Lifetime Sentences was created by Jim Hagarty on April 30, 2016. It developed out of a Christmas gift from Jim’s daughter Sarah who set up a Word Press account as a way to get her Dad off the couch. It didn’t work too well as he now creates posts for the blog while sitting with his laptop on the couch.
The blog also sprang to life at the urging of Jim’s friend Al Bossence, a fellow Canadian, who has been blogging for many years at www.thebayfieldbunch.com. Al and his wife Kelly are committed RV enthusiasts and hit the road for six months of the year, travelling mostly in the United States. They parked themselves sometimes during their wanderings at a ranchhouse they owned in Arizona but sold it a few years back and now are true nomads.
Al is a good writer and a fantastic photographer. He uses his talents to post interesting entries on his blog once a day, in the evenings. The blog, of course, is about RV life but about so much more. It is full of humour, philosophy, and honesty. In 13 years, his blog has attracted more than eight million Google-verifie views.
Lifetime Sentences is in its ninth year as of 2024. As a lifelong journalist and teacher, Jim Hagarty populates his blog with not only his own best writing and music but that of other writers and musicians and photographers, including his son, Chris Hagarty, his friend Al Bossence, and others, from time to time. He is trying to make his blog a hangout for Internet users who seek quality writing and entertainment.
In November 2019, Jim published two additional sites. Home Again: An Emigrant Family Returns to Ireland (emigrantfamilyhomeagain.com) and Jim Hagarty: Things That Make Me Laugh (and Cry). Home Again was started to promote a book he published by the same name and Jim Hagarty is a blog like Lifetime Sentences but offers all things Jim Hagarty, without contributions from others.
So, welcome to Lifetime Sentences. It has gone through some growing pains but hopefully, it will be a site you might eventually think to bookmark. And that is all Hagarty has ever wanted in this life: To Be Bookmarked!
Thanks so much for your interest. A writer without readers is like a guitarist performing on stage to an empty hall.