I’ve added some nifty little plugins to the site today, and I want to make sure that y’all notice them, because I put in the time, and damn it!, someone better recognize.

The first plugin is for post ratings. You see those stars underneath the title of this post? Well, that lets you rank the post on a NetFlix-style five-star scale. I’ve added it for two reasons. The first is because I have a tendency to write some long-ass posts, and the little rating system will help people decide whether the post is worth their time. The second is because it allows you to give me some quick feedback on the posts, which will hopefully help me (and the site) improve over time. So please, please, please rank the posts after you read them. It really will help.

The next plugin runs the little stats thing at the top of the sidebar on the main page. I added this because I love stats. I mean, who doesn’t love stats?

The next plugin I added a few days ago. It’s called “My Status,” and you can find it underneath the list of recent comments (aka, “Who said what?”). I’m trying to keep track of the number of fiction words that I write off-site. I’m publicizing it because if I have too many “Zero” days in a row, I’m hoping one of you fine folks will bust my ass for it. The other items under my status are there because I thought having one little status item would look kind of lame. Plus, it gives you all a tiny little view into my reality-based existence.

The final plugin, which I added a few days ago and then updated this morning only to have it stop working for some reason, is the “Now Reading” plugin that, once it is running again, you’ll be able to find at the bottom of the page. When it’s working, you’ll be able to click on a book and be taken to my library page, where you’ll find rankings for the books I’ve read, plus a short review. I’ve only got four books in the library right now, but I’m hoping to keep it pretty well updated as I move along. Like I said, it’s not working right now, but I hope to get it going pretty soon.

And that’s it for now. The one thing I want you to take from this post is the rankings. Please, please, please use the rankings. Thanks for helping a brother out.