Yours portly has to get something off of his massive, hairy chest:  I don’t think I’ve been delivering the best content lately.  Blogging daily is always going to be a game of quantity versus quality, but I feel as though I have been phoning it in more and more.

It’s my job to give you what you want, and I haven’t been doing that very well lately.  Quite frankly, though, I’m frustrated.

The life of an artist/musician/writer has always been difficult, and I’m fortunate to have a steady gig and tons of profitable outlets for my creativity.  But it’s harder than ever to keep creating without support (kudos to everyone who has and continues to support me).

Creating is important!  One reason conservatives are so behind the Left is because we’re not great when it comes to supporting our own small creators, unless they’re Max Lucado or whoever Conservatism Inc./Corporate Christianity tells us to support.  If the culture at large is bad—and I think it largely is—then we need to create a better culture.  Instead, we’re having debates over the marginal tax rate and how many Republicans can dance on the head of a needle.

I’ve written (with help from my contributors) over a million words in the past five years.  Like a tree falling in an observer-less forest, though, do those words mean anything if only twenty people a day read them?  I’m thankful for those twenty, to be sure—extremely so!—but I’d hoped to gain a bit more traction by now.

Perhaps I have been chasing the wrong things with this blog.  Perhaps I need to dedicate it to God’s Glory, and not focus so much on monetization (which has not worked well, regardless).

I would ask folks to consider spending $1 for my blog or $5 for my new album (another one lands one week from today).  I know funds are tight with inflation these days; I also know that people manage to spend much more on the things they care about and enjoy.

That might be the biggest source of my frustration:  the dawning realization that I’m not producing art and content that people want.

***

One coda:

Thanks to all of those who have given me support over the years.  It means a great deal.  I appreciate the words of encouragement and the morale-boosting e-mails.  They all make a difference.

God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving!

—TPP