This morning I was up way too early. 4 a.m. And once I was up, I was UP! Too much on my mind to be sure.
After realizing that I wasn’t getting back to sleep any time soon I decided to boot up the computer, check e-mail, and send out an update to all of those folks who backed our Kickstarter Project. And while I was typing the final update the project expired. Literally I was about to hit the publish button when an e-mail hit my inbox that notified me we did not reach our target. Ah well, it was an educational effort to say the least.
I’ve already received a few private e-mails from backers asking what the next step is. And I’m asking myself the same question. One thing is for certain though…..I’m not tweeting, tumbling, instagramming, or anything else today. Over the past few weeks I’ve spent so much time at the computer doing updates and posts, and I’m glad to finally have a rest from it all!
What next, what next?
Over the weekend there’s been a lot of brain storming in my mind. The book idea is still valid, and I know it would be of great use to RV’ers traveling the Southwest. How do I know this? Well, the folks parked next to us in Cortez said so. And the folks before them, and every RV’er we’ve talked to. With our most recent neighbors, visiting from Minnesota, they had no idea about Hovenweep, Canyon of the Ancients, or Natural Bridges. They’d stopped into Cortez to visit Mesa Verde, and then they were moving on. After chatting for a bit about the other things to see in the area they decided to stay a few extra days and visit the National Monuments in the area as well. This morning they pulled out, heading to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. And I got a big “Thank you,” for telling them about the other things they could visit on their month long trip.
So, how do you find 6 months to visit and document all of the National Monuments in the Southwest? Well, if you’re drawing a pension you could do it. But if you’re still in the working age category you’re going to need funds for something like that. Currently I’m thinking the 6 month deal isn’t going to happen. But what can happen?
We have covered Hovenweep, Canyon of the Ancients, The Grand Staircase, The Vermillion Cliffs, Wupatki, & Sunset Crater pretty well over the years. And I already have chapters on Hovenweep, Canyon of the Ancients, and The Vermillion Cliffs just about set to roll. There’s also a whole intro chapter ready to go too. So, what else can you do?
One thought is a “premium” site. That would be a subscription based website where posts with larger content and more information would go. This type of site has been on my mind for years, ever since I was in the gallery. Often I’d post great Lightroom and Photoshop Tutorials, and they’d get a lot of attention. Actually, one regular reader complained years ago when I stopped putting the free tutorials up. But when it takes hours and hours of your time to make one simple demo video, you can’t just give them away for free. Just look at Scott Kelby’s empire. You do not get free videos from his training site, you pay a yearly fee to be a member and have access to the content he provides.
If we did something like this it wouldn’t affect this blog. Things would continue as they have for years. The only change would be pointing folks to the new “premium content” site for the bigger articles, the how to’s, and the where to go’s.
Short term thinking
For the moment I’m going to focus on the next few days ahead of me. Tomorrow the Airstream sets out to Hovenweep National Monument. I have a photo idea and I need to stay at their campground overnight to make it happen. And it will happen!
After Hovenweep, back to Cortez for a few more days. I need steady internet connection for a side project a friend asked me to look into, and it’s not too expensive to stay here. Of course we need to find our next client soon, the coffers are a closing in on empty at the moment. So travel won’t be far and wide until the next client site is found.