The Investors

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Like fifty thousand other creators, I maintain a Patreon account.

Since I haven’t been actively creating for myself very much in the last year or so… and that means I haven’t been creating for patrons… I don’t really actively market my Patreon account. But it’s there, quietly available to those people with the means and inclination to support the pursuit of my creative endeavors.

I’ve been in… well, to say dire need isn’t too much of a stretch some days, so, heck… dire need of a check-mark in the “win” column in the last few months, especially when it comes to my identity as a creative person.

As an adult in my (very early, thank you very much) fifties, I’ve got all the usual burdens on my time, resources, and energy… including the recent addition of “sole relative and advocate for an elderly parent in palliative care.” Every third day is spent visiting my mother and keeping on top of all the sundry issues that come along with her circumstance. This third job (usually over a hundred and twenty hours a month) puts heavy constraints and pressure on my first job and my obligations to a patient stable of clients, and on my relationships, and on my self-care.

Being creative, long-time readers will recall, is one of the ways I stave off anxiety and depression. Making things — and the solitude, the space to think, the silence, the unstructured time I need to make things — is self-care for me.

I’m working on getting better about that. I really am. I’m re-committing to getting enough sleep (it all starts with getting enough sleep) and chipping out the time and resolve to exercise more often.  Or at all.

For starters.

Meanwhile, though…

The other day, I was driving down the freeway to see my mother, thoughts wandering down their own self-recriminatory, self-victimizing road, when I realized something.

There’s a handful of people who have, month in and month out, invested in my creativity with, it must be said, very little or nothing received in return.

They’re my Patreon patrons. Their silent confidence in me is… well, it’s worth far more than the one-to-five dollars they contribute each month.

As of this writing, they are:

• Rachel Steele, an investor since January, 2015
• Amelia Bowen, an investor since February, 2015
• Phil Zannini, an investor since February, 2015
• Priscilla Brieck, a Patreon patron since May, 2016; a patron in every other way since July, 1967
• Pearl Zare (aka Zoë Kohen Ley), an investor since April, 2018
• Emma Wallace, an investor since July, 2018
• Kimberly Puri, an investor since September, 2018
• J.C. Hutchins, an investor since October, 2018

Check out their links, those that have them, and show your love for them, if you don’t mind. They deserve it!

I just wanted to publicly say thank you to these remarkable people.

Thank you for being the kind of people who like the kind of stuff I make.

Thank you for reminding me, in a material way, that I am a creator.

Thank you for your faith, and your trust.