Personal: November 2009 Archives

So I was looking at my mail today and seeing how many organizations just in my community really need help to feed and care for people and animals for the holidays. Like most of you, I don't have a ton of money this time of year due to the various costs associated with the holidays, so I can't help people nearly as much as I'd like on my own.

But what if everyone who reads this blog gave as much as they could to help people and animals in their communities? That might not be a lot per person, but I bet we could help a lot of people!

Here's where you come in. I want you to donate to a charity somehow. Buy food for the food bank, buy a toy for Toys for Tots, donate a monetary amount, small or large, to a local organization that feeds people or provides coats or shelter or clothes or toys (every community has a homeless shelter or a food bank). A local humane society, rescue or animal control shelter is okay, too. I don't want the critters to go hungry either.

Take a photo, scan or screenshot of your donation (blank out your bank information or sensitive personal info, if applicable) and e-mail that to me at krisjacque at gmail dot com.

With your verification, include an art request, and I will draw it for you. This is a bonus incentive, on top of that warm fuzzy feeling that comes from knowing you helped someone. Depending on how much you donate, you could get a sketch, a colored digital or traditional media drawing, or even a painting*. Donate however much you can afford!

* Due to postal costs, I probably can't afford to send you a hard copy of the art. Big spenders can have a high-resolution digital version of their image though.

I think there will be a continued relative lack of activity here for most or all of November, as I am actually doing NaNoWriMo (that's National Novel Writing Month, natch) this year and taking somewhat seriously the premise of finishing a stupid novel that I will never, ever, ever let anyone read.

Seriously, it will be hidden forever. You will never see it. I am 100% dead dog serious about that, and despite some of my friends' eternal charms and ability to shmooze me into sharing stuff I'm not confident about, I will not budge on this one. But it's an interesting exercise in forcing myself to make up a story on the fly, which is something I am notoriously bad at. I am also notoriously bad at: making up disposable characters, writing without constant self-editing, and writing when I am certain of the fact that I am writing something intensely stupid.

Do you wonder how stupid it is? It's a "serious" horror story about werewolves. All the characters are intensely dislikable. So the answer is "pretty stupid."

Somehow it's very satisfying so far, though! However, it's also exhausting my other creative impulses. So I don't think there'll be much drawing done this month. Sorry, audience who reads this blog solely for cute pictures of dogs and/or creepy naked satyrs. You will have to go without. After I'm done with this I'm sure I won't feel like writing anything for months, though, so you can get lots of nice pictures then without a lot of dumb words by me (your friend (Kris)).