Thanks to those of you who have supported my voluntary payment program and agreed to pay me for my work. You have made an enormous difference in my life, enabled me to continue to produce my blog in words and photos, helped pay for my photography, an expensive art, and also supported my writing and my life.

The voluntary payment program is simple, it asks that if you find my words and photography meaningful, useful, thought-provoking or entertaining, this is a way to keep my blog and my work going. It may be free to read, but it is not free to create.

All across the Internet, people are coming to understand that meaningful content costs money, and the people who produce it are entitled to be paid for their work.

I’ve created a number of different ways for you to contribute. You can send a check in any amount, small or large, to Bedlam Farm, P.O. Box 205 Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. Or you can send a one-time payment of $75 per year, or payments of $10 or $5 a month if you prefer.

It is simple to subscribe, you just start your own account, only you can control your money, no money or financial information is stored on my blog or website, you can use Paypal or major credit cards. You can cancel your regular payments at any time, and you will be notified a week in advance before any annual subscription is to be renewed. Cancelling is easy

I should say that for your protection and my sanity, I have no control over your money, I can’t start a payment, raise or lower the amount, or cancel a  payment. Only you can do that.

It takes many hours of every day to produce this blog on the level that I want, I can’t really afford to do it on my own.

Again, this is a voluntary support program. If you can’t afford it or don’t wish to do it, you are welcome here, and will continue to be welcome.

But if you wish the blog to continue to improve, grow and be well-maintained, I hope you will consider the voluntary payments, they make a big difference. Publishing has changed, and I am right out front of the new movement for authors to create a new and inter-active model for living and working. I am out there, and I hope you will climb out on the ladder with me.

The blog costs a lot of money to maintain and update and the photos you enjoy for free require expensive and well-maintained equipment. Publishing has changed, advances and royalties have sharply declined. I want to write books until I drop, but I want to make the journey to the new world of writers as well. The blog is my pathway.

The blog has become the centerpiece of my writing and creative work, but I need help in continuing to maintain this volume, and hopefully, quality of words and pictures.

I am simply asking to be paid for my work,in the same way you pay for food in a store, and just like I get paid for a book. The blog is my new book, my living memoir, the payment options are small. Please consider  the payment program it if you can. If you can’t, I will never turn my back on you, as you have never walked away from me.

And thanks for thinking about it.