The first time I put up one of these, I headlined it “want me to keep blogging?” which freaked people out that I might be considering not continuing.  I wasn’t them, but I am now, because I am off track of my 5 year plan, and I’ve only got 29 months to make up time.

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not blogging for “fun”, although it is fun, I’m blogging like I am starting a small business.  And so I gave myself a series of benchmarks and the ability to cut my losses if I don’t hit them.  And right now I am not on track to hit my 5 year goal, $250 a month in ad revenue, donations, book sales, freelance writing jobs.  I’m still giving it 29 more months and things could change, but that’s where it is at right now.  I’ll explain more, but first, if you want to help me get back on track, here are the donation options:

Become a Patron!

If you set up a monthly subscription to me (just like you do for Netflix and magazines and all the other entertainment sources you use), I will mail you a thank you card!  $5 or more a month gets you a card for every holiday.  $10 or more a month gets you a card EVERY SINGLE MONTH!!!!  And who wouldn’t want one of my cards every month?

Or you can do a one time donation below

Or at least, purchase my book (purchase here)!  It’s really good, and I want more people to read it.

 

 

Now read on, if you are curious about more details of what my goals are and where I got off the plan.

The first deadline was after one month, to make sure I would have enough to say and find at least one reader outside of my personal circle (Hi Sal!).

The next was after one year, to make sure I had the time and energy to keep going, and that my audience was steadily growing.  Which it was.

And the next is 5 years, my audience needs to be big enough that I can afford a web designer to get me off of WordPress and to pay for server space, pay an accountant to help me incorporate as some sort of a business, and (most important) hire someone a couple hours a month to help with social media promotions.

And right now, I am way way way off.  My views dropped like a stone back in December and just barely started crawling back up again in February and March, and now I’ve been on a plateau for the past 3 months.

All I am shooting for is $250 in monthly income by 29 months from now.  Right now, I am at about $50 (combining ad revenue, book sales, donations, and Patreon).  The goal is for ad revenue to go up, but my views have been going down or staying steady, not growing, for 6 months.  Short of that, I need donations, those have been going slightly faster, at the rate of 1 new donor a month.  And then there’s the option of getting hired for freelance writing work from other sites, which I have been pursuing for ages, even before I started blogging, and doesn’t seem to be panning out either.

I’ve been a fan and a follower of soooooooooooo many websites that suddenly mysteriously disappeared, so I thought I would tell you well in advance what was happening.  It’s no great mystery, I can’t keep dumping massive amounts of time into something that doesn’t pay off.  So I’ve got 29 months, if I get back on track, AWESOME! I love this job and I want to keep doing it.  If I am off track, then I sadly move on and look for new opportunities.  Spend 6 hours a day writing a novel, or going back to grad school, or volunteering to save the world, something different.

So, that’s what’s at stake, that’s why I keep putting up these posts every month.  Because I really do want to keep going, if I can.

Become a Patron!

If you set up a monthly subscription to me through them (just like you do for Netflix and magazines and all the other entertainment sources you use), I will mail you a thank you card!  $5 or more a month gets you a card for every holiday.  $10 or more a month gets you a card EVERY SINGLE MONTH!!!!  And who wouldn’t want one of my cards every month?