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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?

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

The Truth About this Last Month (Personal Update)

My secret ingredient?
Having some fucking time!
If you've enjoyed the higher quality and greater frequency of "solid" posts over the last month, I have a confession to make....

There's a reason I've been able to write a little harder and faster these last few weeks than during much of the last two or three years: I haven't been outrageously busy.

There have been a couple of pet sitting gigs, and right this second I'm wrapping up a week in Texas with my mom, but for the large part, whether it was teaching, double booking pet sitting gigs, or just needing to be on as a nanny, I was facing down thirty hours of work (before I wrote a word) in the last couple of years.

And this month you finally got to see what I could do when things weren't so chaotic and busy.

Yes, posts have gotten shifted around, and I haven't done every article I wanted or planned on (for example, I'm probably going to have to push the conclusion of my current three part article from this Friday to next), but it's been a lot better. The vacation season is over, so not as many pet sitting gigs, and the nanny hours have dropped since the kid is in preschool. Which is all probably good because of that "exhaustion" diagnosis. But mostly it's afforded me the time to slam out some solid writing on a more regular basis.

If you have enjoyed this pace, and particularly if you want to see even more (including a better pace on fiction offerings), you can absolutely help that happen:


Throw a dollar a month (or maybe a little more) at my Patreon.

My financial realities mean I'm not really making enough to live on long-term. I can just barely keep things going right now by patchworking three jobs together and doing a shoestring budget, but I'm putting off a lot of questions (both shorter term like how to deal with a car that will eventually need more than just maintenance, all the way to retirement that I'm not saving for at all right now). Expenses are coming, and when they hit, the first casualty of having to do something reliable for cash is going to be the robust updating schedule that I hope you've enjoyed.

Plus you get awesome rewards–rewards that start with being a part of backchannel discussions (and occasionally polls) as well as a voice I listen to when I want input including upcoming projects and get more awesome from there. And of course there is the warm and fuzzy feeling that you are helping support a better world by supporting a writer and artist whose writing (even fiction) will always be free.

NOTE: If you'd like to support me as a writer, I welcome that support as I have skyrocketing rent and insurance like everyone else and might like to live in my own tiny studio some day instead of sharing a two bedroom with three people, but PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don't "fund" my social justice writing in a vacuum. (My political snark I don't mind getting paid for, though those thoughts often dovetail.) I don't do the social equality part of my writing for money. I have my reasons for not being able to be a full-fledged "social justice advocate/activist/writer/warrior," and I refuse to be making a paycheck off of these struggles that are not mine. I'll do these Social Justice Bard posts and call out privilege on my Facebook no matter what. I promise. If the gestalt of my writing appeals, great, but if you only want to see more social justice posts, please donate to the causes themselves (BLM, SPLC, Planned Parenthood, Equality Now to name just a few....) or writers–particularly women of color–who are writing about their own struggles and without whose hard work I would never be able to articulate such ideas. Thank you.

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