I’ve decided to move from doing a post every weekday to doing just one weekly post.
My book projects need to get finished, plus I don’t get the readership here I need to justify my crazy posting schedule. A couple of friends have told me I should be more strategic in how I spend my time and I agree.
I get way more engagement on my YouTube channel, which surprises me as I’m much more of a reader than a viewer.
My suspicion is that blogging is a dying medium. There is too much content out there and too many distractions competing for our attention. Who has time to do all the online reading they’d like to do?
It’s easier to flip through Instagram or watch a YouTube video for most people.
I’m now producing 4-5 videos a week for my channel which has now busted through 9,000 subscribers as of last week. I’ve almost finished writing my new book on zone pushing tropical edibles. I’ve joined the excellent new social media platform Gab.ai (and ditched my Twitter account) and already have over 1,000 followers there. I’ve got a new pumpkin breeding project going and am looking for land to start a new food forest. I’m a writer for Mother Earth News, The Grow Network, The Prepper Project, Backwoods Home, Lew Rockwell and other outlets… but I’ve barely been able to give them any content despite their huge readerships. Later this month I’m participating in the Mother Earth News Homesteading Summit with Marjory Wildcraft.
It’s time to cut back here and try to make some money. Selling the plant nursery and moving overseas cost me quite a bit. There may be a day I return to daily posting; however, it’s not going to be for a while.
From now on, check in every Monday for a new post. I’ll make sure to keep giving you good stuff.
Until then, may your thumbs always be green.
You can have greener thumbs by this weekend!
28 comments
I’ll admit I prefer your Youtube postings to your blog – watching is easier than reading and I can be doing something else while watching. Will be reading you on Mondays and checking your Youtube a couple times a week. Happy gardening!!
Thank you, Bellen.
Much as I enjoy your daily posts, it definitely makes to be more strategic about it. Please drop a note to us few loyal blog followers when your work is posted elsewhere, so we can keep reading the Good stuff. Looking forward to your new book!
Makes sense. I meant to say, makes sense.
You bet – I will post links to my writing. I’ll be writing just as much – just not all here. ;)
I’ll miss my daily fix, but that’s purely selfishness, I totally understand your rational. Wishing you much prosperity with your paid gigs. You’re a great writer, just don’t give it up completely! I’ll still be a loyal reader at whatever rate you post :)
Thank you, Rachel. No way I’ll give it up. I have a lot of writing I feel driven to do and I’ll be writing as much as always, just not all here.
Excellent choice! I usually feel guilty that I don’t always have time to read your daily posts, but do watch more videos on YouTube… Do what works best for you, and we will look forward to your weekly posts!
Thanks for all you give us!
TodB
Thank you, Tod.
David,
I think you are correct in your analysis…. Blogging is a dying medium.
In fact, it is such a cogent observation that I think I’ll blog about that subject soon.
Your YouTubing skills are strong, so you are in a good position to continue being relevant. As always, I wish you the best with all your ideas.
Do a blog post on blogging as a dying medium and I will link to your blog via my blog to bolster my point that blogs are becoming irrelevant.
Hi,
just wanted to tell you that I do understand your reasons for not posting daily, it must take tons of time, but I always enjoy your post. I guess I am one of those old fashioned readers.
But no matter how often or rarely, I will keep reading your posts and I whish you good luck with your book and of course your finca.
By the way: since your last mail I have starting planting stones of fruit here, I am very curious which kind of variaties will turn out.
Thank you, Juana. Good luck with the stone fruit – it really is fun.
Old fashion reader here also, although I often only catch up on them once or twice a week… I certainly understand the need to quit the daily thing, I imagine that takes a lot of time an that time could be used doing something that might generate some income… Thats a no-brainer. I do watch some of your you tube stuff. Out here where I live video doesn’t always load all they way, due to signal I think. Works when I’m in town…
Thank You for letting us follow along on your journey!!!
Thank you, Annie. I will keep producing for sure.
Ultimately, you’ve got to do what you believe is right. I respect your decision. :)
I’ve got to fight for my right to party.
David,
Like some of the others I am old school, would rather read than watch a video. Un-like the dinosaurs I can adapt. It might not be easy but I will get there.
I look forward to your posts and have used much of your information in my backyard.
Now we have to turn you into a fisherman. The sea has much to offer even for a landlocked fisherman.
Wishing you all the best
Craig
I will make sure to write plenty, just not all here.
And yes – I need help with fishing. Badly.
So glad I found this page. I have about 50 roselle plants growing now, actually way more than I have time to process. I would be more than happy to share my seeds or fruit.
Thanks for having such a great page
Always a reader vs video. Reading is so much faster & you can learn so much more details than via videos.
I actually dread all the videos people post in general (at Twitter, etc.) & almost never stop to watch them.
Music, Lectures/Seminars, &/or How-To (visuals) are a different matter.
I like “getting to know people” by how they write. Their personalties shine through their thinking & writing.
The game is long on already to “dumb people down.” Reading & Writing is the Enemy of Intelligence. Just a word to the wise. :)
Not picking on you personally. My “war” is against Ignorance. Decades of TV-Watching has dumbed down hordes of people.
Long Live Reading & Writing! Besides, as I said, it’s so much Faster! You can wolf down tons of info in short measure whereas “watching” anything can consume hours on end with Much Less detail learned.
Blogging IS hard, though. Not the writing itself which writers love to do, but the crappy now-bloated not-user-friendly software & its developers make it harder. (I speak from experience: developers, who I refer to as “destroyers” instead, have ruined YahooGroups, Posterous, Amplify, PostHaven, WordPress, all that I’ve used/tried since 2001; so no wonder people use Twitter instead!)
I agree on dumbing down – yet I must go where there is money. My videos generally contain useful information at least, though I have a weakness for rapping. Heh.
You’re right about the software bloat. WordPress is a mess, though it looks nice. I was on Twitter but ditched it for the much better Gab.ai a couple of months ago. That’s a great place for discussion.
Oh, I don’t blame you re needing to make a living, not at all. And really, “Show & Tell” videos are a necessity for learning how to do something we know nothing about (I love reading but not necessarily reading “instructions,” ugh. :) ). Rapping & Yapping would be your “personality shining through” in a visual format, hehe.
Developers are evidently under the impression they must keep creating something NEW vs MAINTAINING the great software they Already Created. Apple included, who keep ruining their OS’s by REMOVING functions so you have to spend months searching for hacks to replace the features they removed, ruined, or added that make computing miserable. There’s just something evil about it all. My spirit rebels. It’s a never ending battle. Sigh. I say God is a constant who never changes (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8) & humans don’t like constant change & shake-ups, contrary to the rhetoric. We thrive within constancy, not repeated stressful “change.”
I’ll check out Gab; no 140 character limit? (Though I read two days ago from a favorite long-time “NWO Observer,” that Gab is possibly another “operation” to gather the Alt-Right into “one space.” True? I have no idea, haha. :)
https://twitter.com/henrymakow/status/799304560397471744
PS: Where are you looking to create a new “food forest”? If you moved “overseas,” then I guess Florida is out (I’m thinking of a small Florida farm that I read about that is in the forest. They have animals & run a small bed & breakfast, & are 100% anti-EMFs, no wifi nor cellphones allowed & they got their smart meter removed; no cell towers, etc., & they are surrounded by forest!) They would probably love having a food forest in their midst!
Yes, Florida is out. I like the way that place sounds, though.
I needed to confirm the name, but it is NaVera Farm in Callahan, FLA (30-mins. from the big J-ville city). They have a website of same name/URL & are listed w/some Bed & Breakfast sites as well.
Too bad for us Floridians that your food-forest talents are now transferred elsewhere, boo hoo, truly. :) I remembered another place in N.FLA I forgot about, owned by elderlies I know, 30-acres of untouched timber/forest just sitting there not being used for anything. Someone of your likemindedness could create one YUGE humongous “food forest,” lol! No infrastructure, though, so “watering” plants+fruit trees would be a problem except by catching/saving tons of Summer rain water the old-fashioned way.
I love reading ex-pat stories & am all for it for those who can make it happen, families & men. Single women I don’t know; especially older Boomers, you’d have to be very strong, hearty, healthy, brave, & financially independent. Maybe as a group of Boomer women it could be done, which nobody anywhere wants. Supposedly we’re the dregs of society, lol.
I can easily see the reasons for “ex-patting” > to escape the “police/surveillance state” & “culture wars,” + “economic crashes” + less-expensive living, + not micro-managed to death rules+regs for start-ups, + cleaner environment+food, etc. etc. Whether Trump will roll-back some of those scenarios or make them worse remains to be seen, haha.
For decades old-timer “Natural Hygienists” have often sought less-regulated, cheaper, cleaner environments/countries for simple, no frills fruit/veggie fasting retreats, but no one ever really established such places for very long, unfortunately. Such places are a dying breed taken over by “chic” expensive spa-type fat-farm New Age’r Leftie mentalities, booo. :)
Nice chatting with you. Much success with your new endeavors in your new “paradise.” :)
No-no-no, blogging should not be a dying medium. I’d much rather read a page of text than have to watch 10 minutes of Youtube interspersed with no-fast-forward ads!
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