ATH 2024 Funding Appeal

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

Greetings, ladies, gentlemen, dragons, pterodactyls and assorted creatures of nameless dread. Alas — for me at least — it’s that time of year again, the second annual blog fundraiser. (The first is here)

This is the one post in which I explain it all. From here on out, to the 16th of the month, I will just put a note at the end of the post and a link to this post for those curious.

If you’re rolling your eyes and don’t want to read the explanation, here are the short, (snorts “short”) instructions:

1- If you wish to donate by the simplest, fastest method, the give send go from last year is still up: Here.
2- If you want to encourage my fiction writing as well as fund the blog, through subscribing to my fiction substack, Chapter House, go Here.
3- And if you want to subscribe to my other substack, Schrodinger Path, go Here. That second was supposed to be just my newsletter, but people started giving me money there, and so I excerpt stuff there too.
4- I also have a patreon and those who are paid members really should bitch at me about it, because I treat it worse than substack, but … BUT I try, truly. (and explanation of what went wrong will come later. It’s all one piece.) There will be more posts about cats, I promise. Anyway, go here to do that, if you’re comfortable with Patreon.
5- If you want to donate via pay pal, please ping me in email and I’ll send you the address. (I don’t have it on the site, so as not to invite shut down due to unapproved political opinions, but I still have one, because some publishing houses pay that way.)
6- And if you want to donate by mail, please send to Sarah A. Hoyt, 304 S Jones Blvd #6771, Las Vegas, NV  89107. Note on the last we’re also okay with you keeping it for Christmas cards (We’re just really bad at sending responses) or catnip mice (not live ones!) for Indy or whatever. Those aren’t donations, just friends keeping in touch.

AND if you still want to skip my analysis of what went right and wrong the previous years and why I’m doing this, what it means, and why yes I actually do need it, even though it’s NOT a rescue blog and you shouldn’t hurt yourself to donate, search for the words “I HAVE A QUESTION FOR EVERYONE NOW” capitalized, at the end of this blog, if you want to weigh in on that.

Now, for those of you who stayed around and don’t mind my extensive bloviating: As you all know I hate doing this. Always have, always will.

Thing is I’m I’m still being threatened or at least nagged by people who care about me if I don’t give them the chance to throw money at me for playing hostess for this very Odd living room we’re all chatting in. And also, frankly, I still feel guilty for all the 15 or so years I refused to do this and took the family through some very tight times because I did the work but never got paid for it.

My main reason not to fund raise all those years was that I was afraid people would give too much and hurt themselves. I still am a little afraid of this, so for the record: THIS IS NOT AN EMERGENCY, DON’T HURT YOURSELF AND MAKE ME USE A CARP, OR WORSE THE CHANCLA ON YOU. You know I hate to live down to stereotypes.

So, because , I still feel guilty about it, and like I must explain the fundraiser, in its various forms, first be aware that even those forms of funding that encourage fiction writing are ultimately for the blog.

The blog, you see, is a harsh mistress. I can’t remember the last time I took a break from it, though the posting gets really flaky at times. I think my last intentional vacation from the blog was ten years ago, when I used the time to paint and redecorate a bathroom.

Other than that, I wake up every morning and do the blog. Even on vacation. Or at cons. I tried to do it five years ago from Portugal, (with mixed success) and I did it while working on the house in Colorado to sell.

Even the minor things, like the meme posts, I know there are people waiting for them because they tell me it makes their weekend, and if I don’t get to them late at night (It’s been strange lately and I maybe can explain why) I do them in the morning while Dan waits impatiently, because Saturday is errand running day.

Remember to send me you book promos for Sunday (email to bookpimping at outlook dot com.) And don’t sweat the wording. ALL I need from you is a link. I like doing that. I feel like it’s some good I do in the world to give good people a chance to tell others their book is out.

The rest of the blog… Look, I realize no one is forcing me to do it. And I’m the worst of fundraisers, because I’m not going to pretend that I am going to stop the blogging if you don’t donate. I probably should. I mean, it might be the sane thing to do. To stop blogging, I mean, not to threaten you.

But as I told a friend last weekend who asked me why I did it and what difference it made: What I do is analyze things and get the thoughts out there. I’m under no illusions that I’m making a big difference in the world. And I’m certainly not saving the world. (There isn’t a trapper-keeper that big.) However we’re in a time of vast and catastrophically rapid change. Those of us with a tendency to think (perhaps as everyone accuses us of, “too much.”) need to know what’s going on and how to mitigate the worst. And all the lies (so many lies) we’ve been told… well, our whole lives, really. And while it doesn’t make a big, instant difference, I believe my thinking through issues in public is like throwing a pebble in a big lake. Sure, most of the pebbles will vanish with only little ripples, but sometimes — maybe — the ripples might go all the way to the shore, and raise other ripples (look, the metaphor breaks a little, okay) which might be the difference between a really bad road and a less bad one. One that allows a chance for human freedom and sanity in the future.

And maybe I’m lying to myself. Maybe this is the part where the blog also serves to keep me what passes for sane around these parts. But I hope not. I hope those ripples count for something.

I personally have long felt the truth is part of whatever it is that we are on earth to do.

While on that, and in the sense that at least to me the blog is a machine for understanding our rapidly, catastrophically changing world, I want to thank everyone who sent me guest posts in their specialties the last year. Not only did it allow me to run fewer blasts from the past when I’m sick or really exhausted, but it also added knowledge I don’t have and therefore can’t share.

Now, if I’m not going to stop blogging, why should you donate? Well, I’ll be honest: at this point mostly so I can write more, particularly more fiction. And so I don’t accidentally drive myself into the ground.

Let me explain: I’m sixty one. That seems like a thoroughly unlikely thing to write, much less to be true. Which I suspect is part of my problem.

My mind still thinks I’m at most 30 and I try to do the same level of work I always did. Which means … well, that I end up doing things much slower, because what used to take me a day now takes me a week (not the writing but any physical work) and then I spend a week recovering. Which is very annoying of my body.

But the problem with that is not by body as such, but Dan’s. Until he can have knee replacement, I must do pretty much all the work of house maintenance and yard care as well as my normal housekeeping, cooking, laundry, and other normal stuff. And the problem is that things like painting the porch, which should take me three hours and then I’m fine, is taking me 2 days and I’m a wreck after. (The other problem being we moved three years ago and I’m still unpacking/setting up, which also take forever and are exhausting.)

Anyway, none of this would matter, except that it takes away time that should be spent writing. That I want to spend writing. At Liberty Con last week, people asked for the second of Rhodes or Deep Pink, for the next Dyce, the next DST, the next Shifters. And all of them are started and in some measure of finishing, except…. well, except we suddenly need to clean or setup something (say, so we can put the car in the garage because there’s hail coming, so we must unpack everything that has been crammed in the garage for two years) and there go two weeks. Some of you who are on various groups with me have seen this happening. Even with No Man’s Land, the book that MAKES me write it, the last two weeks sometimes I only get a sentence done, because I have maybe ten minutes at night to write.

Look, I need to pay people to paint, to tuckpoint, and maybe get a couple of helpers (to be fair, probably younger son and younger DIL, but still. They are good kids and help all the time, but he has a more-than-full-time job and she’s started a business and I don’t feel I can steal their time without at least some payment.) to help me move stuff around so I can unpack my library and have A living room without killing myself.

It’s been borne upon me — by one of you yelling at me this weekend (in a very nice way) — that I’m not a skilled laborer for tuckpointing and painting or yard care, including weeding the thrice d*mned flowerbeds and that I’m foregoing the opportunity to write books and make money to do this, which isn’t a rational economic decision.

And that’s true, but the thing is before I hire someone I need to have money in hand. So I need money to make money. Which is the big point of the fundraiser this year. (In addition to being money for work done.)

And this segues neatly into what went wrong the other years. And why the updating on even Chapter House is sporadic.

It’s mostly time. I’m supposed to be doing my blog posts in the evening while Dan watches TV (Look, he works a more than full time job and that’s how he rests. By blanking the mind.) Sometimes it even works. But if I’ve been running around, weeding and shredding fallen branches or tuckpointing, painting — and here I admit I’ve never got on the roof to figure out how we get a damp patch on my bathroom ceiling. Need to, but I’m terrified of heights. — of a dozen other things, I might manage a chapter or two paragraphs of NML but I can’t write a blog. And so here I am at almost 3pm writing my blog. And I just realized I forgot to update the substacks and patreon last night. I meant to.

Now, there are other things that went wrong in the other years, because this fundraising thing is a process of figuring out the best way to do it, I think.

I figured out after the first year that there are problems with emailing things out (mostly anti-piracy stuff) and also that I suck at mailing out physical books. I will try again to send the USAian shorts collection out soon (I did not forget) and now that we’ve ALMOST unpacked the boxes of books formerly in the garage, I need to send out the physical books before the end of summer. I just suck at this, because I run out of time and forget. I also haven’t tuckerized of mass-killed (or math killed) people due to running out of time and energy. All I can say is my assistant is compiling lists, and I will get to it, I promise.

As for Chapter house, I had someone upbraid me here for not having done as much in that as I meant to. I confess that I launched the Chapter House, with the idea that it would give me a deadline to force myself to write consistently. I had high goals of finishing two novels there, in a year.

Instead it turned out to be a window into my writing process, complete with discovering several chapters in that one of the books I was struggling with was from the wrong point of view and has to be completely rewritten, dry spells for various health crisis, and a very pushy novel has decided now, after decades, that it must be written or I am not allowed to write anything else. So I have been putting No Man’s Land up there.

To be fair that thing has to be done soon (If I can do a chapter a day again, as I was doing through May, about 10 days from now, I think.) And then I can finish Witch’s daughter which is hanging by a thread, and then go back to Winter Prince and make it make sense. If you subscribe to Chapter House (or Schrodinger Path) you’ll get basically unedited e-arcs at the end of this. “What the writer turned in.” And maybe a chance to buy an edited/etc. copy before it goes on Amazon. (Mostly because I know a few of you don’t do Amazon. And that’s fine.) I just wish I were faster, etc.

As for what I did with the fundraiser from last year. Well. I did do some stuff, even if we didn’t hire someone to tuckpoint and paint. Besides allowing me to take care of the end-of-life cats, including boarding them when we travel, to make sure they get meds, and helping friends and family with some urgent needs….

Last year’s fund raiser allowed me to pay a… sort of office manager. You know her as Holly Frost.

Younger son was sort of doing this the last 3 years in Colorado (as well as helping with cleaning, house repairs, etc.) But… well, he got a job, moved out and got married. And since I hope for grandkids, that’s a good thing. So with the fundraiser money, I hired Holly Frost, who is why fewer of the guest posts have gone missing, why more of the comments get fished out of the delende of wordpress, and who organized hiring and project management to get Mad Genius and ATH fixed up on the back end so they run better, even with WordPress’s updates. And also have my most recent books on the side, and not the ones from 10 years ago.

She’s currently trying to get a web designer to do my writers’ site which has been empty for years. Yes, I guess that will cost more money.

Her insane work also involves reminding me to take the cats in to the vet and reminding me that I am not, in fact, twenty years old, and I cannot, in fact, work for 18 hours moving heavy boxes and bounce back with four hours of sleep. My “bounce back” is closer to a week, and is needed after only eight hours, or driving for a weekend, or someone attacking a voodoo doll in Peru and giving me another autoimmune outbreak. Getting old is not for the weak.

So, she also nags me to eat and “drink some water already” and “have you SEEN a vegetable this last week.” (Sigh. I just realized I’m paying someone twenty years younger than me to be my mom.)

In addition money went for professional copy-editing, and this year I’d like to get structural editing as well. It’s not something I often need but NML (Aka the d*mned book) is driving me bonkers.) I’m not paying for copy editing for the blog because you guys told me not to. Let me know if you change your minds.

We should have got new computers last year at close of year, because well, it’s cheaper on the taxes and it was getting to that time. But between my getting sick and our being really busy, we didn’t. Which is why I’m writing this with a keyboard atop the laptop keyboard. And why a new laptop is on the docket soonest.

To reiterate, same as last year, there will be three main routes for fund raising.

GiveSendGo, for which I make no promises; Chapterhouse, for which I will give you my fiction that is in process, yes there will be typos; and Patreon, for which I give you cat pspsps posts. For the more exotic reasons: email me for paypal address or email address. The book promo email at will do: bookpimping at outlook dot com.

I HAVE A QUESTION FOR EVERYONE NOW: WordPress is obviously jealous of substack and now gives me the option of having paid subscribers posts.

I haven’t done anything with it, because, well…. I haven’t. It’s one more thing, right? But one thing that has disappointed me about substack (which I do not intend to abandon!) is that while admirable as a newsletter because it is emailed out there is far less engagement than when I excerpted Witchfinder here. And I like the engagement and the back and forth. So, should I enable the paid posts, and would some of you like to follow fiction here that way? (Advantage of using it for fiction is that if they track the paid posts they really will have trouble finding anything political/objectionable in them.)

What say you, assorted creatures of mystery?

And now, with apologies for this overlong and very late post, I’m going to try to write a chapter.

NOTE: The illustration, like others on this blog, are released under creative commons. Yes, they are AI but long story they are, yes, copyrighteable. And not public except here. So feel free to take if you want it. Or ask me for adjustments, if it’s for a cover.

102 thoughts on “ATH 2024 Funding Appeal”

  2. GSG on the way! I can’t give as much as I’d like to, but I do what I can to help you keep writing, both the blog and the books.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you. Knowing the times we live in, I actually should do these once a quarter, so people could give a little. I… there were other people that needed it more.

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      1. There are ALWAYS people who need it more. Don’t fall into the trap of pretending you DON’T need anything just because your need is not extreme.

        About that mailing address….is that also the name to which we should make out the checks? (You CAN do paper checks, right? Call me a Luddite if you like, but we really don’t like electronic funds thingies.)

        And your blog brightens my days, even when you’re writing of the Blackpilled Brigade or other uncheery topics.

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        1. Yes, the name is fine. Goldport Press is also fine. And yes, we can and do do paper checks.
          And thank you for your words. I do always feel others need it more.

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          1. People with compassion always do; it’s not a flaw. Just don’t let the fact that others also have needs make you think that yours are unimportant.

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        2. I’m sure there are people that ‘need’ my paycheck more than I do. The Democrats will reel off an endless litany of them at the slightest excuse.

          Tough Shit. I worked for it; they didn’t. Even so, the Democrats steal half of it anyway.

          If we toss our money into your hat, that is our choice. We have evaluated the alternatives, and decided that you deserve it. Who else we give or don’t give money to is not your concern.

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          1. I always thought that the Dems and Marxists (BIRM) had an absolutely brilliant scam going; “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs”. Almost sounds fair, until you realize that their favored groups have almost no abilities but oh, do they have needs! From the productive to the parasites; the perfect wealth transfer excuse. And LBJ’s [spit] Great Society made it all possible; “I’ll have those n*****s voting Democrat for 200 years!”.

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            1. Worse than that. Your ability represents a debt that you can never pay off, while their ‘needs’ place an unlimited claim on your ability. You are not allowed to have ‘needs’.

              And then, who decides? Who assesses your ability, and the parasite class’s ‘needs’? Why, the Marxist trash that made up all that bullshit, of course. Only they can understand the intricacies of taking money from those who earn it and giving it to those that do not. If it all seems stupid and unfair to you, that just means you’re not as Educated as they are so you should shut up and obey.

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            2. The evolution of Socialism:

              “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need!”

              “Wait, you mean if I have ability, I have to pay, but you’ll pay me if I have needs?”

              “Uhh… Shut up, you racist!” [sfx: pistol shot; corpse hitting floor]

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              1. Well, as long as the pistol is in the right hand and the right corpse hits the floor… :twisted:

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          2. >steal half of it anyway.

            A partial fix: Write off your tax-deductible* donation to:

            School for Cats who Walk through Walls

            Attention: Indy

            at one of the addresses supplied by our hostess above.

            —

            *YMMV. I am not an IRS agent, and resent the implication that I am.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. I used to joke about declaring my house tax-exempt as The Church Of The Gray Cat. I could at least prove that there was a Gray Cat, and he thought he was God, placing my claim on sounder footing than, say, Scientology. :-D

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  3. NO APOLOGIES! You are a voice of sanity, along with most of the commenters here, in a sea of insanity. You deserve support, and we your followers/fellow conspiratists(sp), need to do what we can. I’ve been blessed, my kids are doing well, I have my health and a great wife. Got a good job at age 70 and able to retire soon. My life has been a breeze compared to most.

    You are needed and have value worth support. Hang in there!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. “…the blog is a machine for understanding our rapidly, catastrophically changing world”.

      IMHO it’s also the best sort of brainstorming session, where literally everyone can contribute (sometimes, when allowed, even Fed the Fred) (Well, for Fred “contribute” may be a bit overboard; maybe “pee in the lemonade and be laughed at”?). And, perhaps most importantly, it keeps us sane by reminding everyone that we’re not alone in the Kingdom of the Parasites.

      Liked by 1 person

        1. Seems to work out that way…

          And the snappy comeback (if any) is usually equivalent to Tommy Smothers’ favorite one: “Well…well…OH YEAH!?!?”😆

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      1. I really need to start playing around with AI art. Maybe it will inspire me to start doing my OWN painting again.

        Hmmm. Might be useful for setting up composition layout for paintings…

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          1. The girl is about to fall off the pillar. It would be a reasonable pose if she were leaning against a wall, but there isn’t any wall…

            Of course, given there’s also no obvious way for either of them to reach the top of the pillar, it’s very likely one or both can fly; so the situation is less perilous than it appears.

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  5. Deep breath… let it out slowly…. one more – ok, now just relax a bit. Good!

    Yes, we can be demanding whining brats but don’t take it seriously. You have to establish a pace that works for you and remember to keep adjusting it to fit whatever else is also going on. A chapter today, two tomorrow, nothing for three or four days – eh, don’t sweat as it will work out over the long run. We (the huns and such) all think you are doing OK and want to back you as best it be done. For goodness sake, take some of the bucks that will wander in and give Holly a “raise” and toss a few bucks (dollars not deer) to the kids and embrace the help. It all pays off as we (the whining brats out here) get blog content, etc. and you get to have a more manageable work load.

    It may pay off to look into (or have Holly do it) some regular help – lawn/yard service such as some local kids or a young start-up to deal with that? As I’ve aged (71 now) my power tool of choice is cash. If I can afford to pay for it to be done and keep the budget stable – that’s the way to go. Hopefully this funding cycle will give you that opportunity and you can go back to the first sentence followed by writing (your true desire).

    I’ll send you a card with one of my best friends enclosed – His name is Ben and he can be very handy to have around!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Agreed, I’m 73 with a bad shoulder. My better (saner half) has decreed I can’t to heavy yard work anymore. Just need to pay to have it done.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Amen. We just had our house exterior painted. Third time since we’ve owned this house. First time we didn’t actually do the painting. Hubby first tried to find someone to just do the part above the garage (3 sides, because one side is easy given access from main house roof). Gee. No takers. Hubby is 72. Me? I just don’t want to do the paint cleanup. Still need to paint upstairs and probably kitchen / dinning room before we replace the carpet. Again, clean up is holding me back, sigh. That and moving everything out (which cannot happen.). Need to get done before kitchen sink gets placed with single drain with new garbage disposal, sigh.

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  6. Apparently the group that publishes One Piece actually has a stagger who’s job it is to make sure the author doesn’t work himself to death.

    I’m not especially surprised by any of this.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. In regard to the roof, do you have any local friends with a drone? Not as good as a personal inspection, but better than nothing, and no need to get the ladder out.

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    1. Would that be TANSTAAFB? Asking for a friend.

      Check written, will go in snail mail tomorrow. No goodies need be sent. Still have my Hoyt’s Huns e-cert. (Laughs at Moose and Squirrel.)

      Liked by 1 person

        1. I used to work with a fellow named Merle. I Spoonerized ‘Moose and Squirrel’ once and he related that his daughter had a nickname of ‘Squoose’. Yes, they were Squoose and Merle. And, no, I am not making this up. It’s just another instance of the universe being a weird place. Or maybe he/they beat me to it?

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          1. (spockian raised eyebrow)

            All I need to discern “weird universe” is to reflect on my life.

            (thinks)

            It is weirder than I thought…

            Liked by 1 person

  10. September. Probably. If nothing else comes up.

    Monsoon came extremely early this year. Which meant that the roofing was not quite on completely (and still needs the reflective coat, for that matter). So drywall and insulation on one room of the house to be replaced. That at least is interior work…

    Oh, please do not hire to copy edit the blog (except maybe the subscription parts, if you go that route). Perfectly fine without it – and there is the occasional and highly appropriate gem in the typos. (Such as the “dyspainia” of the other day.)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Monsoon came extremely early this year.

      …………..

      Someone posted pictures of Moab and Arches/Canyonlands. Um. Interesting car washers off the road, water.

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    2. So much for the monsoon forecast I was looking at a few weeks ago. It said no monsoon until late July, and then it would be weaker than average.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. And they know exactly what the climate will be in 2080. (“Doomed! We’re all DOOMED!!!”)

        Cui bono.

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          1. 40 for me; I’ll be 79 in December. If it weren’t for those I know who aren’t leftists I’d be tempted to, as Travis McGee remarked, “watch the whole thing go ‘GLUB’ and disappear and feel only a mild, sardonic sense of regret” while thinking about made beds and who’s sleeping in them.

            Unfortunately I can’t actually do that; there’s this “conscience” thingie, plus the “love of country” one. And I, like many, have “hostages to fortune” I don’t want subject to that.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. I could make it beyond 2056, given family history, on both sides, and what they tend to die from. Not to 2080. That I’d doubt baring extensive life extensions being made available to the masses. Which wouldn’t happen because only the “right people would be qualified”.

              Liked by 1 person

    3. Oof! I did a house reroof a while ago and it took over a month from start of deroof to completion. In the midst of summer thunderstorm season. The orange polytarp used by ranchers for irrigation dams was a godsend, though one storm needed quick work with plastic dropcloths and roofing nails. I’ve done a few shed roofs since, but at 71, not any more. Should have 10-15 years left on the shingles and rather more on the metal roofs, so am crossing fingers.

      Agreed on no need for copyedit on the blog. The typos range from amusing to dead-on appropriate and hilarious.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. A close friend had a roof crisis. Long story, but he got ripped by an insurance hustler when buying a house. Net result “Replace roof to get insurance or the bank calls the note” … “you have a month”. Payments made to mortgage = 2. Every dime tied up in purchase. Doooooom!

        His mother’s husband was a mondo-skill handyman and organizer. In a week he put together “Team Friends Of E”, filed city papers, scrounged roofing materials (Unobtanium because just after the 2004 hurricane events in Florida). so…

        Week1: scrounge and organize on shoestring budget. Find people, gear, fill roles, etc,etc, etc. Team FOE formed. Gear staged at target home. Ongoing shingle quest.

        Weekend 1: Team FOE strip old roofing down to wood. Repair understructure and wood. Re-paper roof and assorted prep. organize gear and materials for phase 2. Scroungers still looking for any usable shingles available, any color.

        Week 2: Get city to inspect and approve. Normally takes more than 5 days. Did in 2. Sort out shingles. Major multi-person shingle trades. Result- a house sized pile of mostly matched shingles. Just no “crown” shingles to be had. But did find suitable color “wrong” shingles, so we -made- the things by cutting up some regular ones in a complimentary color.

        Weekend 2: Team FOE completely roofs home of ~1800 square feet in 2 days. Solved the slightly-mismatched colors by taking advantage of views. Front view got one shade and rear got another “almost match”. Normal shadows from adjacent trees pretty much hid the line where the two slight-off shades met. Flashed, sealed, crowned, code+. Brilliant.

        Week 3: Get city to inspect and approve. Again, more than a week to do, done in 3 days. Inspector was impressed with “How did you find the materials and a pro crew so fast? This is great work! Impossible! This is fast and good!” Insurance agent was impressed with success. “We normally do not see anyone get the work done in time to take our offer. It stands. Your check cleared and the city approved the work. Welcome to X firm”.

        Surprisingly, my biggest contribution was being the nailgun-smith both weekends. I lost count of how many times I tore them down and rebuilt them. All we had was worn out junk salvaged from scrap tool piles. Once I identified the “dead – please take it” hose shedding debris into the air feed, I spent much less time rebuilding. I also got kudos for the tar work around the bottom edges. We had plenty of tar/sealant, so I greatly exceeded the “code” requirements. Inspector: “A nuke would level the place, and the shingles would still be on the wreckage. What maniac did this?”. Code required 1st two rows glued. I got enough on for five rows. Oops.

        A good time was had by all. It was great training.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. If it was shingles, I’d still be up there. Or, rather, son would still be up there. Assuming he didn’t kill me first.

        Fortunately, it’s rolls. Slope is WAY too shallow for shingles.

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        1. I had bought a roofing stapler for a garage many years ago. (Persuaded some friends to do the work; simple 2 car garage and 20 year shingles over the old.)

          Forward 15 years. The stapler was shot and I saw enough warnings about staples. The underlayment was a bit light, but OK for roofing nails. Did it by hand, including humping bundles of shingles to the roof for a day or two at a time. With all that, I was taking a day to place and nail a square at a time. OTOH, the labor was cheap. :)

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  11. Tired? I got tired just reading how much you do! I’ve noticed it takes a day or two to recover from physical activity when it used to take a few minutes. And I don’t have to rely on writing to make money.

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  12. The Reader will hit GiveSendGo when he can. He has renewed his Chapter House subscription. He suggests promoting your Substack a bit more here as opposed to getting sucked further into WordPress. The Reader notes that promotion is not your strong point but he bets Holly could handle it.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. “THIS IS NOT AN EMERGENCY, DON’T HURT YOURSELF AND MAKE ME USE A CARP, OR WORSE THE CHANCLA ON YOU.”

    …but *not* the Boom Chacalaca, right?

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    1. So, in Portuguese a slipper is a Chinelo, in America it’s the spanish Chancla that’s known.
      It’s one way I’m stereotypical Latin. While I never hit them with it — just threw it at them, and I have lousy aim — my kids quaked when i removed my slipper.

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      1. Oh, one of my fans routinely mispells chancla as chinancla. This led another of my fans to draw a chinchilla-slipper.
        It’s around here somewhere.

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    4. I’m getting echoes from “Stripes”…

      “Where have you men been?”

      “Tr-r-raining, sir!”

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  14. “….creatures of nameless dread…..”

    Hrm… ‘Creature of Nameless Dread’ on a business card. Then, it would likely need to be someone else’s. I suspect my dread(s) all have names. Probably too long, too.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. I’m delighted to offer support, Sarah. In the weirdness of internet-space, I consider you a friend, as in FoS (Friend of Sarah). And in reality that’s very one-sided and might fail miserably in person. Ahhhh … life is weird sometimes. Still I read everything, comment rarely, treasure routinely.

    Do you have any preference for the mechanics? I ask, and someone prolly has before, and I wonder how others resolve the choosing. I have only so many $50/yr subscriptions in my wallet. And I loathe the fragmentation that happens when I pay “one favorite over another.” If I “buy” you and Glenn, what about Frank and Cedar, and … the list grows. I wish Ss had a federated subscription model of some kind, but am not sure that would work.

    Curious if you have any thoughts. V possible that I’ve missed prior musings. If so, apologies …

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    1. While such a system would be useful, it will never be implementable, because unlike a magazine, we don’t get paid by the piece, centrally. I UNDERSTAND your issue, and we too have it, but alas, it’s probably here to stay.
      I don’t have a preference for donations methods.
      Well, maybe paypal if you put in the message that you are receiving nothing for this donation, and it’s a gift. (Because then no taxes.)

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  16. “I hope those ripples count for something.”

    They do. Even if you do not see them doing it. You are FAR more ‘influential’ than I am (you have a bigger audience) and even I have been astonished that some little insignificant – so I thought – thing wound up having some weird positive influence, often only realized or revealed years later. And it’s not predictable. All I can say is, carry on, keep moving forward, and let things work out. Strangely, they generally do. And know the ripples are working, even if in… mysterious ways.

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  17. “..creatures of mystery”

    Ooh, I like that.

    I will say that if you wish to have some pay-to-see posts here for some stuff, go for it. So long is it’s not a pay-only blog overall, I don’t see any real problem. You get paid. People who want to see things (early) can pay for the privilege.

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      1. I have heard of such. I have NOT bought such (nor checked such out…) as it… just plain bugs me. I am open to Minotaur Romance and maybe even Erotica but some stuff is just plain disturbing.

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        1. Em has encountered some of the various creepy “non-human romance” stuff, and it’s pretty much ALL like this. The slush pile looks like Nobel for Literature material by comparison.

          Liked by 1 person

              1. “…deviated prevert, and I think General Ripper found out about your preversion and that you were organizing some kind of mutiny of preverts.“

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  19. Speaking of funding, I just saw an interesting point raised on Fox News.

    The Democrats have raised over $200 million to re-install the Zombie Sock-Puppet, mostly from left-wing mega-donors like Soros and Zuckerborg. That money belongs to the ‘Biden For President Campaign’ and can’t legally be re-purposed to support a different candidate.

    Thus, if The Party switches to Somebody Else, or even if Biden drops out (or dead), that money winds up in limbo. The Democrats can’t touch it. Whatever will they do? :-P

    Liked by 1 person

    1. The Reader notes that leftists do understand that money is fungible. Look at all the NGOs and non profits (the Reader means leftist billionaire money laundering organizations). No matter who the candidate, the money will get to (pick one of 57 genders here) as needed.

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    2. Considering FICUS bragging his violations of Supreme Court rulings, do you think a mere law is going to stop them. Who’s going to prosecute? (Though I could see DOJ trying to prosecute Trump for the Dem’s moving money).

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    3. Completely offtopic (like, that’s new), for tech people running ssh on their computers. The openssh people released a new version (9.8) July 1st, with various fixes. Not mentioned until later in the release notes, they deprecated the DSA keys (along with ECDSA). I have both RSA keys and ECDSA keys in the house computers, but got rejected pretty thoroughly. See openssh dot com for the release notes and explanations. (You can rebuild with DSA support, but it’s going away fully next year.)

      I think it’ll be cured when I get rid of the DSA-adjacent keys, but am going to regenerate my keys from scratch. So, if you do an update and get the Sheriff from Cool Hand Luke, that’s why. “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

      Argh.

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  21. Thanks for posting this. It really helped my own spirits, to know that I’m not alone in finding that setting a deadline for myself doesn’t necessarily ensure productivity, especially when Life intrudes.

    At the beginning of this year I lay out all kinds of plans to maintain my productivity on a whole bunch of promised items if everything shut down, so I wouldn’t end up spinning my wheels like I did in 2020 (I honestly expected we’d be under some kind of lockdown by this time, and there would be no con season, or at best a severely truncated one). What I didn’t plan for was how to remain productive when convention season had me on the go, when family medical appointments cut my remaining time to ribbons — how to get back to a project after an interruption and resume being productive, etc. I’ve spent the last four months making minuscule progress on a collection, and nothing at all on the other deliverables that were all supposed to be done and in people’s hands by the end of this month. As it is, I’m going to do well to get that collection done, and the other things will simply be late.

    It’s been a very hard lesson for me, and at least part of it’s recognizing that I just don’t have the energy and stamina I used to. I can’t work all day on the vendor hall floor, then go back to the hotel and write until midnight, then get up the next morning and be ready to do it again.

    Liked by 1 person

  23. GSG hit.

    See, that wasn’t so hard!

    I still think you need stabby things (keep away from kittehs!) for the occasional reminder at con panels.

    Liked by 1 person

  24. First:

    You wrote, “My mind still thinks I’m at most 30 and I try to do the same level of work I always did. Which means … well, that I end up doing things much slower, because what used to take me a day now takes me a week (not the writing but any physical work) and then I spend a week recovering. Which is very annoying of my body.”

    I spent a few hours mowing the lawn Sunday. Even at 43 that has taken a toll on me. I could not type yesterday afternoon from the tendonitis it incurred. I try to keep up with exercise to be in shape enough to do those sorts of things as well as keep up with our kids, but boy is it a LOT harder than it was 13 years ago!

    Second:

    If you put a paywall up here I will pay in addition to Chapter House.

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  25. I like the engagement and the back and forth. 

    Another way of saying, “look, squirrel!” As a work-from-home-er, I certainly understand. This is one of my “engagements” (so GSG sent), but it’s also a productivity killer.

    And why am I “Mark”, again? (still?) “Mark – Logged in via WordPress.com” I can’t figure out where that’s coming from.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. No. back and forth on fiction is useful. When people “guess” what happens next, etc it tells me how close my hints are landing. And my misdirection. it’s very useful.

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  26. One other thing you can do for her — if you are a writer — is send books for the promo post. Not much, but she will get that percentage.

    One other thing anyone buy from Amazon can do is come here and go through the link before searching to buy.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. One other thing anyone buy from Amazon can do is come here and go through the link before searching to buy.

      I don’t see the generic ‘Amazon partner’ type link – but I’m a big Amazon user and happy to change my bookmark.

      Liked by 1 person

  27. I sent a check to your snail mail address today (7/2). I hope you’ll write more shifter stories; I really like them. Your posts sometimes approach Den Bestian lengths, but are always enjoyable.

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Boy do I know the “what physical work that took a day now take a week” routine. I’m 69 and utterly convinced on a very fundamental level that I’m maybe 35. But it’s nice to hear that it will not slow down my writing. I’m retiring from running Abyss & Apex with the new year, 2025, to write. You have so many profound insights! Many an evening my husband’s and my chief entertainment is my reading your post aloud and then discussing it. I’d prefer to use PayPal to support your wonderful work as a blogger.

    NOTE: Edited to remove self-doxing. Kids. Don’t do this. If you want to give me your address, put two links in the comment, so it will go into moderation.

    Liked by 1 person

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