The lives of dogs have changed beyond imagination since they entered the world and joined human beings in their thousands of years together. Today, in our culture, we can love them and care for them, but we can only occasionally offer them the lives they once lived, were meant to live. On my farm, it is a joy for me to see these dogs live the lives they were meant to live, at least in part. In the woods, Lenore morphs before me from the sweet Love Dog I love to write about, and I see something different, something mystical in her, something that reaches back into the ancient genes of the dog, shadows now of what they were. Even Red, the working dog, fades into the background as she finds the pond left by yesterday’s rains. When I can give them this gift, I feel an immense satisfaction.
I’m finishing work on my Bedlam Farm Podcast Studio, notice the key elements – an Adirondack Chair, a faithful dog, a Tascam Digital Mp3 Voice Recorder, a bottle of water, a view of a farm, sometimes with sheep and donkeys, a wire running to the barn to power the Recorder, sometimes a second dog. Got some technical issues with my new external microphone, hope to have a podcast up this week, either on Lulu’s Dilemma or on my squabbles about advice. I like my studio, if feels just right, big-time to me.
Friday we’re putting in a tube and gravel to clean up the muck by the pasture gate. We walked in the new pasture this morning and Simon and Fanny came in right behind the sheep, who have no problem with the water. Lulu got anxious as they neared the gate and brayed. She didn’t seem to want to even touch the mud. The same curious pattern repeated itself, Simon and Fanny stayed close to the gate and nibbled on leaves on the bushes, then came back quickly as Lulu brayed in alarm on the other side. The donkeys always stay together, and always flock to one another when there is an danger or anxiety. Simon loves his food but he wouldn’t stay on the other side more than a few minutes.
Last week was a milestone in my evolution into the new writer’s life, the new books. I published my second e-book original “Listening To Dogs: How To Be Your Own Training Guru,” and I also began a voluntary subscription program that gives people four inexpensive ways of paying for the blog: a one-time fee of the reader’s choice, $60-a-year through Paypal, $5 a month through Paypal, or no contribution at all.
The blog, I have realized, has become my big book, my living memoir and subscriptions are the new sale price of the book, only a lot cheaper than they used to be. I’m okay with that and I’m okay offering the blog and the podcasts and photography for free to those who just can’t afford to pay for it, or don’t want to. I imagine down the road popular blogs will be subscription only, just as magazines were and are. Writers are like everyone else, we have to be paid for what we do to survive. I was reluctant to accept fees or contributions, but I like being paid for me work. It is fair. It gives it more value to me, perhaps to you.
There is so much information on the Internet for free, this has obliterated much of the income of writers and artists and musicians. But a more coherent kind of media is emerging, new ways to offer books. All writing is not alike, and you do get what you pay for, ultimately, I believe. When I offered the subscription program last week – it is not possible for me to continue paying for the blog, the photography, podcasts, maintenance fees, etc. – all on my own – people seemed happy, almost relieved to pay a small amount for something they found useful or entertaining. That was good to hear and very affirming for me. I didn’t get one complaint, the most common response was “it’s about time.” You can find information about the new subscription program here.
As for “Listening To Dogs,”which costs $2.99, the book – I call it an empowerment book on dog training – has stirred up quite a bit of discussion, knocked Cesar out of the No. 1 spot for a few days and continues high on the lists of training and dog books online. I’m going to continue discussions of “Listening” on the blog and Facebook and also get to work on “Love And Light From Bedlam Farm,” a collection of the most popular photographs I’ve put up on the blog. Print photography books are not selling much these days, but I think an e-book of photographs might.
Moving forward, the new writer is working on the new books.
