The Great, Extraordinary Winter Fundraiser

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

Back when I did the normal Summer fundraiser, a curious phenomenon happened: I think I had more people donate than at any other blog fundraiser before, but the amount was lower, as everyone donated about a third what they normally would.

At the time, you guys told me I should do another fundraiser in winter to take smaller bites, as it were.

I will confess I intended to forget that, but …. what a year this has been. We’ll just say the house we bought apparently hadn’t been maintained at all for fifteen years or so. This year included dealing with the happy fun joy of having the pipe of water INTO the house burst. That resulted in a lot of things, including the cracking of a cement pad in the yard which we’re not even attempting to replace, and if one of my local friends hadn’t helped me fix the back porch, we’d still have a big gaping hole back there.

Well, other things have happened, including a sewage backflow into the house, which will now necessitate the reflooring of the half of the bathroom that is living space (To wit a guest bedroom and Dan’s workshop and music composing room.) Recently and after several attempts we got someone to walk through the house and mark everything that needs doing including the painting of the facade, which might need wood replaced. I never got up on a ladder to paint it (it’s 20 feet. No. the house is not that big. It’s complicated, okay?) and it’s just as well as I think they’re going to need to replace the wood. Today I spent shifting things around (when not cooking and/or recording a story reading) so they can get into the attic and figure out why the ceiling of the main bathroom gets wet, particularly when it hasn’t rained in a good while, there are two windows in the basement STORAGE area that leak, there’s minor roofing repair, and at some point I’d REALLY like to hire someone to replace the chandelier that was wired with speaker wire.

All of this to say, they’re things I’d either normally put off — only these can’t be put off without getting much worse — or do myself, possibly by indenturing younger son to help. But this year has not been good, and I’d like — I’d much prefer — to get writing done.

We could rustle up the money, mind. This IS NOT a rescue fundraiser. We can pinch a bit and turn over a few sofa cushions and find it.

It… would be easier if my brain hadn’t been eaten by the endless book — now in revision, and there will be an e-arc for the first third (my first readers have shouted me into breaking the 250k words into three books) in January — and had I published something — anything — this year. Alas, I didn’t. So, the income from books is very low for the year. It will recover, but…

Anyway, it’s not a fundraiser for need, so much as it’s a fundraiser because I do the work. Weekends and holidays and all I’m here doing blog posts. And if I am sick, and can’t, I feel terrible about it.

I’m not holding the blog hostage. And if you can’t donate, that’s fine. I’ll survive. And I’ll still write every day. It’s just that I wish very much things had gone differently and I could have “forgotten” to do a winter fundraiser. Consider the long list of ills above not so much my whining as my being really mad I couldn’t forget the fundraiser, dang it.

I’m also very much hoping it’s the first and last of its kind.

I’ve created a Give Send Go for it here. (Yes, the other one is still and will remain active, as it’s an easy link to donate to the blog for those who remember/want to during the year. Since I can’t risk having paypal. Well, maybe I can in the future, but since they made noises about confiscating funds of blogs that offended them, I don’t dare have a button.)

For those of you too paranoid about electronic donations (I’m occasionally one of those), the po box address is:


Sarah A. Hoyt

Goldport Press

304 S Jones Blvd #6771

Las Vegas, NV  89107

Note that if you decide to send me gifts there, particularly chocolate in summer…. don’t. Ping me and I’ll send you an address closer to where we live so that it can be mailed to us in a timely manner and not get hurt. We’ve been fortunate in the chocolate so far because it arrived unscathed (And was enjoyed) but we can see a couple of days delay making it disastrous. In winter otoh, the only danger of chocolate is to my waistline…

And because of course I feel guilty and mildly embarrassed to ask for blog funding, despite well, providing the blog, I’m going to try to give you guys a bunch of freebies as this consarned fundraiser runs for… I suspect two weeks it’s the most I can endure….

So, I did a reading of my very odd — from 1998. Boy was I weird then — short story, The Littlest Nightmare. You can go there and listen to it, or download it and hopefully enjoy it. It makes me smile to think of you guys doing your thanksgiving cooking, or estivating on the sofa after too much turkey, listening to me reading a silly short story.

It’s not an audio book, but much like the experience of being at a reading with me. You’ll also find out I’ve no idea how to pronounce “porcine”. Or rather, if the i is pronounced as an i my mouth can’t DO that. I can write it, but I can’t say it. This is either funny or pathetic, depending on how you look at it, but it MIGHT amuse you.

Anyway, thank you, and please, under no circumstances give money you can’t afford to give.

47 thoughts on “The Great, Extraordinary Winter Fundraiser”

      1. Cool ! I just finished “Lights Out And Cry” and was hoping for a Shifters book #6. Yes, I put a review on Big River (Amazon). But I can wait, I have 500 books in my SBR (strategic book reserve).

        One must go where one’s muse leads them.

        BTW, congrats on getting your books self republished on Big River. That must have been a monumental task.

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        1. There will be a book six, yes. And then the main characters shift, because Tom is too powerful now.
          And yeah. There’s still one trilogy to go. And I need to fix some of the paper copies, but yes.

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      2. So you’re not treading on Neil Gaiman’s tale? More of a Philip Jose Farmer or George R. R. Martin issue.

        ~

        Rgrds,

        RES

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    1. I’d always thought it a hard-C, as in Pork or Cicero (as dismaying as that was to dear auld Mr. Chips) but as I’d never any cause to say it my thoughts on this (as on so much else in this world) didn’a much matter. A quick D,D,G advises me the internet says it poor-sign, so it seems handy that I’ve gone over seventy years without my ignorance on matters porcine being unveiled.

      Having missed the mid-summer passing o’ the hat I’ve tossed a few farthings and a ha’penny in to at least get you a mat for the door on which to wipe your feet. Just don’t get one saying to folks they’re “Welcome” as those who are don’t need being told and those who need telling clearly aren’t. Does a welcome mat serve as invitation vampiric or must those be specific?

      ~

      Rgrds,

      RES

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      1. Yes, the welcome sign might be considered a vampiric invitation.

        At my old house I had signs going up the stairs.

        Enter at your own risk

        Welcome to Sane

        You are now in Sane

        I never got around to doing the matching set going down the stairs.

        Please don’t go

        We’ll eat you up

        We love you so

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    2. I’d always thought it a hard-C, as in Pork or Cicero (as dismaying as that was to dear auld Mr. Chips) but as I’d never any cause to say it my thoughts on this (as on so much else in this world) didn’a much matter. A quick D,D,G advises me the internet says it poor-sign, so it seems handy that I’ve gone over seventy years without my ignorance on matters porcine being unveiled.

      Having missed the mid-summer passing o’ the hat I’ve tossed a few farthings and a ha’penny in to at least get you a mat for the door on which to wipe your feet. Just don’t get one saying to folks they’re “Welcome” as those who are don’t need being told and those who need telling clearly aren’t. Does a welcome mat serve as invitation vampiric or must those be specific?

      ~

      Rgrds,

      RES

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      1. Dammit, Substack! Am I repeating myself? Bad enough you make me sign in twice anytime I post a comment, but I can beclown myself just fine without your assistance.

        ~

        Rgrds,

        RES

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  6. If you might be so kind as to send me that closer address … My email in my profile.

    I did pick my dates for chocolate-sending; I knew (and the shippers knew) about 100F+ in Las Vegas (or anywhere) being hard on such goods.

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    1. I’ll have to check with the possessor of the address… (it’s a shop) and find out if it’s still okay.
      The chocolate arrived FINE.
      We’re pacing ourselves. My biggest complain is that some are almost too pretty to eat. But Dan says I still have to. :D

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      1. He’s just taking good care of you, as you deserve.

        IIRC, all that decoration is hand-done.

        For others who have not seen these, maybe this picture will display

        Liked by 2 people

          1. I’ve had to cut back, too, though not quite so severely.

            Years ago we took a dessert to a pot luck thingy, named ‘death by chocolate’. Start with a sheet-pan brownie, about half an inch thick; cut out a bottom and top circle for your bowl, and appropriate pieces for the sides.

            Build the container, top and sides; ‘glue’ the brownie sides together with a little melted chocolate; fill with chocolate mousse, add the bottom circle and let set. Unmold the dessert and pour melted chocolate over all, hiding the seams between the brownie side pieces. Chill and serve.

            We did try serving it with Asti, but no, milk works better!

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            1. Been 25+ years or so now but went to lunch, decided to splurge and have a banana pie slice. They were out. Suggested a chocolate pie instead. Chocolate pudding, with chocolate shavings intermixed, and on top, with more chocolate sprinkles, and whip cream. I couldn’t finish half of it, delicious, but OMG rich. I can’t even look at most restaurants chocolate mousse cakes because of that pie. I am a chocoholic, but only the inexpensive readily available stuff and even that very limited quantities, not the expensive rich chocolate, and not most dark chocolate. Used to love warm milk chocolate (heated style, not instant) pudding, not anymore. I can’t eat it without getting ill.

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    2. I send a payment from my bank. Which results in a check issued by the bank from funds from the account I send the payment from. It doesn’t even have my checking account information on it. Not all banks do it this way. The minute the payment check is issue, my account clears it. Other banks the check has to be cashed to be cleared from the issuing account. Check still has to be cashed for Sarah to collect the funds from the bank, but the money is already out of my account.

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  9. Fixing the chandelier wired with speaker wire should include the guy that wired it!

    I don’t believe Steven King ever wrote =The Fixer-Upper=, but he should have!

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    2. 14 AWG is pretty common for 15 amp circuits, and makes nice speaker wire.

      But the electrical service type is typically single-conductor, while the speaker-appropriate version (AKA ‘lamp cord’) is mostly multi-strand, for flexibility.

      With audio over power lines, maybe can get that fan to keep a beat …

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    3. When I was in Toastmasters™️one of the first series of humor speeches I heard was from a member who bought a pre-1900 100+ year old colonial farmhouse (circa 1880’s-ish, somewhere in the area) and the joys of renovating it and bring it up to code. Note, they hadn’t planned on extensive renovating, but something broke, and … Given it was originally built before power or sanitary facilities were universal, just about everything related, and a few other categories, were added piecemeal throughout the houses history, he had a lot of material. At the end of each his tag line was “if we can’t laugh, we’d have to scream, cry, and I’d be balder.”

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Hmm. I’ll see in a couple of days what the budget line for unbudgeted looks like – right now, it’s good, but I never know.

    If it’s still healthy, I think I’ll split it between fire (Lori), you (flood), and maybe replace the book budget I diverted to a new ladder. (The current one was more than old enough to drink – and acting like it is… Yes, for once, I remembered to go through the link, so a few cents for you there, too.)

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  13. So far I’ve only heard the first few seconds of the audio file, just to see if it would play for me.

    If I didn’t know otherwise, I’d have bet an embarrassing amount that you were Russian! If you said “Moose and Squirrel” in that file, I’ll never again be able to hear Natasha Fatale in my head.

    I’m paranoid about e-donation (but am I paranoid enough?) The snails will still carry anonymous offerings. “For you I am buying cup coffee.”

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  14. “For you I am buying cup coffee.”

    Thank heavens!

    It’s NEVER ‘a coffee’; Caturra is ‘a coffee’; Kenyan SL28 is ‘a coffee’.

    Roasted, ground beans, infused with water and the liquid thus derived served make a [container-of-choice] of coffee.

    Well, I went down to the local coffee store
    The menu went from the ceiling all the way down to the floor
    Decaf, cappuccino, or latte said the cashier
    I said gimme a small cup of coffee and let me get the hell up outta here

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    1. There’s a place near me that has the “variations going down to the floor” menu… and one that says “I DO NOT SPEAK COFFEE, I JUST WANT A COFFEE.”

      It’s got the cups, and I think “room for cream and sugar” options, on that menu.

      Then their non-coffee offerings.

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  15. Couple days late as it took a bit to get my ducks in a row.

    Note: my ducks are not in a row. They are at a rave and I’m pretty sure a couple of them are squirrels.

    Physical item sent to the listed address (non-perishable, no worries). I know you might prefer the dough-re-mi, but you semi-talked me into this a couple of years ago and I think you will appreciate/enjoy.

    (Cue Sarah nervously reviewing CapCom posts and wondering…)

    Liked by 1 person

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