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My drug of choice is writing––writing, art, reading, inspiration, books, creativity, process, craft, blogging, grammar, linguistics, and did I mention writing?

Saturday, February 4, 2017

A Long Overdue Post

I was going to do the picture of the moths flying out
of my wallet, but I thought it might be too ham handed.
Image description: Author in B&W photo
Rent went up this year, and by no small amount. My Covered California plan also doubled in price (and will probably go up again since the ACA is likely to be repealed or gutted). I haven't been to the dentist in nearly two years. I live in a room and maintain a shoestring budget so that I can keep writing as much as possible. And when my cat got sick two weeks ago (she seems fine now, by the way) it wiped me out for a good two months (and would have been more if not for some donor's generosity). The underpants gnomes have also recently raided my drawers (see what I did there?).

I know the world is a strange and scary place right now, but if there were ever a time to support the artists and entertainers you want to see survive and keep doing what you love rather than serving you your next cheeseburger or driving your next Lyft to the airport, that time is now. Doubly so for the ones that are scraping by on a wing and a prayer.

Folks, I pumped pretty hard to get support for my Kickstarter going and I know people got pretty sick of seeing so much of that, so I wasn't going to put another "pledge drive" post up for a while, but it's been several months and we're long overdue. Usually I do this about once a month and it keeps me from having that aggressive reminder at the end of every single article. ("Yo, if you like this, subscribe, sign up for e-mails, and drop some skrizzle in the hizzle!") I know we're all just trying to get paid for our work, but some approaches seem more obnoxious to me than others.

Still, I'm not going for the soft sell today. The one with the florid, almost purple, prose about how sensational donations are and how supporters lift me up where we belong and the eagles fly on the mountain high and shit. Nope. It's the hard sell this time. And the undeniable fact that artists have bills just like everyone else.

Would that we could eat own inspiration and pay our bills with exposure and "Likes." But landlords don't have fucking vision, man. They always want cash.

If you want to keep this blog cranking out content every day, keep it ad free, and maybe even get more "meaty" articles, then consider a few dollars to help me get my bills paid and keep me writing instead of driving uber, waiting tables, or teaching middle schoolers how to use flash cards instead of playing Dark Souls XXXVIII if they want good grades.

And on that note, I have created a Patreon!  (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3202389)

Patreon is a simple, easy way to give an artist a set amount of money each month. And on my Patreon, even $12 a year (just ONE FRICKEN DOLLAR A MONTH) will get you access to "The VIP Room" where I will ask folks their input on upcoming projects, run patrons-only polls, and you get to be a part of chats with other patrons.

Of course there are cooler rewards for bigger patron amounts as well. My selfie game is pretty dudical–or so I'm told.

Of course if you prefer a one time donation, the "Tip Jar" from Paypal is over on the left, and I can get you information for Venmo as well if you e-mail me at chris.brecheen@gmail.com

5 comments:

  1. Okay, don't freak out that I cancelled my PayPal monthly donation. I just moved it over to Patreon and upped it a smidge. It's all good!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wouldn't have freaked out anyway, but holy crap are you ever one awesome human!

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    2. I'm just trying to live up to the hero archetypes most of the Voices in my head represent. I could probably write 2,000 (or 4,000 or 6,000 or more) words on why I give my support to the people I support, but I guess it really just boils down to either "karma" or The Golden Rule, depending on which Voice is doing the babbling.

      Of course, it does hurt that helping other people sends badly needed endorphins to my brain. :-D

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    3. If Blogger had a "like" button, I would click it.

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    4. Clearly, Blogger is deficient! On the other hand and at the other end of the spectrum is FB. Hmm. Given how ridiculous the latest incarnation of their DM system is, living without "like" buttons is a breath of fresh air.

      (Also, I just noticed the typo in my last note. "...it DOESN'T hurt...")

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