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Posts Tagged ‘annie bellet patreon’

Life and Writing Update Autumn 2023

Hi all.  Sorry I’ve been quiet a lot, but a lot has been happening in my life, very little of it good alas.

One good thing however is that we got a cat! After a couple years of negotiating with our landlords, we finally convinced them to let us get a kitty. So please, meet Noodles!  She’s a 14 week old ragdoll/British short hair mix and has utterly captured my heart in the last two weeks.

The other news is that after nearly six months of medical tests, seeing every specialist ever (or so it felt like), and getting progressively worse, I’ve finally been diagnosed with ME/cfs.  I will link some information about it here.  It’s not something that is curable (at the moment! I have hope, I have to have hope) but at least now that I know what is wrong, there are things I can do to help prevent it from getting worse and maybe some treatments for the symptoms.  I’m still learning what my new normal is like and how I’ll be able to continue writing with this illness.

My main focus is Harper’s Tale and getting it ready for public consumption. After the Kickstarter is fulfilled and the book is released, I will likely be putting my main effort into my Patreon since it will allow me to have ongoing support and release small amounts of works in progress and art etc regularly.  I am going to be a slow writer for the forseeable future, there’s no way around it with this disease.  I refuse to stop writing (both for my career and for my mental health, I LOVE writing and I will do whatever I can to keep telling stories), but I recognize that my old ways of working will never work for me again and could actively harm me, so I’m going to find a new balance and a new way.  So if you want to see ongoing work, get chances to vote in on things like character names, see my terrible art, and generally are able to support me in an ongoing way, my Patreon is the place.

I wish I had better news, but it is what it is.  Harper’s Tale should be ready in the next few weeks at least, so there’s a little silver lining.

Thank you all for your patience and support and kind words over the years 💗

 

All About Patreon (and why you should join me there!)

I thought I would make a quick blog post explaining what Patreon is, why it is good to support creators you love there, and answer some commonly asked questions about it.

What is Patreon?

I’m going to borrow their own quote from them:

“For patrons, Patreon is a way to join your favorite creator’s community and pay them for making the stuff you love. Instead of throwing money at your screen (trust us, that doesn’t work), you can now pay creators once a month or per thing the creator makes.  This means the creator gets paid on a regular basis, and you become a bonafide, real-life patron of the arts.  That’s right-Imagine you, in a long frilly white wig, painted on a 10-foot canvas on the wall of a Victorian mansion.  And imagine your favorite creators making a living doing what they do best all because of you.”

For us creators, Patreon allows us to recieve ongoing support from people who want more of our work, while getting a higher percent of the payout than any other option available short of you showing up to our homes and handing us cash (which you should probably not do, but thank you for the thought).

One of my main goals this year is to drive more support and interest in my Patreon, which means probably talking about it more than once every blue moon. Shocking, I know.  Writing novels takes a long time, longer for me now that I’m dealing with the ongoing recovery from almost dying in 2021, and it is nice to be able to show some work in progress, to interact with peeps, and generally have a means of ongoing support and ways to share my work in the long lonely times between book releases.

What do I offer on my Patreon?  Here are just some of the benefits you can get:

*Looks at works in progress (chapters, cut scenes, outlines, cover art etc)

*Short stories and ebook downloads

*Exclusive content available only to Patreon (like the formerly Kickstarter-only Jade & Alek story, which you can get by signing up at any tier at the moment)

*Acknowledgement of your support in my book’s backmatter

*Coming along on my learning to draw/make art journey (and eventually art things like commission spots and stickers etc!)

*Handwritten cute-AF notes mailed directly to you

*Frequent updates about what I’m thinking about, working on, learning about etc

*The warm fuzzies knowing that every time I finish a book, it was done with your help keeping a roof over my head and coffee in my cup

How do you sign up?

Go to my Patreon page here: https://www.patreon.com/anniebellet  and choose your reward tier. Support can be month to month or you can sign up a year at a time at a small discount.

Can you cancel? When are you charged?

You can cancel any time. You are charged when you sign up, and then montly (or yearly if you choose that option) on the date you signed up (so you are not charged twice if you sign up at the end of a month, that day will just become your new pledge date).

What does my pledge do for you?

Despite the stereotype of the starving writer/artist living in a garret, we creators don’t actually do that well when we are financially insecure (we’re human, after all).  Montly support, even small numbers, adds up and helps introduce stability into what is a very unstable profession. To you the money might feel like a drop, but many drops can fill a bucket.  (and if you are not in a position to support your fav creators with money, don’t fret! We love that you talk about our work, get our books from the library, review us, etc, this is a blog post aimed that those who might have a couple bucks they can contribute also).  The most productive and creatively satisfying times in my life have been when I didn’t have to worry about where the next month’s rent was coming from, and Patreon is a part of making that reality something more than an infrequent dream we all dream about.  Your contribution, large or small, is vital to bringing more art and kick-ass fiction into the world.

So that’s my pitch for supporting me on Patreon.

If you made it this far, enjoy the kitten!

Cute gray kitten with open book on blue sweater, closeup

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2023! I am writing again, which is good news.  Also good news for peeps who backed Harper’s Tale Kickstarter, the stretch goal Jade & Alek bonus story is available, so please go check your backer updates for how to get it.

If you missed out on the Kickstarter, don’t despair. There is still a way to support me and get to read the exclusive story! I have a Patreon that I am working on growing and doing more with this year as one of my goals, so it will be a great place to get sneak peeks, early chapters, see what I’m doing on my learning how to make good art journey, etc.  And right now you can get the Kickstarter exclusive 20sided story if you back at the $5 level or higher.  Click HERE to see my Patreon and all the options.  Signing up on a yearly basis gives a small discount too!

Plus I’ve opened up a tier on my Patreon to get a handwritten, cute note from me every month.  Because I love getting mail that isn’t bills or catalog spam, and I figure maybe other people might like it also. There’s no requirement to write me back, but I’m happy if peeps do.  I love stationary and stickers and all things adorable, so I’m hoping I can use that love to bring some joy into supporters’ lives.

So whether you want to just chuck a dollar my way cause you think I’m awesome, or you want to come along on my writing and learning how to make art journeys, or you want to get a nice cheery note from me… my Patreon has options.

In other news, Harper’s Tale will be available after the Kickstarter digital rewards are all fulfilled, so likely sometime in March.  After that I’ll have more news about what I’m working on next and how it is going.

Hope everyone is having a good start to 2023!

Holidays 2019 Update

Long time since an update, I know. There just hasn’t been much new to say other than “still working on book 10” so…

That said, there’s good news! I have to finish up final editing and maybe tweak a couple more scenes, then it has to get copy-edited, one more proofing pass, then formatting, and we’ll be across the finish line on book 10.  I don’t know if I can get all that done before December (especially since some depends on schedules of others like editor/formatter etc and they have holiday plans I’m sure) but the book is nearly here and we’ll probably squeak it into 2019 so I can close out the decade with a finished series for you all.

In other writing news, I’ll be at Dutch ComicCon this weekend as an author guest (site has both Dutch and English options if you want to take a look).  Here is the website: https://www.dutchcomiccon.com/

Also, my Patreon is up and running and the patrons chose Wrath: Pyrrh Considerable Crimes Division Book 2 as the project so the first chapter is live to read right now! There will be at least a chapter every month (and of course, the final version will be available as ebook and print once we wrap it up on Patreon). If you want to read along and possibly get some extra things like sneak previews of upcoming books, short stories, and a chance to vote on things from new projects to character names, click HERE and come join!

Thank you all again for your patience while I figured out this final Twenty-Sided novel and dealt with a lot of life stuff this year.  I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and winter season. It’s going to be a great new year in 2020 and I’m excited about the post-20sided projects I have to share with you (that I’ll talk about after I get book 10 out, cause first things first).