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The question of "when is crowdfunding okay" is going around again, which always makes me want to cringe and bite, because it's a super-privileged discussion no matter how you want to have it.
We don't live in a world where everyone starts out with equal access to resources, or where we are all equally encouraged to ask for what we need. So some of us grow up feeling like we can always get support, and some of us grow up the opposite.
If every time you've ever asked for help, you've been told you're being rude, or greedy, or selfish, or spoiled, you're going to have a lot more trouble asking for help when you really need it.
Is it sometimes wearying when it seems like every other tweet is someone boosting their Gofundme or Patreon? Well, yeah. But that's not the fault of the individuals seeking support. Welcome to life under late stage capitalism.
I started my Patreon because people pushed me to do so. I honestly thought it would run for a year and then be finished. It's done pretty well; I've had people, in my hearing (IE, without untagging me) say "you don't need to support her, she has enough."
Which, again, rude as fuck. But people aren't always considerate. My Patreon is still paying off my vet bills from 2017, when both Thomas and Alice got so sick so quickly that it made my head spin.
Now anything that's not going to the vet is going to wind up flagged for my own medical bills. And that doesn't matter, really. My Patreon is primarily about fiction. $1 gets you all the stories.
The majority of my Patrons are $1 Patrons. The wide, shallow well is how I survive. Would I like more Patrons? Having just lost an entire month of work to health issues, yes, I really would. I'm terrified right now. But I'd also like people to stop saying you lose the right...
...to ask for help if you are somehow, in their eyes, doing too well to need to be supported.
I promise you, the people who are REALLY doing that well don't want to spend the time and energy and attention it takes to keep a Patreon running. It's work. Work we hopefully get paid for, but work all the same.
Crowdfunding isn't a matter of saying "please sir, can I have some money?" and suddenly dripping in diamonds. It's effort, and it's embarrassing effort sometimes, as you beat the pavement trying to convince people you're worth a dollar.
Sometimes I am very tired. Here is a link to my Patreon: patreon.com/seananmcguire
