A good friend chastised me gently yesterday when we were talking about donations – to the refugees, immigrants, the Mansion, etc. She reminded me that I haven’t mentioned donations and voluntary payments to the blog, bedlamfarm.com, in a long time. “You need to mention it,” she said, “you need support too.”

Truth is, I hadn’t forgotten that, it was on my mind. I have been gathering money for different causes since November, that is a good and important thing to do, but she was right, I do need to mention once in a while that the blog and my work is almost entirely dependent on your donations and voluntary regular contributions.

I have been spending an enormous amount of time and energy on the works of the Army Of Good, but I also need to think of support for the blog and my work, the engines behind all of this.

Writer’s lives have changed, book publishing is a very small part of my income now, and I am eagerly – and happily – adapting to the new world of the writer, my blog is the creative focus of my work, as are my photographs.

Thanks for supporting my work, a small fraction of my readers donate or contribute, so there is always room to grow. Your contributions matter. There are a number of ways to contribute.

You can do so in one-time donations (see the button below) or by regular voluntary payments – a choice of $5 a month, $10 a month or an annual payment of $75.

You can contribute via Paypal or credit cards, no financial information of yours is stored anywhere on my blog or website, I have no access to your money or accounts, I can’t start them or stop them, only you can do that.

A week before any regular payment is due for renewal, you will be reminded of our opportunity to cancel, and you can cancel at any time simply by contacting Paypal or your credit card company.

If you wish to make a one-time donation in any amount, you can do so here. If you wish to make a monthly or annual payment, you can do so here. If you prefer, you can also send a contribution to my post office box, c/o Bedlam Farm, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816

Asking for money is never simple or easy for me, unless it asking for money for someone or something else. That is gratifying, and the Army of Good has risen to many good causes in the past few months. So I guess I am one of the causes, there is just no way around it, much as it makes me queasy.

My work on the blog has displaced paying work  and does, in fact, take a good deal of my own money. I need to find more time for my next book. But life has been very distracting lately.

That is not a complaint, I am loving this work, but the blog needs some love and care also. It is expensive to run, and so is photography.

I do not ever speak poorly of my life or work, I am nothing but lucky. But I don’t want to forget my own well being and the health of this blog, that is important also. I haven’t mentioned it in a good long while.

I like to think I am pioneering a new way of life for writers like me, as publishing changes and royalties vanish. Books will always be around, but they will occupy a different space in the universe. Blogs, on the other hand, are ascending, a golden age of individualism and creativity. Mine now has about four million visits a year, and it was a good move for me in 2007, when most writers gagged at the very mention of the blog.

They are not gagging now.

I love my blog, and I hope you get something from it. If so, please consider supporting my work, you make it possible, not only for me, but for the many people who are benefiting from our attention to them.

Again one time donations are simple, you can do that right here. And thanks for considering it. It really does matter.