Ladies and gentlemen: it's
that time again.
You may remember that last summer, I took part in the
Clarion Write-a-Thon in order
to raise money for the
Clarion Writers'
Workshop. Why? Because I felt like it, and I
thought it was a good idea to have a writers' workshop devoted
entirely to science fiction and fantasy. In order to raise
money, I promised to do two weeks' worth of daily comics for every
$200 donated. You guys ended up contributing $1,121.66.
I still owe you four weeks' worth of daily comics (I've done six
already). I had planned to have finished them by now, but
life intervened; a very serious family emergency set me back on
everything I was working on, and now I'm struggling to meet a
deadline in early July. I would really like to be doing daily
comics; however, until I've met that deadline, I can't afford to do
so. I am not going back on the promise. The four weeks'
worth of daily comics will happen. Moreover, I am making the
same promise this year: two weeks' worth of daily comics for
every $200 raised. I'll just add the new weeks to the total.
Again, I'm sorry I haven't yet caught up, but sometimes, life
does not just hand you lemons; it flings them at your head, and
when they hit you, they explode.
(I also haven't yet sent the people who wanted them the
personalised thank-you cards I promised.
Life...intervening...etc. I still have the list, and I
PROMISE TO DO SOMETHING WITH THAT LIST WHEN MY BRAIN STOPS
EXPLODING WITH ALL THE MARKING AND WRITING ABOUT FAIRY TALES.)
At any rate, because I am crazy, I am going to continue my comic
and join the write-a-thon
and mark for 130 students
and meet my deadline, the
latter of which basically involves me writing hundreds of thousands
of words' worth of non-fiction prose. Oh....and I have some
songs about monsters to write. Fun, fun, fun.
So here's how this will go:
1) Please go ahead and visit my
profile
page on the Clarion site. It's got information on it and
stuff.
2) The write-a-thon runs from June 24th to August 4th, but
you can donate any time between now and August 4th. Please do
consider doing so. It's for a good cause, and it will get you
extra comics (eventually). A donation of even a few dollars
will help. I've started the ball rolling with $20 of my own;
I'll donate to other participants later. (My $20 isn't
showing up on the profile page yet, probably because it's the
weekend.)
3) You can donate in a lump sum, or you can pledge a certain
amount towards my writing goal, which is 30,000 words of my YA
novel, a sequel to the one I was editing last year (I'm shopping
that one out to publishers at the moment). For instance, you
can promise a fixed amount of money per word (the goal itself puts
a cap on the amount, but if I don't reach the goal, you'll be on
the hook for less money).
4) Incentives: for every $200 raised, I shall draw
seven extra comics over a two-week period, meaning that you'll get
fourteen days' worth of daily comics. I already owe you two
such fortnights.
5) If we hit $1,000 again, I'll create a short
comic-book-style comic that takes place in Marie's past. I
won't say how many pages it will be because I want some wriggle
room, but at least six. I'll finish it...when I finish
it.
6) If we pass last year's total, I will do...something else
that is special. We shall see.
Thanks in advance for any contributions. I do really
appreciate that you guys still read
WoB six years in, even though it is
sometimes frustrating and tends not to give you many definitive
answers about what the hell is going on with Casey.