Yesterday, Maria and I (and Zinnia) went to Glens Falls to meet with Chris Archibee, one of the architects of bedlamfarm.com and the Godfather of my blog.

Chris is a partner in the building of bedlamfarm.com; we have been through many wild turns and up and downs and battles and discussions and ideas. My blog was radical when it was launched.

There are still not many like it. Unlike most publishing blogs, it was never about selling things; it was always about sharing life as honestly as possible.

When I started it in 2007, there were no models and predecessors to consider; we were winging it and taking plunges. It has several million visits a year and is the home base for the Army Of Good, a very proud achievement.

Chris has been a brilliant and steady hand; this blog would not exist without him. We meet regularly to discuss how the blog could be better, and I asked for a meeting this week.

Maria came to talk about her blog as well. Zinnia also, as you can see.

Every therapy dog I’ve had – Izzy, Red, (even Rose) knew and loved Chris. We go back to the beginning.

Zinnia joined the list yesterday.

We are planning some changes to the  Bedlam Farm Journal.

One is looking to see if we can make the typeface bolder and clearer.

Another is to add an Army Of Good logo to posts about the good work. Another is to add more color to the bars, clean up all of the buttons and options, and put them together to make the photos and text more visible.

For phone readers – a majority now – we’re expanding the logo and asking a well-known graphic designer for ideas to make the blog look even better.

We are both pleased with the basic design and format; I wouldn’t want to change that. I want to freshen it up; change is good for creativity. There’s clutter in some spots; I want to clean it up.

Maria talked about her blog, and she will write about her part of the meeting on her blog.

Chris and I click creatively; we bounce off each other, argue all the time, and always walk away excited about the new ideas we agree on.

Chris’s employer, Mannix Marketing, has been my partner in building the blog from the beginning. It’s been and is a wonderful relationship for me.

Chris sees the blog. Differently, he always spots a bunch of things I miss. I think of things he didn’t know of.

It works beautifully. We are not static about the blog; we always look at it with a fresh eye and keep it current and readable. We battle all the time but always come to a good place.

He’s seen the best and worst of me.

When I started the blog, very few writers had blogs, and I took a lot of flak for creating one. My publisher thought I was crazy; writers should publish books, not blogs.

Today, I post a blog, no more books. My blog is my great work, my living memoir.

We were inventing the blog as we went. Chris was (is) a rock; he was always there, even during the tough times when it didn’t seem we would make it. He is always honest, always direct, almost always right. Don’t read this part, Chris.

 

The blog is a great success and one of the joys of my life and now, the creative center of my life. I thank all of you for that, for finding me, sticking with me, tolerating me. The best is yet to come.

On top of everything else, the blog has pushed me to learn how to deal with my dyslexia. I had no choice. I even contracted with an online editing company to eliminate the typos. Now, they make more mistakes than I do.

I’ll keep people posted about the changes coming; they won’t be dramatic, just some fine-tuning. I’m sure you’ll let me know what you think.