Last updated October 29, 2026
This page explains what this website collects when you visit, why, and what you can do about it. In short: the site uses no analytics, no advertising and no tracking cookies, and your information is never sold or shared for marketing.
Who I am
This is the website of Heather Shumaker, author and speaker. If you have a question about your information, email me at heather@heathershumaker.com.
What the site collects, and why
The newsletter
When you sign up for my newsletter, your email address goes to Mailchimp, the service that sends it. Mailchimp keeps the list for me and records whether each newsletter is opened and its links clicked, which shows me what readers find useful. Every newsletter ends with an unsubscribe link. Mailchimp’s privacy statement explains how it handles data.
Emails you send me
If you email me, I keep your address and your message so I can reply. Writing to me does not add you to the newsletter.
Old blog comments
The blog used to take comments and no longer does. Comments left in earlier years are still stored on the site, with the name, email address and internet address they were sent from. If you’d like yours removed, email me.
Security and server records
Like most websites, this one keeps short records of each visit: the internet (IP) address, the browser, the page and the time. Security software uses them to block attacks, such as repeated attempts to guess a password. They are used only to keep the site running and safe; the security log keeps them for 30 days.
Services the site uses
- Bluehost hosts the site, and Cloudflare delivers its pages and filters out attacks. Both handle your internet address when you visit.
- Pages with the newsletter sign-up form load its style sheet and script from Mailchimp.
- Gravatar, run by Automattic, supplies the profile pictures on blog posts.
- Videos are embedded in YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode, which stores nothing on your device until you press play. Once you play a video, Google’s privacy policy applies.
Links to bookstores and to Facebook, X, YouTube and Bluesky take you to their own sites, which have their own privacy policies.
Cookies
This site sets no cookies of its own for visitors, and nothing on it follows you for analytics or advertising. That’s why there is no cookie banner. The only cookies involved are:
- Cloudflare’s security cookie,
__cf_bm, which tells people from automated traffic. It lasts 30 minutes and is not used to track you. - Login cookies, set only when someone signs in to manage the site.
- Cookies YouTube may set once you play a video, and Mailchimp on its own pages after you sign up.
Children
This site is written for adults: parents, teachers, librarians and readers. I don’t knowingly collect information from children under 13. Young readers who want to write to me, please ask a parent or teacher to send the email.
Your choices
- Unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time with the link at the end of any newsletter.
- Ask me what I hold about you, or ask me to correct or delete it, by emailing heather@heathershumaker.com.
- Your information is never sold, rented or shared for advertising.
Changes
If the site starts collecting something new, analytics for example, I’ll update this page and the date at the top first.