alexandraerin

My laptop... yes, the same laptop that has been dying since the beginning of the year... is in worse shape than ever. It's now reluctant to even give me the boot menu to get to Ubuntu. The CD drive won't read. The charger has really never worked properly since approximately a day after the warranty ran out... if the cord's not hanging just so, it doesn't charge. It's not the charger cord, either... I've replaced that.

I've probably been beating my head against this much longer than most people would have, but I do that. Intellectually, I know it is time to move on. This laptop is rapidly approaching Parrot Sketch status.

I need to move on, but I do need another laptop.

I do about half my writing on the laptop... even with its disintegrating keyboard (the H and I keys in particular are in bad shape, and the E's been kind of wonky lately), it's useful for me as a writer to be able to switch off between my desk and more comfortable positions in the living room. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out whether I was more productive sitting at a desk or with the laptop, and finally realized that the days I kick out all the stops and get shit done are the days I move around when I start to get fidgety where I am.

Also, my room gets hot or cold faster than the rest of the apartment, as it's the corner and is exposed to air on two sides. It can get pretty "airless garret" in here in the summer. So, it's nice to be able to take the lappy into the cool dark living room.

A lappy is also a useful backup when the compy's inoperable, as was so recently the case. My roommate has a computer that I can do some work on while she's at work, but it's hers.

And of course, it's important for travel... not an issue as I don't have the budget to travel right now, which is convenient because I also don't have a budget for a new laptop. I'd like to fix that.

What I'm looking at is the EeePC 1000HE netbook. I was looking at a slightly cheaper Acer that my mother has... that I've had a chance to testdrive on a trip... but the Eees have a reputation for having a relatively high Constitution bonus, which I appreciate, and this one has a reputed 9 hour battery life out of the box.

It's on my Wishlist, though I don't expect anyone to just buy it for me outright*... I mainly keep electronics on the Wishlist for my own personal reference because otherwise I will forget what I have researched and decided to get. I could bookmark them in some other fashion, but this means people do have the option... but not the obligation... to help me that way. Some people have said they prefer that to sending money.

So, yeah... no, this is not me begging for a new laptop. This is me calling attention to the fact that my income isn't quite where it needs to be to deal with this kind of thing, and I'd like to change that. I'd like to be able to deal with this kind of thing, and also be able to travel to cons and other things like that. New sponsorships, even at the $5 level, will really help there. I had a few new people to add to the rolls over the weekend, but I'm still not where I need to be. I'm keeping my head above water and believe me I know how lucky I am already to be able to do that, but when you're just keeping your head above water it doesn't take much more than a wave to swamp you. For long term purposes, I don't want to tread water so much as hover gently above it.

I love getting sponsorships because they give me predictability month to month, but I welcome one-time contributions as well. If you've had a good run of luck and you want to share, or if you've just got an extra $5 this month but you don't know that you can commit to that every month, I'll appreciate whatever you care to give. Heck, about eighty contributions of $5 would add up to the laptop.

Especially since I've got one-time expenses, like replacement laptops, to deal with. And really, if I'm going to be visiting cons I'm going to need to have some standing funds for that. New sponsorships will help make sure I don't have to dip into them, but one-off donations are a great way to build that fund up quickly so I can maybe take advantage of some of upcoming opportunities.

Your money keeps me going, keeps me writing. Your sponsorships and one-time contributions are the bulk of my income. Advertising mostly pays for advertising, and just lately I've been donating my advertising space and dollars to help build up independent writing online. As long as people are willing to pay, I'm willing to keep writing, keep creating, keep posting.

So please, consider a sponsorship or one-time contribution. You'll be helping me to keep producing stories both by indirectly putting a new laptop in my hands and by making sure I have the money I need when the next wave comes along.

And if you're interested in making a more substantial contribution in exchanging for a naming honor, comment or email me and we can work out the details. There are a lot of things (historical figures, buildings, ships) that need naming in my various stories. If you want your name or the name of a loved one, RPG character or clan, etc., to show up, it can be done. I set the price relatively high so that I don't get inundated, but I can be flexible especially with the "smaller" stories.

(In particular, there's a maximum security prison in the Harborverse that I haven't come up with a name yet because I thought someone might get a kick out of seeing their name on it... if anybody wants to be infamous, let me know.)

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*Though on the note of people buying things from my wishlist, before I forget again: thank you, Michael... I didn't have a hard copy of The Labyrinth, and The Great Muppet Caper was indeed the last Muppet movie I didn't yet have that I care to own. It's not every day I open my door to find a box containing such a bold and inventive experiment in narrative form playing with the most deeply-rooted motifs of world mythology, and a Cat Valente novel.