Monetizing (or not)

A best friend of mine was thinking about getting a dog and she went online to scope out available puppies. She came across a designer breed—half sheepdog and half standard poodle. She fell in love with a particular puppy but did not leave a deposit with the breeder right away---she just made an inquiry instead. She was being complacent about the process—non committal—she wasn’t sure she was making the right move. But when she went to dinner at the Chinese restaurant later that evening she received a fortune cookie which said Pursue your heart’s desires aggressively.

For a year now I having been writing my blog and wondering what to do with it---monetize it or not. Many of my friends believe my words are worth money---and I should not be giving my thoughts away for free. They have encouraged me to be entrepreneurial. But by not monetizing my blog I feel completely in control—I completely own not just my words but the space on my website. I like that—it means that if I decide to do something else with it down the road the only legal attachment I have is to myself--even though there is not any foreseeable “something else” I have specifically in mind to be legally concerned about.

Yet because I have accomplished an entire year of writing without making any kind of decision, I thought maybe I should stop overthinking the monetization thing—I should just allow Google to place their advertisements on my page and let whatever happens happen. The likelihood that I will be “discovered” and become a real writer is pretty slim. I may be lucky just to attract a solitary advertiser. And I was in the process of setting the monetization up when I heard a familiar sound—it was the click of a new email in my AOL mailbox.

It distracted me.

So I redirected myself to AOL and saw that my daily horoscope had arrived. And even though my horoscope is not something I read with regularity, I chose to read it anyway.

It said:

Tuesday, Jun 12th, 2012 -- Although you're receiving sufficient support to go ahead with your project now, moving too fast only creates problems. Your friends and associates may be enthusiastic about your plans, encouraging you along your way. However, if you bolt ahead too quickly, you could actually end up at the wrong destination. Even if you're eager to move forward today, taking your time pays off in ways you cannot yet imagine.

I took it as a sign that today wasn’t the day to monetize my blog. The universe was giving me more than a whisper on the topic—its opinion was as loud as a drunken quarrel between two Jersey Shore girls over a Guido.

So I signed out of the link.

And my girlfriend understood the message of her fortune cookie to mean that that puppy was meant to be hers. And when she got home, she made an electronic deposit for her heart’s desire.

And Petey, the one blued-eyed one brown-eyed sheep-doodle is her best canine companion—a total delight.

Sometimes the universe communicates with you in the oddest ways. Which is why I will wait and see what the universe has in store for my blog. Maybe my writing is to take a path  in “ways I cannot imagine yet.”