Hi there faithful viewers.
I started lifetimesentences.com in April 2016 with wild ambitions to turn it into a site where I would showcase great writers, photographers and musicians I have been privileged to know. The blog revived my interest in writing poetry and limericks and I had a lot of fun with it. My friend and fellow blogger Al Bossence (thebayfieldbunch.com), someone who has attracted over eight million views to his pages in the more than 12 years he has published his blog, told me to cool my jets, that I might tire of it if I went at it too hard. Unfortunately, I have no jets to cool and went at it like a madman. The reason I did that is simple: I am a madman!
Al was right, of course, and it didn’t take long to realize I had bitten off more than I could chew. Around that time, the fun started to go out of the venture and it became a chore. So I found myself drifting away from it.
This fall, I came close to closing down the site but I just couldn’t do it. So I went another way. I decided to revive the blog but maybe make some changes to it that would make it more fun for me to develop and more fun for you to read. So I am leaning towards using the site to publish my own writing only, and to try to keep that writing light. In these troubled times, there seems to be a market for that. In time, I will probably let the other balls I had in the air drop away – the photos, the political cartoons, the music. There are all kinds of places for you to go to get all that stuff and more. I want to make Lifetime Sentences the only place where you can find my writing.
The other change I am making is more a request than anything else. The blog is not an expensive thing to operate at only a few hundred dollars a year. But it would be gratifying to me if I could earn some money from my writing. To that end, I have placed “Donate” buttons on my site which, when clicked on, take you to a PayPal page. If you ever feel inclined, I would be grateful for any amount you might leave – even 25 or 50 cents now and then. However, having said that, I have to be honest and tell you that I never contribute to blogs I read which make similar requests. So don’t feel guilty if you read and run. I do the same myself. Just know that the feature is there and you can use it if you like. Also know that the donations will be spent wisely on chocolate bars and energy drinks!
The other change I will be making to my site, as soon as I can figure out how to do it, will be the addition of some advertising. I will try to not let it become intrusive. And perhaps I will earn a few pennies that way as well.
So welcome aboard. I love watching my viewership numbers climbing every week now. It is exciting. Because every writer wants to be read, just as every musician has to be heard. Whatever the size of the audience and whatever the compensation might be, a writer is in the business of using his talent to link his heart and mind to those of his readers. I’ve been writing for publication for 52 years. That’s a lot of linking.
Thank you so much for joining me on my journey.
Jim
