At the beginning of every month, I report on contributions as compensation for my website and photography, both of which remain free. The creative world is changing, and writers and artists are increasingly asked to promote themselves and seek new revenue to keep doing their work. I was once quite uncomfortable asking for contributions, now am not. I see them as compensation for the blog, it’s maintenance and for my photography. Some people contribute regularly, others when they can. This is, of course, up to you. If the blog and the photos are valuable to you, consider paying them for them – the new order.

Blogs and social media outlets are expensive to maintain. I am also undertaking a new podcast. In order for these things to be free at a time publishing revenue has changing radically, I decided to ask for compensation for the time and equipment involved.  The most frequent response was “what took you so long?” I met with a writer yesterday who came to me for advice, and she was complaining bitterly about the old order, about her declining royalties and dropping income due to e-books. “I love the old way,” she said,”I love paper books. I don’t want to change.” She doesn’t want to do a blog, she hates Facebook, she doesn’t want to share her life.

I got a bit exasperated. I told her directly that nobody cares what she wants. I don’t, and neither does the rest of the world. I wasn’t telling her my struggle story, I didn’t need to hear hers. We change or we fade away and become irrelevant. I do not care to become irrelevant. We all love paper books and if we wish, we can buy them. If you wish to be a writer, I suggested to her, you will stop whining and get a blog up.  I have trouble with whining, I always have hated whining, all the more so now, because it seems to be the national song. I am sympathetic to everyone who struggles, and that includes many of the people reading this, but whining does not work when it comes to changing lives and being creative.

The contributions are important. They pay for Web design and fees, podcast storage, the repair of lenses and computer equipment, cable and software. They mean I can keep the blog free, improve it, share my stories in different formats. Contributions go  to compensate me for the writing, time and operation of the blog and the photography. I see them as a voluntary subscription fee, and I see that blogs are beginning to bring revenue to creatives all over the country. It is okay to get paid for your work. I pay for the work I use and enjoy. I thank you for them. The contributions last month ranged from $300 to $3, and they were all welcome. I thank you. They are all affirmations to me, they encourage me to be creative and work hard.