Category: Patreon

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life, writing, and muddling through

It feels trivial somehow to talk about the mundane aspects of a mundane life when around the world people are suffering and dying in zones of war, bombs falling from the sky, buildings reduced to rubble and scared populations huddle in the dark or flee desperately to foreign lands.

At the same time, for those of us not in that immediate situation, life continues at its regular, mundane pace and so we go on.

In writing news, The Daughters of Morru is now available over on my Patreon page for all Patrons at the Enablers tier ($3 /month) and up. Chapters are posted every Sunday. So far three chapters are available.

I continue in my quest to write a poem per day, with first access to those available on either my Patreon page (for all Patrons $1 and up) and my Ko-Fi page (for all supporters, even 1 time donors). So far I’ve only missed one day, due to an accident that left me a bit concussed and rendered my muse mute.

I continue to settle into the new place, getting a little more comfortable every day. I now have an actual kitchen table and chairs, which I haven’t had in close to ten years. I’m almost feeling like a proper grown up!

I’m hoping my Death Wish Coffee order shows up soon, or I may have to resort to Starbucks this week! Fortunately, there’s a Starbucks walking distance from my house…I just need to find my make up to cover up my bruised up face (I look like someone punched me right between my eyes).

But, it’s almost time to start the day job and I still have today’s poem to write, so I shall leave you to your Tuesday, Readers. I hope it is filled with kindness and good things!

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daughters of morru

While digging through the depths of unfinished WIPs in my cloud drive, I came across the YA novel I had started a few years back and always meant to get back to, The Daughters of Morru. I had been looking for content I could use to tempt more patrons over on Patreon.

The Daughters of Morru is a fantasy story staring Alliafred Donovon, a middle daughter of a noble family in the country Kannith-Lee, who has dreams of escaping her soft prison in favor of the hard life of a warrior dedicated to the goddess Morru.

The first chapter is available over on my Patreon page for all to see! I will be posting chapters every Sunday for all patrons at the $5/month level and up. For just $1/month, you’ll gain access to my daily poem a full week before the rest of the world sees it.

Don’t want to commit to a donation each month? Hit me up over on Ko-Fi, where you can do one-time donations as well as monthly donations. You’ll get the daily poems for just a one-time donation, and I’m cooking up a story to serialize over there too.

I sometimes share my photography on both sites as well. Come over and join me!

Photo by Tim Rebkavets on Unsplash

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I’m a poet and I know it…

My first forays into writing were really bad poetry. I was a pre-teen when I started writing poetry, and it continued into my angst-filled teen years. Somewhere, in some box or bin that is still in the garage, I have a pile of poetry, notebooks filled with bad rhymes, and inane topics. The bad was not helped by a near-fanatical religious belief and the extra-special dirty-bad-wrong that I had been taught regarding the human condition.

Of course, as I got older I learned that poetry doesn’t need to rhyme, that sometimes it’s the rhythm of the words that bring it to life. My skill with words improved, I tried my hand at different kinds of poetry, but found a home in free verse.

As I found my voice and shed a bad religion, I delved into topics unrelated to the angst of a teenager. I grew to love the way I could shape a feeling into a poem, and I started writing from a rather adult place. I explored topics like politics and religion and sex. I painted the page with allegory and melancholy.

Through all of that, I was working on taking my love of words further and dove into writing fiction. Sometimes, it seems like I abandoned poetry for prose, but I always come back to poetry.

For the last several days, I’ve been starting my day with writing poetry. It feels amazing to be crafting words again. I hope to continue doing so for the near future. I will be posting new poems to my Ko-Fi page first for members, then to my poetry blog a few days later.

Head on over to Ko-fi if you would like to support a poet / author, Readers! I can’t wait to share with you.

Or, if you’re a Patreon kind of person, you can find me there too!

Photo by Trust “Tru” Katsande on Unsplash

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to boldly go…

Among my earliest memories, there is Star Trek, you know, the original series that started the phenomenon.  I couldn’t tell you how old I was, but I can tell you about the ugly brown couch with the weird texture that we sat on to watch it, and that I watched it with my father.

I know it came before Star Wars, which came along when I was nine, and I know that it started my love of sci-fi, and more than that, my love of space.

The only thing that kept me from pursuing a life in the sciences was my extreme hatred of math, and the more advanced the math, the more I disliked it. So, I opted toward the science fiction side of space.

But, things like this…this image of a black hole a ridiculous distance from earth…a beautiful, amazing image that took a team of scientists working together for years…things like this make me dream of a different life a little bit.

katie-boumanAnd then there’s this picture of Katie Bouman, one of the scientists on the project as she sees all of that work coming to fruition.  Look at the joy and wonder on her face.  That is the face of someone who loves her work, who has passion for her work and is genuinely in awe of the universe at her fingertips.

Of course there are trolls out there set to destroy the legacy Katie’s accomplishments for little more than the fact that she is a woman, but forget them.  They can’t take that joy, that sense of wonder from this picture.  They can’t hold a candle to the work that she’s done in her young life.  Forget them and let their legacy be one of the silence that comes when one is ignored.

Look instead to this beautiful image, and recognize the scientists, all of them including women and gay men and straight men,  who made it possible.  Imagine what else they can show us!

And, while I’m here, Readers, a quick reminder that Where Shadows Fall is available for your Kindle for free today and tomorrow, so get yours now!

Want more from me? Visit me!

Weight Loss: https://aweightyjourneysite.wordpress.com/
Current Events: https://myweightinwords.wordpress.com/
Poetry: https://weightywordspoetry.wordpress.com/
Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/nataliejcase

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (be warned I post a lot pictures of my cats).

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writing time

It’s early on a Saturday morning and I am up, showered and dressed (for some value of dressed anyway).  There is coffee sending up steam and the aroma of goodness on the desk next to me, most of my house is clean and I have a weekend stretched out in front of me.

Today I am going back to the short story I recently finished, having received feedback from my beta reader.  I have a much firmer idea of what happens before the story than I did when I began, and the characters are much more real to me than they were 5000 words ago, so it’s time to readdress and rewrite.

That’s the task for this weekend, to get that story up on its feet, so to speak, so that I can focus on editorial duties as we start to approach the deadline for submission.  I have to admit, I love playing editor for projects like this one.  I get to read a diverse set of stories, from a diverse set of female writers about a diverse group of characters.

I am also expecting my mother at some point today, she’s driving out to spend some time with me and we plan on hitting up the local nursery, and possibly some other fun places.

If you want to read more of my blog ramblings, I have two other blogs that I am actively attempting to maintain, one of them is chronicling my weight loss journey post-surgery, the other is mostly my take on current events, being fat in a world that rewards skinny, as well as philosophical ramblings on politics and religion, as seen from a point of view outside the mainstream. There is poetry blog too, if you’re into that sort of thing.  I also have a Patreon, if you’re interested in seeing some content from me before others, some exclusive content, etc.

You can find these here:

Weight Loss: https://aweightyjourneysite.wordpress.com/
Current Events: https://myweightinwords.wordpress.com/
Poetry: https://weightywordspoetry.wordpress.com/
Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/nataliejcase

You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (be warned I post a lot pictures of my cats).

I should get to that whole writing thing.  Happy Saturday, Readers!  May it be filled with fun, silliness and a whole lot of love!

 

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come play with me

I have rededicated my efforts to build on my Patreon, and decided that a good way to kick that off is a special offer.  For the next 30 days, through 4/16, all new patrons, and anyone increasing their tier, will get a personalized, hand written postcard from my stash of postcards, some of which date back to before I could read, write or appreciate the value of a good postcard.

You can come join the fun for as little as $1 a month, but to qualify for the postcard offer, you must choose the $3 tier or up.  And what do you get for that money?  Well, let me tell you!

At the lowest tier you’ll get the occasional glimpse into whatever I’m working on at the moment, and as you climb the tier you get access to bigger and better things including fresh-from-my-pen poetry, a look at moments in the life of a writer with an insane muse, flash stories, short stories written specifically for my patrons, first chance to see announcements, video content from time to time and even copies of my books.

All the money that comes in from Patreon is specifically earmarked into my “buy books” fund, which I will use to keep physical copies of my books on hand for signings and events.

So, come visit my Patreon page and join the fun!

 

 

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busy time of year

This is my busy time of year.  I have a full time job, of course.  I am working on writing one book, editing another and have several editing jobs on the horizon.  And, I work as the Community Partners Donations Team Manager for the San Francisco Pride festival.  Pride is just about two months away, and the donations team is just getting into full swing.

There are lots of small tasks I need to deal with and prepping of training materials, etc.  It’s a lot of work, but I do enjoy it.

I do, however, get a little frazzled sometimes.  When I get over tired, or have a night like last night where sleep was erratic, I can get grumpy.  What really makes me cranky though is when my writing time gets stolen by other tasks.  This week both of my jobs have done so.

I aim to try to keep up with posts here, on Facebook and on my Patreon page, but please forgive me if I miss a day.  My goal is to post here at least on Saturday and Wednesday, and on my Patreon at least Sunday and Wednesday.  I haven’t quite hit that, but I’ll get there.

In the meantime, here are some links to places you can find me.  I do hope you’ll stop by and say hi!

Facebook

Twitter

Patreon

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the early morning quiet

I’m in the office over an hour earlier than normal this morning because I need to leave early to shoot some senior portraits for a lovely young lady. So early in fact, none of the restaurants down stairs were open when I got here.

The office is dark and quiet and I’m the only one here.  It’s times like these I enjoy, which is also why I love working from home and living alone.  The silence is pristine. and the quiet is very settling…which is good when you have a day as full as this one is going to be.

Over the weekend I spent a lot of time working on Where Shadows Fall, because the ending just wasn’t working for me.  It’s a lot better now, which brings us closer to the place where I get it off to the editor who will make it even better.

I also spent some time reconsidering an old story idea that has been hanging around the back corners of my brain since I was in my twenties.  May see if I can breathe some life into it.  Not sure it has the plot for a full novel though.  Possibly a novella.  We’ll see.

Sounds like the coffee is ready, and I should take advantage of this quiet while I can, so I’ll leave you here, my lovely readers.  I hope your Monday is filled with hope and wonder.

 

 

Come visit with me:

Facebook

Twitter

Patreon

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coming back strong

I’ve spent most of the first month of 2018 sick.  I caught a cold at New Years that became a sinus infection that did not respond to the first two antibiotics we tried.  I just finished my course of clarithromycin yesterday.  I’m still super congested, but feeling so much better!

Which means I can begin to focus on writing again.  This has me excited.  I’m nearly done with the zero draft of Where Shadows Fall, the finale of the Shades and Shadows series, and I’m five chapters in on a new novel, and I have two short stories in the works!  It’s a busy time to be me, I guess.

I will be focusing on building my Patreon in the coming months as well, hoping I can use it to source enough money to work on getting audio books recorded.   I’m still working out what exactly to offer over there, but it will include some behind the scenes looks at work I’m doing, possibly so vlogs of me talking about writing, and other fun things, including patron-only giveaways.

That said, I should get on over there to post something for my patrons, and then get back to work.  The words won’t write themselves!

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can you put a price on love?

I have had a Patreon account for a while, but didn’t really put any effort into it because I wasn’t really sure I wanted to pursue it, and what I could offer as rewards, but I’ve spent the last few days working over there to get something set up.

You can find me at https://www.patreon.com/nataliejcase.

I don’t expect this to make me a fortune, but I am hoping it will help me put aside some money to invest in books for signing events and the like, as well as save up to be able to afford voice talent to record audio books.

My rewards levels are all pretty low, starting at $1.  At $3, you get first look at the weekly micro/short story.  I will be writing one per week to some prompt and they will get posted first to my Patreon blog.  I will migrate them over here after a couple of weeks, but they will be first for my Patrons.

Most of the levels are under $20, with varying rewards.  So, if you like what I do enough to consider coming along to play, pop on over and have a look.