Love in the Time of COVID-19

​I have come to the reluctant conclusion that I am going to have to once again put Jackass Letters on hiatus. This saddens me, but the reality is I picked the exact wrong moment in time to decide to start sending out letters to people and businesses. I have sent out twenty-eight letters in the last two months with a total of three responses. That’s just not a high enough response rate to make this site viable. So I am hitting pause. Not stop. Pause.

And don’t get me wrong, I understand the reasons behind the improbability of a reply. There’s a good chance no one is where I am writing. That the guy who sorts the mail is currently on a ventilator or cowering in fear at home (like I am). That the woman tasked with writing me back doesn’t want to open hand addressed mail that looks like it’s from someone quite irrational. That the operation in question is still actually functioning. And in the event that life is going on as nearly as normal as possible, well, I am guessing writing some jackass back isn’t exactly high on the priority list right now.

Take all of the above, and add to this my not wanting to add to people’s stress. So I am going to focus instead on the website. I am going to continue to migrate content from my old layout to this new one. I am going to focus on the functionality of the site and the look. I am going to figure out exactly what services I want to offer and get those up and running. Podcast? Syndication feed? Feedback form? Memberships? I don’t know.

In programming there’s an expression of ship early, ship often, but when you are a one man shop, you can’t do everything all at once. I tend to focus on one thing until it’s done, then move onto the next. I got the site “good enough,” and moved onto content. I wanted a lot of fresh and funny letters. I wanted to really make the push for having the site fully converted and back to a regular publishing schedule by April 1st (it seemed fitting). But after reevaluating I have decided this is an untenable goal. As much as I would like for it to happen, it’s just not going to. The timing is wrong.

I am sure that of the twenty-eight letters still out there that I am likely to still receive a reply or two. Normally with this many letters I would get nine replies (or more). Three is a bit shocking, but totally understandable.

While this isn’t the relaunch I was hoping for, I’m not going anywhere. I am still going to write letters like mad. I’m just not going to send them. I will wait until everything settles down and then release them into the wild all at once where they can go forth, be fruitful, and multiply. That is assuming I don’t get COVID-19 and die. I put tons of energy and hours into this redesign, so I am disappointed this is the call I have to make.

There was also the pesky part of not being able to raise funds. I really want to make this site work. People seem to love it (for the most part). The feedback I get is almost anyways positive, and even when people don’t like it, it’s generally because the site really isn’t for them or they think I am an asshole. I get this. I can’t be all things for all people, but I really do need to figure out a way to get the people who enjoy this site to support my writing. If you are on twitter, go ahead and follow me there: @jackassletters. If you are on Facebook, you can like & follow the page there: Jackass Letters Facebook Page. Otherwise, I’m sure I’ll be updating this page when I go live again. Until then…

I am sheltering at home, and I hope you are as well. Be safe. Stay healthy.

Posted by Christopher L. Jorgensen on 03/22/20 at 02:45 PM