuff takes time. As a temporary stopgap while I went through the process of going direct once more, over the course of several hours I added links on my website’s book landing pages to every vendor that I was selling with through D2D. Couldn’t trust the usefulness of those universal links, obviously. Back to individual listings, which I had done before.

Then I sat down and crunched the sales numbers for the last five years.

Yikes.

I have not had a good sales year on D2D since 2023. That was about the time I went to universal book links through them, rather than listing the Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, and Kobo links separately. Meanwhile, my Amazon sales have been fairly steady, except for a big surge in 2022 and 2023, when I was part of Kindle Vella. My Ingram sales for paperback editions have been consistent as well, although I got hit with returns in 2025 which impacted payouts for that year.

$12 for account maintenance doesn’t look so good after all. Especially since the numbers keep falling.

All right, then. Time to do something new—and right away, part of that for me means moving my catalog off of that site. One challenge I face is that my previous accounts with Barnes and Noble and with Kobo are tied to an email address that no longer exists. I apparently opened a Google Play account, then didn’t do anything with it. I need to open an Apple account and get that set up. So there’s a lot of business setup to do.

That’s the first piece.

The next one is uploading everything to these assorted sites (32 books!) and getting the word out that yes, I have stable links available for my books now.

After getting a request for Kindle epubs on Itch, I’m going to put those up there, as well.

Additionally, I’m adding hardcover editions to my catalog to supplement already-available ebook and paperbacks. I’m seeing a rise in hard copy sales and want to take advantage of that opportunity. Fortunately, that’s an easy process because I just need to take my paperback interior and upload it, then revise my paperback cover for hardback in BookBrush…which is actually quite easy to do. Hello, Bowker (the service that distributes the US book identification numbers used by the industry), I’m finally forking out for a block of 100 ISBNs. At least I shouldn’t need to buy any more for quite some time.

Finally, I am getting serious about finding a means to sell direct. I’ve done the Ko-fi store in the past, and I may do it again with a different payment processor than Paypal. But I also need to find a better means to do direct, one that covers taxes and processing. I somewhat have the direct option for my paperbacks and hardcovers through Ingram Spark’s Share and Sell link, which…I get a better return than I would through Ingram’s regular distributors (alas, this is only a US option).

Arrgh. It’s a lot of work when I’d much rather be writing. Nonetheless, it’s part of the business and…it has to be done. Sigh. But that’s the life for any writer, indie or traditional—it just happens faster to indies. And if I want commiseration, I just need to pull out an Anthony Trollope book that talks about the publishing business (The Way We Live Now, An Editor’s Tales, Autobiography) and soothe myself with the notion that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Trollope and writers of his era had to hustle to be recognized.

Sounds quite familiar.

Meanwhile, you can find my books at https://www.joycereynolds-ward.com. Sales and specials are at the top of the listings. I write a variety of science fiction and fantasy. Or drop a tip at my Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joycereynoldsward

And oh hey! It’s Indie April! I have a bunch of ebooks on sale, starting with my Resistance and Romance! Itch bundle featuring six of my books heavy on relationships in the face of corporate and political turmoil. That will go for all of April. Plus I have Vision of Alliance and The Cost of Power Omnibus edition both available in ebook at $3.99 throughout April.

silver_chipmunk

Got up and had breakfast and coffee, showered and dressed, and went to my Al-anon meeting. I made it on time despite running late all morning. The meeting was very good.

I didn't go to the diner afterward, I went straight to

mashfanficchick's. D rode on the bus and the subway for a good part of the way with me, which was interesting. He's a very strange person.

Anyway I got to

mashfanficchick's and we went into Manhattan, by the F train to the E. Before we took a bus to the museum we looked for someplace to eat, and went to Thisbowl, and Australian chain. I got a bowl with salmon.

Then we took the bus to the Met, and waited for Marja on the steps. It didn't take long, and then we went into the museum.

We went to the American wing and spent most of our time there. Tiffany glass windows and things, so beautiful.

Eventually Marja was tired though so we left and took the bus back to the subway and came back to

mashfanficchick's. I Teamed the FWiB, and we ordered Mexican food for dinner. I had a shrimp quesadilla.

After that we watched the final episode of Heated Rivalry. It's so sweet.

Then I took an Uber home and fed the pets and here I am.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Marja.

3. The Met.

4. Good food.

5. My meetings and the people there.

6. Good TV.

Current Mood: cheerful

ranunculus

Yesterday Chena went from her usual interactive, happy self to the picture of an unwell dog. She was wobbly on her feet, flinched away from people and really, really didn't want to be touched. She lay down in the living room around 9am and hardly moved until 4pm. Not interested in food or drink. I almost took her to the emergency vet last night, but it looked like she was beginning to be a little more alert, so waited. At 3am she consented to lapping a little water. At 7 am she zoomed out the front door and began barking noisily at Mr Raven who was sitting on the power pole. Happily ate breakfast and slurped up water. Charged up Fairview Hill running happily next to the car. She happily rooted around in the leaf litter where the fallen limbs had been, using her nose like a pig. She was following the scent of a vole. My only guess is that somehow she got into some marijuana and spent the day yesterday extremely stoned. 1 gummy would have done it, but WHERE would she get such a thing? Whatever the case I'm glad she has gotten back to normal.

ranunculus

This morning I met Dave and Ray at Friedman's. We bought lumber, screws, and rebar so I can build a bridge. We hauled the stuff up to the house, cut the lumber into 5' pieces and then hauled it out to Duck Lake. The three of us then switched gears and cleared the fallen tree off the old road above Duck Lake. Lots of twiggy stuff, but unnerving because three trees were involved. The biggest tree had fallen hitting and breaking two smaller trees. All of the bases were hung up (read the trees had snapped partway up and had not fallen all the way down. Instead the heavy trunk of the tree was suspended in the air. When the lower branches are cut back it changes the way the trunk is supported and can cause one or more of the trunks to roll and fall. This was on a steep sideslope, so I kept a sharp eye on everything as I cut, I really didn't want anything rolling down on top of me.
Our third task was to clear two massive limbs at Deer Camp. The two were hung up, and leaning on each other. There was probably 1,000 # waiting to fall on us. Fortunately those two limbs were pretty stable and on flatter ground. Once we cleared all the twiggy "brush" and cut back any branch that was not supporting weight we considered the problem. Geez, hundreds of pounds 10 feet in the air.... We put a tow strap on the smaller limb and pulled it sideways a little. It obligingly fell down with a thump, leaving the larger limb hanging by nothing much. I tried a cut to see if it would roll down, but no luck. So we put the tow strap on it and pulled it the opposite direction of the first limb. It fell with almost no real pressure on the strap. Whew! Very scary work. Lots of thought about how to keep fragile human bodies safe. With the limbs down Dave and Ray left as they had late afternoon appointments.
I returned to the house and feverishly sorted out ribbons. We mark the trail by tying surveyors tape; bright orange or bright pink; to clothespins. The clothespins can then be clipped to branches, fences, wands or pretty much anything else. To keep the ribbons and clothespins tidy and easy to access the pins are clipped to a circle of rope that can be worn over one shoulder. Here is Carrie and Juno last year.

The flags with the blue in them are to mark turns or other places where the trail might be confusing. They mean: STOP, find your next flag before you go any further. It will be in sight! Helps keep people from getting lost. I am desperately trying to make more flags. Somehow an entire, large box of flags, neatly clipped to ropes, has disappeared. Probably at least 200 flags just gone. Hopefully now that I am replacing them the old flags will re-appear.
Tomorrow is a bridge building day with Glenn.

canyonwalker

Ohio Waterfalls Travelog #7
Hocking Hills State Park · Fri, 17 Apr 2026. 2pm

We had a great hike today in the gorge at Hocking Hills State Park. After hiking the upper half of the main gorge area (previous blog) we continued on to the lower half. A bailout trail would've let us cut short the hike without doing this other half, but given there are at least three waterfalls worth seeing in the lower half, WTF would anyone want to do that?

Lower Falls in the gorge at Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio (Apr 2026)

Lower Falls in the gorge at Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio (Apr 2026)

This is Lower Falls in the gorge. Like Upper Falls (see previous blog) it pours down into a nice bowl surrounded on three sides by rock walls. It's probably a nice swimming hole. We didn't hop in because we're not the sort to say, "Ooh, a beautiful body of fresh water, let's muddy it up so others can't appreciate its beauty!" I'm thankful that others around us felt the same way... or perhaps felt the temperature was a tad too cool to go swimming. I enjoyed the chance to appreciate seeing the water without the distraction of kids jumping in the water and throwing sticks and stones and trying to murder each other.

Speaking of weather, it's beautiful today. The temperature's in the low 80s, perhaps a bit cooler down here in the gorge by the creek. The next few days look to be rainy and cooler, so we're definitely enjoying it while we can.

Up and out of the gorge at Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio (Apr 2026)

Up and out of the gorge at Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio (Apr 2026)

At Lower Falls we started hiking a trail up and out of the canyon. The creek trail does continue further downstream, but there's only one other thing nearby we'd want to see. ...And as we got partway up this climb we realized that the side trail we want for it is a smidge further downstream. So we doubled back down these stairs to the creek... though not before appreciating the scene above us.

Yes, that's water pouring over the lip of the canyon way above us. It's about as much as a bathroom shower. I imagine after a rainstorm it flows a lot heavier.

Yes², the canyon rim overhangs this area quite a bit. The trail goes behind the waterfall by at least 20'.

Yes³, that's a spiral staircase at the right edge of the frame. The canyon wall is so high and vertical here (actually it's concave) that the park built a metal staircase to climb us out.

But back to that falls we didn't want to miss....

Broken Rock Falls in the gorge at Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio (Apr 2026)

Broken Rock Falls in the gorge at Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio (Apr 2026)

A bit further down the main creek in the gorge a side creek pours in. There's a metal bridge over the water but no signs. The trail up the tributary is obscured at first, like it hasn't been maintained in a while— intentionally so. We figured where to go based on orienteering skill.

As we climbed the side canyon the trail emerged. It climbed steeply up steps carved into the natural rock. Debris and damage showed that, indeed, this area hasn't been maintained for a while. We scrambled past some fallen rocks and found ourselves right up close to Broken Rock Falls. Yes, the name is quite apropos. And now it comes with more broken rock in every hike. 🤣

From here we continued around a small loop trail mid-way up the canyon wall back toward the cave in the middle picture. It was cool having the perspective of the steep rock wall right next to us. And once we climbed that spiral staircase that wasn't the only oddity on the way out.... There was also a staircase some 60 steps high that ascended through a tunnel! That's one area where I really appreciated that a lot of the trails in this park are one-way and clearly (and repeatedly) marked as such. Navigating tight squeezes like these stairs would be an absolute zoo if people were pushing past each other in both directions.

rdm

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conuly

I think that I shall never know
Why I am thus, and I am so.
Around me, other girls inspire
In men the rush and roar of fire.
The sweet transparency of glass,
The tenderness of April grass,
The durability of granite;
But me—I don't know how to plan it.
The lads I've met in Cupid's deadlock
Were—shall we say?—born out of wedlock.
They broke my heart, they stilled my song,
And said they had to run along,
Explaining, so to sop my tears,
First came their parents or careers.
But ever does experience
Deny me wisdom, calm, and sense!
Though she's a fool who seeks to capture
The twenty-first fine, careless rapture,
I must go on, till ends my rope,
Who from my birth was cursed with hope.
A heart in half is chaste, archaic;
But mine resembles a mosaic—
The thing's become ridiculous!
Why am I so? Why am I thus?

********

Link

conuly

Poll #34495 Ideal calendar behavior

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 21

View Respondents

When should one cross dates off the calendar?

View Answers

You cross off the current date at the start of the day
2 (9.5%)

You cross off the current date at the end of the day
14 (66.7%)

You cross off tomorrow's date at the end of the day
1 (4.8%)

You never cross anything off, ever
4 (19.0%)

***************

( Read more... )

flemmings

Evidently walking 7000 steps leads to, conservatively, eleven hours of sleep, if we suppose it took me over an hour to fall asleep, which I don't think it did. So I finally woke up well after noon and forewent my usual exercises to have breakfast instead. But did them afterwards because heavy rain meant no going out. So I am stretched and no less limber than usual.

Succeeded in one long postponed task, which was sweeping the basement stairs, something I've probably never done since returningfrom Japan thirty years ago. But six years back when next door was moving stuff into my basement my s-i-l cleaned the place up and my did it make a difference. So I've known I should do it but I've never been happy on the stairs since tripping on them last year. However, did get them swept off, with my backyard broom because basement dust is nasty, and need only bring a dustpan and garbage bag down to dispose of the piles. Which will do when I rescue the laundry I did today after it dries in the furnace's heat. Furnace is still not on because temps won't drop until the wee hours, but have bumped the thermostat up to 15 so I won't freeze in those same wee hours.

yourlibrarian posting in

common_nature

We have seen grebes many times but very often they are solo or there may be two. It was unusual to see a group swimming together, which this one did for some time.

( Read more... )

rolanni

Well. Saturday. Damp and cooler.

My dishwasher may either be broken, or it's current state of semi-functionality is an artifact of the water main work going on down the street. I checked the circuit box this morning, and started another cycle was this morning, but it's not sounding good. I'm not hearing water moving in that box, which -- at least it's not leaking, amirite? So! I'll be doing a dishwasher full of dishes by hand some time today. That'll be fun.

It will also prepare me for doing my dishes by hand going forward, because a new dishwasher is so not in the budget.

What else?

Not much, I'm thinking.

Breakfast, I do believe, will be oatmeal, then I'm hitting the manuscript until lunch time, then dealing the domestic mini-crisis, then The! Studio!

A plan.

What's your plan for the day?
#
Saturday evening.

I am half-way through formatting The Fey Duology -- which means I've finished with Longeye. Duainfey will go slower, not because it needs more work, but because I have a busy patch coming up.

Tomorrow afternoon, I have an interview scheduled. Sean Hazlett and I will be chatting about A Liaden Universe Constellation Volume 6, soon to be arriving in bookstores everywhere. Monday is a meeting of the book club, after our winter hiatus, Tuesday is of course needlework, and Wednesday is my date with an alpaca. None of these are all-encompassing, but they do mean I can't just sit down for a bunch of hours at a stretch to do my job.

In preparation for Wednesday, I found my hiking boots. I was . . . somewhat taken aback to find that these are Rather New hiking boots. Hardly used, in fact. When I went into the closet, I had in my mind my old hiking boots, which memory now reminds me had been retired when the soles got too smooth for safety.

I've also done some research about how I should comport myself, so as not to offend alpaca-kind, and I now know not to wear strong scent, or noisy things (which means my keys will stay in the car, with the exception of the car fob itself, which will go into my pocket, instead of the three of them riding on a belt loop as per usual), or very bright colors. Wednesday is supposed to be cooler than it has been for the last few days, and I'm eyeing my dull purple hoodie, as most likely not to be missed in case I am spat upon.

I've also been informed that alpacas prefer to take the initiative, so I should not rush my walking companion on Wednesday, and that I should in no case try to pat an alpaca on the head.

I finished grinding my glass pieces, and this evening I will consult my book to refresh myself on foiling.

I put out a call on the Waterville Facebook page, seeking someone competent to repair a dishwasher, in case there's an easy fix.

I did, for the curious, wash the dishes that were in the dishwasher, which was oddly calming.

I think that catches us all up.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe. I'll check in tomorrow.

Ah. The second daffodil of spring. I note that the Weatherbeans are calling for snow tomorrow.

moonhare

Just a few finds, mainly from Imgur. Some with comment…

This would be me

Cute pups! And do people still say that?

This gave me pause (not paws), but I didn’t wish to overthink it!

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: 80s mix

skygiants

I have often read single-person biographies where the biographer is very obviously in love with their subject; I have also occasionally read have also read Couple Biographies where the biographer is really invested in the romance between their subjects plural. Ilyon Woo's Master Slave Husband Wife is a really great, thoughtful, thorough exploration of a particular moment in the history of American slavery around the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and the defiant abolitionist movement. It is also very definitively a love story that Woo believes in with her whole heart and is ready to champion all the way to the end, which I honestly think is quite charming even when I myself looking at the evidence was sometimes like "well, I too would like to believe that all through their many years together William and Ellen Craft were indeed fully and romantically on the same page and had each other's backs about everything, but I think it's possible there are other interpretations of some of these events and that in many cases we simply can't know for sure --"

The Big Headline about Ellen and William Craft, the story that made them famous and that the first part of this book recounts in detail, is their daring escape North from slavery in 1848: Ellen disguised herself as an extremely sickly white gentleman who needed her loyal slave with her at all times, and in this guise they managed to navigate 19th-century public transit all the way from Georgia to Philadelphia. They themselves wrote a book about this, which I do plan to read, because it sounds extremely cool and romantic and indeed everyone they met as they made their way from Philadelphia to Massachusetts was like "that's extremely cool and romantic!" and promptly pulled them onto the abolitionist lecture circuit to general wild applause. Ellen, in particular, had major abolitionist propaganda value for forcing empathy out of white people. She was often billed as the White Slave (a label that she did not enjoy.)

Being an escaped slave on the abolitionist lecture circuit was obviously pretty dangerous in 1848 but not as dangerous as it was about to become. In 1848, the Fugitive Slave Laws up north were pretty toothless and unenforceable. In 1850, in an attempt to staple the rapidly-fracturing country back together, significantly stronger laws were passed that essentially forced abolitionist states to cooperate with returning escaped slaves to their masters. Ellen and William Craft, who had so publicly escaped in a way that was very cool and also very embarrassing for the slave states through which they passed, inevitably became one of the first major test cases as to whether Massachusetts would indeed fulfill its Obligations to the South.

Woo writes a compelling narrative, but more importantly she does a really wonderful job balancing that narrative with the complexity of the broader context; from the opening chapter, where she ties the Craft's escape in 1848 with the 1848 revolutionary movement in Europe, I already knew I was in good hands. She does occasionally I think overuse the Ominous Foreshadowing Chapter Ending, but as nonfiction author sins go that's a minor one. She says that at one point in the text that as part of telling their full story she wants to complicate the idea of a happy ending, but it's very clear that in her heart she wants the Crafts to have been very in love and very married all throughout their long and interesting lives, and who can blame her for that?

conuly

is that none of this was made up. Truly, I hate this timeline.

ismo

Going to a funeral isn't the best way to start off a day. Actually, come to think of it, we didn't quite start the day with a funeral. We had tea and I gave the Sparrowhawk his normal breakfast before we got dressed up and headed off to the church. And while we were doing this, we saw an IMMENSE raccoon skulking through the neighbor's yard, climbing up onto their fence and walking the fence like a path made just for him, between our yards until he disappeared into the trees. I hope this creature was healthy and not rabid, because he was the size of a Volkswagen. Well, okay, I'm exaggerating, but he might have been the size of a small pit bull. Then after that we went to the funeral. It doesn't become me to critique another person's funeral, but let me just say that three out of the four songs we sang were on my no-fly list of SONGS NEVER TO SING AT MY FUNERAL OR ELSE. Funerals are hard, and the Sparrowhawk and I both lost it a little bit right at the end. We were somewhat consoled by sitting with good friends at the luncheon, but we were more than ready to go home very soon. And we have not been up to much the rest of this day. The Sparrowhawk has not been on an upward curve as we had hoped. Now, with evening, some blue sky is showing, and I wish with all my heart that I felt like going outside. But I don't. We are going to take to our bed early and do a MacGyver marathon. The only subject for discussion is which snacks to bring upstairs with us.

redbird

I accompanied

adrian_turtle to an MRI facility, where she had an MRI with contrast, which hopefully will help her current neurologist figure out better medication for her seizures. Like many people, Adrian finds the contrast medium unpleasant, which is at least part of why she wanted company.

Afterwards, we went to JP Licks, where I got us both ice cream. They have non-dairy coconut almond lace ice cream this month, and there's now a pint of that in our freezer.

mellowtigger

I'm a big advocate of recognizing climate change.

For instance, back in 1960, this USDA map shows Minneapolis in zone 4a. Sometime later, we changed to 4b, and today we're in zone 5a. We're still fully surrounded by zone 4b, though, so it's only because of the "heat island effect" that we're considered a warmer zone. You can see that island of heat on this map. That's fine, I suppose.

Unwelcome, however, is receiving plant shipments on dates that are still too early for actual cold weather habits in this part of Minnesota. I planted things a few weeks ago, when they shipped much too early, then we had a hard freeze down to -7C/20F. I received more plants on Thursday, only a little too early. I kept them indoors, because I saw the forecast for below-freezing temperatures this morning. That's also fine, I suppose. After work today, I got some asparagus and roses into the ground finally. I had to dress warm, because the wind chill was 3C/37F.

I have a few more delivered plants to put into the ground, but I'm waiting until Monday morning's sub-freezing weather passes. One of these plants is another rose, but it's already blooming! It just seems terribly wrong to try putting it into the ground right before a freeze.

That photo isn't great, but the single open flower at the top is still visible. These last remaining plants will just have to wait for Monday afternoon. I wish all of these plants weren't delivered until late April, like what would happen years ago, when we were still in zone 4.

canyonwalker

Ohio Waterfalls Travelog #6
Hocking Hills State Park · Fri, 17 Apr 2026. 12:15pm

After five blogs so far about this trip you might be wondering, "You said this was all about waterfalls. When are you actually going to get to one?" Well, it's been five blogs getting to this point because, as I often point out about traveling, getting there is half the trip. And now that we're here, five blogs later, so are the waterfalls. Start with this one:

Upper Falls in the gorge at Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio (Apr 2026)

Upper Falls in the gorge at Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio (Apr 2026)

This is Upper Falls at Hocking Hills State Park. It's in a gorge that is not well named on maps so I'm just going to call it Old Man's Gorge because all the signs talk about Old Man's Cave. Legends have it that an old man used to live in this area (actually there are two groups of legends, which describe two different old men but wind up converging on details post mortem) and buried treasure in a cave in this gorge. Hence Old Man's Cave. And thus Old Man's Gorge. IDK.

The gorge is pretty easy to get down into. I mean, it's a state park. There's a trail. 🤣 The bridge you see above the falls crosses over the creek near the rim of the gorge. Stairs of stone and wood lead down to the creek level. From here a trail runs a few miles through the gorge.

Walking the gorge at Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio (Apr 2026)

Walking the gorge at Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio (Apr 2026)

It's a pleasant walk along the trail at the bottom of the creek. This is one of the few pictures I got without anybody standing in front of me. While the park isn't crowded today it's also not empty. I'm glad we're here on a weekday. Tomorrow (Saturday) it will probably be thronged. Yay, retirement!

The walls of the gorge are sandstone. This particular layer is called Black Hand sandstone, named for a native people who lived here. The force of the water in the creek carved down vertically through the soft stone. The ridges and scallops you see in the stone are places where thin veins of harder minerals resisted the erosive action of water.

BTW, while this picture makes the gorge look like it's only 30' deep, it's actually more than twice that. The gorge walls here are stepped. There's at least one more riser of walls above them.

Unnamed falls in the gorge at Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio (Apr 2026)

Unnamed falls in the gorge at Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio (Apr 2026)

Further on down the gorge we noticed this small falls cascading down the walls along the route of a side creek. I've double checked the maps and can't find a name for it. Thus I'm going to go with Unnamed Falls.

The bridge you can see above the falls is a shortcut down from the visitors center. Apparently it's a shortcut for people who don't want to see Upper Falls (the first photo, above) which IMHO is the best part of this hike so far. Though it's premature of me to say that because there's still more to come.

shipperslist

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starwatcher

Cribbed from Marilyn's Facebook page, a song about Rome's Nero, which directly references the current U.S "Nero" in office. Doesn't solve anything, but nice to see folks being aware.

Profile

seawasp

Ryk E. Spoor's Writing Site

April 2026

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Page generated Apr. 19th, 2026 05:40 am

The Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)

Network

Pivoting in the Indie Writer Life (A reaction to the Draft2Digital announcement)

Day 2 at the Met

Chena

Busy

More Waterfalls in Old Man's Gorge

A big day!

A Fairly Sad Tale by Dorothy Parker

(no subject)

(no subject)

Grebes in the Rain

Satruday at home

More comics

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What's really dismaying

VioletStock of Trill

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Minneapolis is not ready for zone 5 yet

Hiking the Old Man's Gorge at Hocking Hills State Park

Belonging to the Air by Avery Irons

Too good not to share.

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April 2026

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