#thankyoupatrons

It is ironic that today is #thankyoupatrons day, when I have been so slack the last three weeks in providing content for my loyal patrons.

It has been a trying semester – but so have they all! It is a great privilege to be where I am, to study these complex and difficult subjects, to conduct research into issues relating to journalism and my advocacy on behalf of the profession. It is also a great privilege to be requested for so many conventions and signings and speaking engagements, and while I may get very tired in the annual Fall Deathmarch, I never forget that it is a privilege.

My freelance journalism has stepped up of late, with magazine gigs beginning to supplant the local news. The local work is important, steady work, but magazines pay much better, and gaining more steady work in magazines will help support my family. (Also, I am famous for writing too long in my nonfiction. Magazines like that.)

I find it somewhat ironic that, a year into my graduate studies, I have found reinvigoration of my fiction writing as well. Two of my stories have been accepted into anthologies in the last few months, and I just received word that two more stories have been accepted by a literary magazine.

And thanks to the Medium platform, I’m starting to gain success in creative nonfiction: the personal essay. It’s small money, but it’s money, and that’s lifeblood to the freelance writer. That is another aspect of my work that grad school has opened up to me, one that I truly enjoy.

My patrons support my Patreon through thin months like this one and months where I have new content every week bolster our budget, help pay our bills, and take some of the pressure off me to kill myself chasing low-paying gigs to fill in the budget. 

My family is surviving – in fact, thriving, despite our insanity of putting three (3) adults through college at the same time. The Patreon is part of that, and I cannot thank them enough. 

And I hope you might consider joining them. The photo essays, travelogues, short stories, personal essays and more comprise some of the best work I’ve done, and I would love to share it with you.

http://www.patreon.com/edonald

Fall tour wrapping up!

This weekend I’m at ContraKC, an adult relax-a-con in Kansas City! I’m delighted to be back at Contra, which is the first convention that honored me as GOH several years ago and the people here have welcomed me as part of their family.

I’m looking forward to good conversation, good booze and BBQ second only to Memphis (sorry, KC, my heart belongs to the Bluff City).

And this will wrap up the Fall Deathmarch, which started way back at Labor Day, spans six states and I don’t want to speculate on the mileage. After this I’m settling back home for a bit, plus or minus a hometown signing in December and a possible trip to Washington D.C. for a photo shoot and visit to the Newseum before it dies.

Thanks to everyone who came out to see me at my various stops, who supported and cheered and bought books and art – especially that latter part, since that’s how I make my living. Extra thanks to my fellow authors and minions, especially my husband and son, Sela Carsen, David Tyler, and anyone else who helped us schlep books all over the midwest.

Touring is a grueling life living out of a suitcase with boxes of books and booze perpetually living in my mudroom so it can be loaded into the car next weekend, but it also has an extraordinary benefit: the chance to meet and talk with so many people who enjoy my work. That is a true blessing, and I am thankful for it.

September-October Linkspam

You know how every year I say, “Man, the fall tour is killing me. I’m not doing this to myself next year.” And then I do it anyway? Yeah, that’s what September and October have been like. I have not had a quiet weekend at home since Labor Day, and I won’t for several more weeks. I’m not complaining (much), because it’s an incredible privilege to be in high demand, for conventions and book fairs and other groups to seek me out and ask me to attend.

But holy Hera, am I tired.

In the meantime, I did some stuff. Here’s the collection of links from the last two months. Keep in mind that I post the best of my work on Contently, and I try to keep it at the top 100 pieces of the last five years, so if you want to read the collected works of one Elizabeth Donald, that’s a good place to go. In the meantime, here’s some of the work of the last two months:

Do keep in mind that Medium has a paywall after the first few reads, and Patreon requires a subscription. I would absolutely love it if you subscribed to my Patreon – starting at $1 a month – and I do my best to give my Patrons first crack at my work and plenty of freebies – like this month, when my Patrons got a free copy of the new anthology! (See more below.)

ESSAYS

How to survive a horror movie: 2019 edition (Medium, essay)

Jumping off the high dive: Freelancing the first year(Medium, essay)

La Gloria and five hours at the airport (Patreon, essay)

A petal of memory (Patreon, essay)

Castles and rocketships (Medium, memoir essay)

REVIEWS/BLOGS

Halloween Roundup! What’s your favorite scary movie? (CultureGeek, review)

Patreon bonus! (Patreon, blog post)

New anthology! (Donald Media, blog post)

Fall Deathmarch (Donald Media, blog)

NEWS

Residents raise concerns about Highland brewery (Highland News Leader, news)

Students protest quad preacher for ‘hate speech’ (Alestle, news)

Faculty Association selects new union president (Alestle, news)

SIUE students join anti-abortion rally at Planned Parenthood site (Alestle, news)

Plastic bag fee gets mixed reaction in Highland (Highland News-Leader, news)

Highland forms historical advisory council (Highland News-Leader, news)

Highland tobacco sales now limited to 21 and up (Highland News-Leader, news)

Highland ranks as one of the safest cities in Illinois (Highland News-Leader, news)

Highland set to host Street Art Festival (Highland News-Leader, news)

Highland schools get technology upgrade (Highland News-Leader, news)

People who work from home in Highland now face fewer obstacles (Highland News-leader, news)

PHOTO ESSAYS

History on Tap: The Schott Brewery (Patreon, photo essay)

On assignment (Patreon, photo essay)

Photography: On assignment (Patreon, photo essay)

MAGAZINES

Here are some of the best methods for evaluating college diversity (DiversityIS, magazine article)

And finally… Stories We Tell After Midnight came out this month. It’s the first anthology from Crone Girls Press, and I’m delighted to have a story in it. You can pick it up on the Literary Underworld, or click through to Amazon here for the ebook. If you’re a Patreon subscriber, you get it FREE! Isn’t that worth subscribing?

spooooooky.