Welcome to Backpackville

The website is back (and it has a sister site). 

First and foremost, welcome. 

For many of you, this is a welcome back.  You’ve been around In My Backpack – or as we often refer to it, Backpackville – before.  Many of you have been visiting the site, buying my books, reading my newsletter, attending appearances, and just supporting my efforts for quite some time.  A few of you all the way back to the start of The ‘ville in 2003. 

Thank you very much, it’s great to have you around again. 

For some, this is going to be a welcome to our place for the first time.  And it’s fantastic to have you here with us.  A fantastic place, with what I think of as a bunch of interconnected side streets and tangents for you to explore.  I sincerely hope you’ll make it a regular stop. 

For those of you returning… and especially for those of you joining us for the first time… here’s a quick rundown of what Backpackville is about, who we are, and what you can expect. 

The In My Backpack website was started by me – Bob Hocking – back in 2003.  It was set up as a place for me to share some of my writing.  Pure and simple… nothing fancy… to share my writing.  I wasn’t approaching it with visions that everything would always be perfect.  I didn’t believe everything would be a completed work. 

Essays and articles began getting posted, and over time that material alone grew to well over one thousand separate pages on the site. 

Then, things began expanding a bit. 

I began working on interviews, and that led to an interview area being developed.  I started carrying a camera around for events, and photo galleries joined in.  A little bit here, a little bit there, and what I began to realize was a real community was developing. 

Yes, a community.  I very much felt like a bunch of neighborhoods were uniting to form a bigger, better Backville.  Essays here, interviews there.  A few travel efforts, some photo galleries.  All separate areas, but definitely all belonging to the same home. 

In 2012, I collected some of my work and released my first book, Time Just Drifts Away.  (We’re at fifteen released titles now, available at several places with most online.  There’s a link on our home page to my author area at Amazon.)  I started a newsletter called A Parkside View.  Most recently, two podcasts were added to the efforts. 

Time caught up with me, and a website that was honestly already the equivalent of an outdated 1970s avocado green kitchen when it began had reached a point where it was definitely not going to snap back into style, and more realistically needed a good amount of attention and maintenance.  I needed to step back and give everything some time and a complete remodel.  Nothing too drastic as far as the efforts… still going to have essays and interviews and books and podcasts and more… but hopefully, as it grows, it will be a lot more friendly and comfortable for you, while allowing me to share even more work.  And – thanks to the help of a brilliantly talented assistant – all that while being a tad bit more efficient and not quite so dated.  Plus, we’re hoping it’s going to allow us to develop several surprises along the way that never could have happened on the old website. 

It is a work in progress.  Likely always will be.  The basics are here now.  Over the next few months, you’re going to see a lot of things returning, arriving, developing, and taking on a more distinct feel and form.  As of right now, there are two sites – In My Backpack and Dumb Old Bob – the original, along with a new addition for the podcasts.  Today, either of the site addresses will bring you to the same home page and material.  Over time, that will likely end up with a more distinct separation.  But again, same community. 

For now, the NFL season has kicked off, and I have Emmie and Canasta joining me in picking games against the spread.  Those will be some of the first new articles to appear. 

From the Backpack is returning and will be an area that I’ll use to feature material brought back from the old site.  A couple of essays and some interviews will be making appearances soon as part of these ongoing efforts. 

The Dumb Old Bob podcasts – specifically The Essays with Dumb Old Bob and Writing & Publishing with Dumb Old Bob – are going to rejoin their respective seasons in progress in October.  Really excited about this, and I’ll have more news about the podcasts very soon.  Look for the currently released episodes of the podcasts RIGHT NOW, available on virtually any platform of choice you use for podcasts. 

The return of A Parkside View is set for November.  Current distribution lists will be reset and used.  For all of you interested in signing up, there is a place on this site for you to register to get the newsletter along with special announcements. 

I have, from day one, driven myself – and, if you will, my writing voice and project-decision-making – around a simple idea… 

We’re all friends here. 

I mean that.  I believe that.  You are now part of our group.  You’re coming with us through my musings.  I hope you’ll share our travels and support the folks that are kind enough to do interviews.  But more than anything else, I want you to know I appreciate that you decided to visit, check things out, and offer me your attention.  It is never something I take for granted, and I will always be grateful. 

Thank you for visiting Backpackville.  Enjoy your stay, reach out and send me a message if you like, grab a few warm chocolate chip cookies for yourself, have a look around, and come back soon.