My friend Chris Archibee, an executive at Mannix Marketing, the creators of my website, came by today to talk to Maria and I about our blogs and the things we want and need to do to keep them fresh and up to date. So yes, I am rethinking bedlamfarm.com again.

Chris comes by every now and then to sit and talk and shake me  up, he look genial, but he is sharp as a fox and he knows how to crank me up.

Many of you know how much I care about my blog and how hard I work at it and how much it means to me, as the publishing world continues to evolve in directions that are not right for me. On my blog, i am free to be myself, and my writing has responded with gratitude and excitement.

Maria feels the same way, our blogs are central to our creative lives and our futures as a writer and an artist.

Chris Archibee is  really the father of my blog, my partner at  every step of the way. He was with me during the bad and wild days, we can laugh about it now, but he was a witness to the madness and excitement that accompanied the birth of bedlamfarm.com.

This blog would not be here without him.

Maria can write about the changes she wants to make in her blog, it isn’t for me to speak for her. Etsy has changed her online life, and she is thinking about how to deal with it, among other things.

I talked with Chris about a number of changes I’m thinking of making, and some changes that he suggested. First, we need to make both of our blogs more mobile friendly, since most of our readers are reading our blogs on their smart phones.

Even six or seven years ago, most people read blogs on their computers, then tablets.

More and more, its smartphones, so we need to change the platforms that are seen on these devices so viewing our blogs will easier and more user-friendly. Beyond that, I’d like to change the ‘”Bedlam Farm Journal” and scrap some of the windows at the top, nobody seems to be using them. When I started the blog in 2007, it was largely about my animals, but also about my life. That is still largely true.

In recent years, I have focused a lot of my writing on what I call the “Daily Essay”, longish pieces about animals, my life, spirituality, satire and reflections about life on a farm. In my head E.B. White is my role model. I like to challenge people to think, which is why so many people tell me they read the blog even though they disagree with me.

I am not looking for agreement, and I can’t imagine only reading someone I agree with. What, on earth, is the point? But when people tell me I got them to think, then I feel successful as a writer, whether they agree with me or not. I’m not running for mayor.

My job is to think and help other people find things to think. I think I do that most days.

A theme of mine is civility online, and I will continue to challenge people who are rude or unnecessarily cruel or hostile to me or others. I see them as bullies and cowards and low forms of life, if we all challenged them, they would perhaps run and hide under rocks.

Dogs and other animals are my meat in many ways, I will continue to focus on them regularly. I will also expand my essays to include spirituality and life,  especially lessons of life.

I am writing a lot these days about a spiritual life, about staying grounded in angry and turbulent times. I will certainly continue doing that.

it is a gift to talk these things out with Chris, who is wise, smart, honest and funny. He is a cherished friend, and an invaluable guide for this blog, which is so precious to me now. My photography was born here, my rebirth chronicles here, my writing has greatly evolved here. I survived as a human here, I survived as a writer here.

I am burnishing my own identity as an essayist here.

So I want to emphasize the “Daily Essay” a bit more in the design of the blog. Otherwise, it will look the same, only cleaner and brighter. My bread and butter here is photographs and words. I will continue to emphasize both. I will continue to write every day, and sometimes five or six times a day. Maybe I’ll label the daily essay and put a box around it.

The subject matter will be mixed, as it now is. Dogs will always be a key element of this blog – Fate, Red, and the new puppy we hope to get this summer.

I will continue to try to proofread my pieces, but I do not always have time. I know a lot of people who are blocked from writing on their blogs because they fear making mistakes. I do not fear making mistakes, I’d be dead of I did. Mistakes are the business card of the active mind.

I decided years ago I would rather write more than spell everything perfectly. That has worked out for me, sorry retired English teachers, I know I make you wince sometimes. But hey, the blog is free, you don’t get perfection.

These things will cost thousands of dollars all together. I have collected a lot of money these days for the Mansion residents and the refugees, but I also need to collect some money for me. I’ll keep you posted on the changes as they come.

The blog is a reflection of the wild ride that is my life, and it ain’t nearly over. I will, of course, be continuing my work with the Mansion residents and the refugees and immigrants facing so much struggle. Maria is the centerpiece of my life, she is the star of my blog.

Do-gooding is expensive and book royalties are  becoming historic relics.

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