Fund My Speculative Novel for 2025

Hey guys.

So, I am reaching out again to my beloved community because I found out yesterday that I've been accepted into a year-long speculative fiction workshop with StoryStudio Chicago! I'm very excited! It's the place where I could deep dive into the world of speculative novel writing, revising, and learning more about the speculative publishing world. I'll be learning from acclaimed author Juan Martinez, who will be reading 100 pages of my manuscript. Most importantly, it'll be the community that troubleshoots issues as I'm drafting and who will keep me accountable for the next year as I wrap up my PhD. I am finally sharing my writing again, and fuck, it is the most wondrous feeling to do, and to witness how it's read. This program will be a wonderful incubator as I work on my novel. Attending this program means being taught by Juan and visiting writers who provide masterclasses.

Here's the barrier that is pretty common: This year-long program costs $2,500 and I don't have the money for it. I really fucking wish I did. We all know I wish I did. But I've been pretty sick this year. I experienced a pretty wild gastrointestinal infection in July that drove me into the ER after three days of paralysis from pain. I've had two surgeries. I was unable to think for one month, unable to walk for two months, and unable to work for three months. My husband, who was my primary caregiver for the first stretch, wasn't able to work for one month either. Sure, we were allowed to keep our jobs because it wasn't our fault that I got sick as hell, but we weren't paid for it, either. It has been an extraordinarily scary time for my household, but we are finally emerging and trying to look forward to the holidays.

We had emergency savings, thank god, but that means that paying for my own writing education and space has gone out the window for the next year or so, even though I need it more than ever. Shitty timing since I've got a novel to hand in to my PhD committee soon. So: I'm turning to you. If you can help, sweet; if you can't, that's okay, and just let me know you believe in me. That means as much as any dollar sign, perhaps even more, because it's something that can't be assigned a value. In other words: fuck capitalism. Big hugs to you all.