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.