Art in a Bad Economy

Hi everybody!

[Note: these posts never do particularly well on their own, and the algorithms that throttle content prevent MOST people from ever seeing such a post, so if you are sans money but still want to help (or if you are with money and want to double up on the help) a really useful thing you can do is help me work around those algorithms by giving this post a like or share this on social media.]

There is every chance that between trade wars and government shutdowns our "inevitable recession" is going to be a doozy of a bad time for artists and entertainers who are riding that edge of barely-making-it, and I know all too well that simply giving away hard earned money is one of the first things most folks trim, so I'd like to take a moment to thank the folks who literally keep the lights on around here and keep the posts coming.

Of course I'm also here to ask you if you can join their legions by sparing a dollar a month. Or three if you want a newsletter. Or five if you want a newsletter and some selfies and pics of vacations and pets I sit. Or....

Well you get the idea.

Become a patron for only a dollar a month!

You'll get in on behind-the-scenes news, upcoming projects, progress reports on major works (like my book), occasional polls asking about our direction here at Writing About Writing, and at higher tiers, even more.

Or you can do a one time donation through Paypal. (Technically you can make a recurring payment there too, but you won't get any rewards.) And my Venmo account is chris.brecheen@gmail.com. That's also my email address if you want to talk about something....less typical. (Got everything here from a gratis 2016 burlesque calendar from a professional model to a watercolor by a professional artist to some ridonkulously good cookies. (Okay, the cookies are long gone, but you get the idea.)

"*WINTER"
                                                                                                              

Winter* is coming. The economy was already showing signs of slowing down before costly trade wars and government shutdowns, and I'm way too jaded and cynical to think for a second that folks aren't going to start re evaluating whether they can afford to drop $10, $20, $50+ a month on this entertainer and his blog. I've already lost the contribution of a furloughed federal worker and noticed that recovery from November (holidays are always a loss) is slower than usual. I'm battening down the hatches with side gigs, but those take me away from writing.

It's always true that every little bit helps, but that's particularly true in a slower economy. As much as I love my big fish patrons, some of whom account for 10% of my income, the economy will affect them too, and some of them account for over 10% of my income (which can be a lot to lose in one hit!). A thriving ecosystem of small patrons ($1, $3, and $5) keep a random contract renegotiation for a freelance job in Clackamas Oregon from causing me an agonizing pay cut.

So even if you can't do more than $12 a year, you'd be helping more than you know.

I'll be saving as much as I can to help whether the storm. My blog and fiction will still and always be free. I'll write as much as I have time for. I'll keep doing what I'm doing. And my book is coming along. But if you like the writing I do and want to see more of it, or don't want to see me have to cut back so that I can petsit or nanny more, please consider tossing a little support my way.

BIG BIG THANKS

I want to thank you all just for reading. For clicking and maybe liking and sharing and anything else you might do. You make all this work worth it, and more days than I care to admit, it has been remembering folks I don't want to let down that has brought me to the page.

In particular, I want to thank my Patrons and donors. Be they through Patreon, Paypal, Venmo, mailed checks, or bills pressed into my hand from folks I run into in meatspace. You are all keeping food on the table and keeping me writing.

And especially, I want to thank the Patron Muses. Folks so unbelievably generous with their time, money, emotional labor, or relentless social media proliferation, that they deserve the ultimate shout out. Thank you to Julia, Margaret, John
, Pol
, Ginger, Kelly
, Alisha, Hélène, Amy, TM Caldwell, Alex, another––more different––Alex, and two Anonymouses. Without all of you, I would still be teaching four nights a week, updating once or twice, and wondering if I should have stayed a restaurant manager.