The Chickahominy Report

Gratuitous beach photo: A woman views the sunset at First Encounter Beach, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — Anyone who has looked at this blog has noticed that nothing has been posted here in a long time.  Some of you have e-mailed me and asked “Why?”

I face the same problem that many freelance journalists do: These days, it “pays” to blog, yet it really doesn’t $PAY$ to blog. In other words, blogs are a way to become more visible and to do the kind of reportage we really want to do; but our blogs don’t — at least in the short run — generate the income we need to pay the bills, which includes paying for the blog.

In my case, I had some drop-dead deadlines to meet toward the end of last summer, then I was offered the opportunity to work temporarily for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution this fall.  Given my advanced age (48), I can no longer work around the clock the way I could when I was younger.  Something had to give, and this blog got axed (temporarily) from my schedule.

For example, the previous entry for this blog took about three weeks of nearly full-time-equivalent reporting — for which I earned exactly $0. Many bloggers struggle with finding a balance between the need to do a good job versus the income, or lack thereof, deriving from that good work. I obviously haven’t found the solution.

So, for those of you seeking news on the environment of the Mid-Atlantic the past few months, my apologies.  I am now back and hope to do a better job of posting regularly to this site without sacrificing my journalistic standards.

In the meantime, if any of you hear of a job in the neighborhood, please let me know…

– David M. Lawrence

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