I am meeting with my good friend Chris Archibee from Mannix Marketing today to talk about bedlamfarm.com and my never-ending determination (obsession maybe) to improve the blog. Might put the covers of my latest books along the side so people see them and buy them. I want more color on the site, and also want to integrate my work more effectively with Facebook and other social media. I am planning to write three e-books this year and publish a paper book, ‘The Second Change Dog: A Love Story,” about me, Frieda and Maria.
Some other notes:
Some of you have noticed that the photo tab on top of the Farm Journal is gone. I’m not showing collections of the photos, too much static space, not enough room. I’m not selling photos either. I’ve never been comfortable with it, and just don’t really like to do it. Maria is the one exception. Sometimes she decides to sell a photo she likes and people who are interested can speak to her directly about it. She is [email protected]. Generally, I do what she tells me, it works out. People want to pay for their use or support the photography and the blog are invited to make contributions instead. I’ve got a contributions tab at the bottom of each blog post and that way I don’t have to keep mentioning the idea too often. Contributions support the blog and my photography and help me to keep both of them free.
Many of you have written me urging that Florence Walrath’s journals be a book, or that they be longer, more extensive or more detailed. I don’t think these journals add up to a book, and I don’t believe there is a market for their commercial publication. It is also not the kind of book I wish to write. People tend to think every idea they like would make a book, but the marketplace doesn’t work that way. I don’t have the time to put them in any more context than they are – nor did Florence. I like presenting them in short bits and anecdotes, just the way they are, and I thank you for sharing my love of them.
My pairing up with Fromm Family pet food has been a very happy collaboration so far. Taking ads is one of those things I said I would never do, and the list of things I am now doing that I said I would never do is quite substantial. I’ve gotten scores of messages thanking me for this great food which my dogs have been eating for nearly a year. Fromm is the oldest family owned holistic premium pet food company in America. My dogs are thriving on it. Their banner ad is at the top of the Farm Journal page and people are very pleased with it.
I am very grateful for your support of my work as Recommender-In-Chief at Battenkill Books. We are selling a lot of books through my reviews and to direct calls and e-mails to the store – [email protected]. I am there on Saturdays at 11 a.m. You can call the store at 518 677-2515. It’s a great job, the pay is poor and the food spotty, but the atmosphere is wonderful and I am loving a lot of books. I love Connie too. Nice meeting many of you on the phone as well. Bookstores are back. Buy local.
At 7 p.m. on Friday May 31st, the students in my Hubbard Hall Writer’s Workshop will be showing off their art, poems, photos and drawings and reading from their very powerful works. This will happen at the Hubbard Hall Arts Center, Cambridge, N.Y. Details will be coming from them and from me. I’ll be introducing them and talking about the remarkable success of this workshop. You can meet them and see their work at a reception at 6 p.m. From what I hear, most writing workshops are about as much fun as an enema. This one has been a blast. They are very gifted. In the fall, I will be teaching a four-class workshop at Hubbard Hall on “The Art Of The Blog,” lecturing and talking about the centrality of blogs for creatives today. The class will be given on four consecutive Saturdays, details to follow.
My first e-book original of 2013 will be titled “Listening To Dogs,” and is a manifesto by me urging people to pay less attention to gurus and more to themselves and their dogs when it comes to training. You can do it. An empowerment book. Details to come. The book is being copy edited now and will include a bunch of my photographs. My next e-books will be “Love And Light From Bedlam Farm,” a collection of bright and loving photographs, and “Talking To Animals,” about what I am learning about communicating with them. These books will not be available in paper form, just like “The Story Of Rose.”
That’s enough for now. Thanks for being here.