My name is Steven Thompson aka Booksteve, and I live in Northern Kentucky with my wife Rene and son David. I'm a writer with a dozen blogs who has been bylined on more than 28 books and articles in recent years and appeared on television documentaries. Rene is a genealogist who works as a disabilities advocate and David is a college student, studying to be a teacher. We have two cats--Callie and Hobie--and one dog, Pepper, all rescues.
We’ve shared a lot of GoFundMe campaigns in the past few years and even created a few for friends in dire circumstances. Guess it’s our turn now.
We aren’t living beyond our means. We haven’t gone to movies, restaurants, concerts, conventions, or any other events in years. Rene’s smart phone is provided by her job. Neither David nor I have one. Until recently, we’ve gotten along just fine with Rene’s work, David’s tutoring money, and my part time bookstore job and income from writing, proofreading, and transcription.
But then the bookstore job went away and I had to give up the low-paying transcription work due to health and technical issues. My other freelance income slowed to a crawl. Right now, I have half a dozen projects but they’ve either already been paid or will be paid down the line on publication. Still, I should be working on them but I spend much of my days looking for jobs. I’ve applied for several recently that I’ve been extremely qualified for but I keep getting passed over.
So this December finds us a month behind in the mortgage, utility bills, car payment, and more, and borrowed ahead to stay as caught up as we are.
And now David, whose college education has been thankfully handled entirely by scholarships, needs application fees for Grad School and we simply don’t have the money.
On top of that, January has a number of one-off payments such as car taxes and driver’s licenses and now, after a trip to the ER today, medical bills.
So we swallow our pride and ask if anyone in a position to do so might please help us catch up on our bills as the new year begins and help sponsor David as he continues along his journey to becoming the teacher he’s always wanted to be.
I'm still looking for regular work and I'm still looking for paid writing, etc. gigs, but a little boost to help ease the anxiety right now would be truly appreciated.
NOTE: Regular posts will return January 2nd.
