I’ve been remiss in not talking about the Clarion West Write-a-thon. I’m participating again this year, though because of a crazy last week, I’m starting a little slow out of the gate.

For those not familiar with the Write-a-thon, the idea is simple. Participants ask people to sponsor them to meet their writing goals to coincide with the course of the current Clarion West workshop. All of the money donated goes to the workshop to help keep it active and to support the development of future writers. If you’re a fan of fiction, you’ll be investing in new generations of writers and adding to the quality of their fiction. Past participants of the workshop include Daniel Abraham, Kij Johnson, Cat Rambo, E. C. Myers, and Rachel Swirsky, among many others. Also be aware that Clarion West is a non-profit educational organization and your donation will be tax deductible.

My basic plea is that you consider supporting the workshop by sponsoring anyone involved in the Write-a-thon. However, since I am participating, I’d like you to consider sponsoring me. To make this more interesting, I’ve decided to adopt a Kickstarter-like approach to the write-a-thon. I am pledging to write a story for each week of the workshop. As I’ve fallen behind, this will be one story a week for the next 5 weeks and one final bonus story (which oddly enough parallels my output for when I was in the workshop back in 2008). If you sponsor me, you will be entitled to the following depending on the amount:

$1/week or $5 or more: you will receive an entry into a drawing for a copy of Way of the Wizard, an anthology from Prime which contains my story, “Card Sharp.” The anthology was edited by John Joseph Adams so you know it’s going to be a good one and contains stories from folks like George R. R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, and Jeffrey Ford. I’ll even sign it if you so desire.

$5/ a week or $25 or more: you’ll get an entry into the giveaway drawing and, if you’re interested, will receive copies of the stories I write during the write-a-thon. These will be first drafts, or course, but I will also happily send you final copies as well (or in any combination you desire).

$10/ a week or $50 or more: everything from the previous categories, but I will also Tuckerize you or a person of your choice.

$20/ a week or $100 or more: all the previous perks plus I will write a story based on a prompt from you.

Hopefully you’ll find these options interesting. To sponsor me, simply visit this page and click on the Donate button. If course if my offerings don’t interest you, please think about sponsoring someone. There are a lot of amazing writers participating and they each have their own goals (and some of them have rewards).

Thanks for your indulgence.