How to read this blog

Any new visitor would be forgiven for asking, when encountering this space for the first time, "What is going on here? Who is this guy and what is he trying to accomplish?"

I realize my posts are all over the place, covering a wide range of subjects. Some are long, some are short. Some are funny, some are sad. The majority make at least passing mention of a certain unidentified woman who broke up with me three months ago. So, many of the posts lament love lost. One of the highest-traffic days here was when I launched a "poll” asking readers for advice -- should I try to forget her and move on (as she has asked me to do), or listen to a deeper instinct and keep my heart open to her.

But writing about love, or love lost, is not my only preoccupation in this space. I also expend many words about children, parenting, friendship, sports, aging, death, divorce, journalism, memoir writing, digital technology, and a range of social and political issues. I make lots of references to books, music and art.

Which reminds me, as a followup to my post, "My Life as an Art Dealer," June 30, 2006) I've reached my friend Gus at Sanibel and that red painting is no longer available but a very large, unique Rauschenberg that is white is still able to be purchased, so if you know somebody with the means and desire to own an amazing painting by this American legend, now quite aged, contact me, and I'll shoot you the details. (You have to be able to invest a minimum of $200,000.)

The reason this blog is so diverse in tone and content is I am exploring how to use this form as a new kind of memoir. So, I'm opening my life as I experience it day by day up to whatever audience chooses to view it, in the hopes I locate the best writing voice for telling my life stories.

This is a much different experience from my professional career as a writer the past 30+ years. I've never before written for free. Magazines and newspapers and Hollywood studios and book publishers have paid me good money to write for them.

Here the only source of revenue I have is via Google's AdSense service, which places those blue links at the top of each page in my blog. Should a user choose to click on that link, or the links promoting Google Search or other products that may appear from time to time, a few pennies get credited to my account. (There is no obligation to the user to buy anything, of course, and no information about you is captured by the act of clicking, as far as I can see.) Based on my experience to date, less than 8% of my visitors choose to click these ads, but when they do, I earn around 25 cents each time they do so. I mention this not to induce you, dear reader, to click on ads -- that is your choice -- but to explain how the blog world is evolving as a media outlet.

Years ago, my friend John Markoff, a talented journalist who covers technology for The New York Times, predicted to me that one day writers like me would be turning to this space, and become our own proprietors over our writing, perhaps charging micropayments for readers to access our work.

I suffer no illusion I can yet expect anyone to pay anything for my words. Besides, this blog is part therapy, part fun, and part a long-term retirement project. If I can tell stories well enough to attract an audience that returns frequently, maybe I can work into my old age doing what I love to do -- write -- and earn a modest living in the process.

Please let me know what you think of this blog. I truly love getting comments, and it is fine that they are anonymous, if you prefer. But no writer writes only to hear the sound of his own voice. I am not in love with my words. I write to connect with you. It is our relationship that I cherish -- you and me, writer and reader. Plus, I encourage you to start a blog and let me know you've done so. Every writer deserves an audience.

I'll be yours if you will be mine. Plus I promise to consider clicking on your ads!