Recovered from the Wayback Machine.
One result of my ruminations while I was on the road the last few weeks was a decision to accept sponsorship and/or ads for Burningbird and my other sites. I’ve signed up at Blogads, and have put a few feelers out here and there for possible sponsorship opportunities.
In addition, I also decided to create a photo shop at Tinfoil Project, where I’ll sell prints of my photos and merchandise that feature my photos. I know that online photo sales is an iffy proposition, but I figure it would give me more experience combining photo software like Coppermine, with a storefront like OsCommerce.
When I returned from the trip, I found out that Kottke had also made a life changing move by quitting his development gig and deciding to weblog fulltime. He coined the term micropatron to describe folks contributing to his site, and it’s one I decided to also grab and use for own nefarious purposes. I can’t promise the grand goody bag that he’s giving out for those who contribute 30.00 or more a year, but I did put together a few odds and ends, as thank-you gifts.
Based on all of this, I’m in the process of creating a Sponsoring Burningbird page, and if you have time, could you check it out and tell me what you think? In addition, I would like to build up a page containing links and small snapshots to sites that I’ve helped in the past–either with design and/or web development. If I’ve helped you in the past, and you wouldn’t mind being included in this page, could you drop me a comment or send me an email?
I still see myself primarily as a writer, and I am spending time each day, either on current assignments or looking for new writing opportunties. I have two specific books I’m currently shopping around to publishers, and also keeping my options open for others. I’m also submitting article suggestions and ideas here and there. If you have some suggestions, or better yet, contacts, in this regard, I’d love to hear from you.
The reason for all of this activity is that I need to kick myself in the butt and get a life going again. And this includes earning enough income to get by and keep my kitty in kibble, and my car in the driveway. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of development jobs in St. Louis that use the technologies that I’m most proficient in at the moment. Most places are J2EE with WebSphere, or .NET, neither of which I’ve worked with for a couple of years now. I don’t want to move, and couldn’t afford to anyway, so I need to be aggressive seeking work and opportunities online (in addition to whatever odd jobs I can find here in town). If you know of any that you think might be a good fit for me, or you have other suggestions, again, I sure would love to hear from you.
It’s going to be a nice Spring this year, followed by a kickass year and I feel positive about the future, thanks in no small part to many of you who have helped me in the past. I managed to lose weight during my road trip, and not all of it had to do with body fat–I also dropped some mental baggage that was slowing me down along the way. (I’d be careful traveling along I24 in Tennessee, if I were you. If you see a puddle of depressing looking ooze alongside the road, just keep on going.)
This year is going to be a good year, but as I’m discovering, good things don’t come to you: you have to go find them, make them, or grab them when they hurry past. This is my start, my new year.
