I do a lot of things. You may have noticed. 😉 What you may not have noticed is the cost of all that – the cost to myself, the cost to my long-suffering, ever-supportive partner who is just quietly proud of me and reminds me to rest and eat on a regular basis.

I run Critter Gifting, an online community built from the most astonishingly generous and amazing fandom I have ever had anything to do with. Once a year I run a massive international Secret Santa which in three years went from ~200 participants to ~1300. This takes a lot of energy and discipline and spreadsheeting mojo. (We’re looking at ways to automate it, but that’s a work in progress.) I have help – a team of about 25 people when you include the mods in the facebook group and the discord and all my Critmas elves. But still. It makes this time of year very full on for me.

And then there’s Wolfenoot, this little idea my kid had that snowballed last year and is now well on its way to becoming a legit non-profit raising money for organisations that work with canines of all kinds – both wild and domestic. Going viral like that has been a very weird experience. I’ve always had a reasonable following on social media, but this turned me into someone people squee about when I talk to them, which I can’t really get used to. This turned me into someone who has email conversations with GRRM’s social media people. It’s all extremely surreal. And when is Wolfenoot? Oh yeah, end of November, right when Critmas is about to get super insane.

So this time of year turns me into a crazed, ball-juggling stress-bunny, just moving from Highest Priority Thing to Next Highest Priority Thing. I ran a Pledgeme campaign and gave it almost no attention and still made three times as much as my target, because Wolfenoot I guess. (I intended to push it harder, but see all these balls? Yeah.) I have almost completely ignored the Raven and meBooks and all my other projects for the last two months, because there’s just one of me and so many demands on my attention.

What I want, what I really, really want, Baby Spice, is to be able to treat all of this as an actual job and not constantly try to fit it in around the things that make money, and parenting, and life. Because, alas, capitalism is still a thing, and in order to survive, we have to pay bills.

In 11 days I turn forty. This is another thing boggling my mind. But it’s a big one, so I am going to ask for a present from you. I am going to ask you for $12. Even better, I’m going to ask that you pay it a dollar at a time over the next 12 months.

I have FOUR patreons, for four different parts of my life. For my birthday, dear reader, please become a patron on one of them. A single dollar, once a month.

If any of the things I do or write or say have a positive impact on your life, please consider supporting me this way. Those dollars add up. They make a difference. There are 18k people in the Wolfenati Central group. If they all became single dollar patrons, I could literally quit my job and build an actual organisation. I could have STAFF with that. It could change our lives. It could allow me to make this stuff I do the central focus of my life instead of cramming it into whatever hours I can find (usually 5-7am, if I am honest).

Pick one. Hit the become a patron button. Wish me a happy birthday. 😉

Wolfenoot
The Patchwork Raven 
Jax’s Bardic Inspiration
The Bookish Jellybean

Or, if that’s asking too much, just buy me a coffee. 😉

As always, I can only do these things because of the support of my crowd. You are all amazing. I love you. ❤