As many of you already know, I've come close to shutting down "Bedrock Dreams" at least twice now. Rather than take such a drastic measure and possibly burn all my bridges behind me, I've decided to take a vacation from posting here with the intention of re-evaluating things a few months down the road.
OK, what does this mean exactly, you ask? It means I won't be publishing any new posts at least until late July or early August. At that time I'll re-assess things and see whether I feel like carrying on here at "Bedrock Dreams." In the interim, however, I WILL answer your e-mail queries and posted comments.
There are four reasons for my decision:
1) Burn out. After nearly six years I find myself fighting a losing battle against the law of diminishing returns when it comes to the fun and excitement I used to take in writing and publishing this blog. Once you start to lose the energy and joy in something you love, it's time to step back, re-evaluate, and decide if things are worth continuing.
2) Declining financial support. I've never made much in the way of money writing and publishing "Bedrock Dreams" nor was that the reason I began this blog in the first place. However, I don't think it greedy of me to be paid a little something for my efforts and hard work here. Over the years, I've been able to collect small amounts for my efforts here via pay-per-click advertising, percentage-based affiliate sales, and the periodic generosity of your donations. Interestingly enough, since February of this year of all three of these small income streams have either decreased substantially or dried up completely.
3) Time constraints. Like most of you, I don't have unlimited free time at my disposal. I still work a full-time job at age 65 and have the same household "honey do's" and family responsibilities to contend with that you do. Keeping this blog active and updated takes more time than some of you may think and I'm constantly robbing Peter to pay Paul in that respect. At my age, time is precious indeed.
4) Exploring new ground. I've had a number of ideas for plowing new ground that I'd like to focus on or at least get off the ground. One of these ideas or projects includes the possibility of writing a hard-copy gold prospecting and mining book that would reflect my own persona and no BS approach as well as providing the necessary info in a new and refreshing way. I've also toyed with starting a totally different blog or site (non-mining related) and going back to writing fiction short stories (yep, I used to be a published fiction author).
Anyhoo, that's about it in a nutshell. I'll touch base with you here come late July or early August. In the mean time, take care of yourselves and gets lots of gold.
Thanks for your support!
Jim Rocha (J.R.)
Santa Fe, NM
