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
The Portly Politico 
May I make a suggestion? That, maybe, rather than putting up daily articles, you pop them up every 2/3 days instead? You already do too much as it is. I don’t think anyone else who visits will mind an article every few days.
Talking of pieces, I’m going to get on the computer possibly over the weekend and jot down some stuff to send your way, including a parody review for Christmas. You can link them over at TCW (readers forum) and hopefully, it’ll bring a few more people over. I’ll definitely be doing it this time!
Regarding donations, I have all your music. I’m still waiting for the classic rock covers. If you do something like that, I’ll buy them in a second.
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Dude, I will definitely have to do some classic rock covers for you. That would be fun.
I enjoy the daily posts (typically), but I think I need to either a.) go the more copy-pasta route (long quotations from other sources with super brief commentary) or b.) do a MWF schedule, kind of like what you’re mentioning there. MWF is the schedule I stick to (loosely) on my YouTube channel.
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Here is what Audre wanted to comment. I will be very frank—I am not going to post e-mailed comments as a rule, because it’s a bit of an imposition on me and my time, and (as I noted in a comment earlier this week) I’m not in the business of troubleshooting WordPress issues for readers.
That said, Audre’s comment really matches your sentiment. Are the two of you e-mailing each other? : D
Audre’s comment:
“not sure if you’ll see it there so here it is where I know you’ll see it.
“Toast on one’s left palm and a knifeful of butter in one’s right fist. One applies the butter at the top of the toast and by the time the knife has traversed the length of the toast, one finds that the bulk of the butter was at the top and the bottom is virtually bereft of butter. Because the butter has been spread too thin. One has asked the given amount of butter to serve beyond its ability.
“The same can be said about people, of course. And especially over-achievers like ours Portly. You teach history/government (if I remember correctly), music, and are the motivating force behind concerts at school functions and the like. You also teach music privately to a number of youngsters and are involved (still, I wonder?) in a Minecraft club of your own making (near as I can tell). For several years, you’ve been the sole sponsor and host of a holiday event. You may still be in a position in your local government – you don’t mention it much. You have family that you visit and who, I assume, also visit you. You own a home which I suspect, like every other, demands a certain amount of time for improvements, repairs, updates, etc. Vehicles are not as demanding but can be equally expensive in upkeep. Visits to the vet for an older dog (or any pet!) is expensive. You do open mic nights at a local place as often as you can and there has to be time devoted to prepping for those, especially when you’re going to be working with a friend. Then you take a couple of minutes to compose little pieces of music and record and edit them. You draw and take time to photograph and, I assume, edit that before ‘publishing’ in the blog. You’re the organist for your church and that takes a bit of practice before you play for the congregation.
“I don’t even know you, Port, and I know you’re going in too many directions at one time and your once fully loaded butter knife is at the bottom of your toast and there’s no butter left to cover the area.
“You are the only one who can resolve this issue. I suspect what you need is a vacation – a mental and emotional one. I also suspect the easiest thing to step away from for a while is the blog. Take a month’s vacation from writing. Think a think, dream a dream, dangle your feet in the water – even if you’re only sitting on the side of your bath tub. Recharge. Renew. Find Port again. Take a nap. Do a Lego. Find you again.”
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Is it wrong that Audre’s comment made me hungry? 😂😂😂
She’s right. In the time I’ve been reading this blog, the amount of things on your plate actually makes me tired. If I was doing the amount of work and activities you do, I think I’d be dead by now! Seriously dude, you need to slow down and if that means doing an article every few days, I’m sure that fellow readers will be happy with that. In fact, if I lived in Lamar, I’d march around to yours and hammer boards onto your doors just to keep you at home for a few days. You’re not Rambo. Chill, Winston! 😂
As for troubleshooting, I can sort out that myself.
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