This is a hard thing to do...

As you can see in the Hatbox graphic on the side, I'm asking for $2000 in donations and income again for the month of February. Part of this is because we are going to have to replace a server soon, since the one bought last month did not work out as a replacement for the main BCTS server. It's in use and earning money for us which is a help but we're going to have to spend $800 or more for the kind of server we really need.

And to be absolutely frank about it, eight years ago when I retired and started living on a fixed income, I had $35000 in the bank. Now I'm $12000 in debt. I need to pay that down because the interest is like paying an extra car payment. There have been doctor and dentist bills, which my family has helped me out with but I spend 25 to 60 hours a week running BC instead of doing things that I would actually get paid for. If I put that kind of time into writing mainstream fiction or editing other people's work or designing books or even doing webcomics (all of which I've done in the last few years and got paid for them) I would be earning enough to not be in the financial bind I find myself in.

So, I don't know how else to put this but for the time being, I'm going to be asking for $2000 in donations a month. But instead of carrying over a deficit from month to month as I have in the past, I'll just start over each month, only carrying forward a positive balance if there is one. Some of the money will go to running the site, some will go to Piper for what help she is in doing all this but the major part of it will go to paying down my debt.

There will also be other changes in how the Hatbox operates but more on that later.

And I know that there are people out there in the BC community who can't afford to donate. Writing and posting stories and supporting our authors with comments and kudos counts, too, you know.

Hugs to all, and thanks,
Erin