For years, everyone has been telling me "Cat, I love your blog - publish a book!" and for years I've been saying "I will, just let me get around to it." I'd love to write a book for publication, but writing an article for my blog often takes time from me that I can barely afford to donate - and that's just me writing a few pages. 

It's unfortunate - I have to work literally almost twice as much as the average full-time-employed person to break even - I chose a very low-paying, high-stress field of work for myself - occultist and practitioner of the occult arts is not really some dashing, well-paid job like some people might think. While I do love my job, it doesn't afford me much time to write, and having had some medical problems in the last 3 years (I spent more than my entire years' earnings in 2012 on medical bills,) didn't exactly simplify keeping a savings. :(

It came to me one evening - if I could just get about 1-2 months off of work (and by that I mean, I'd work 5 hour days instead of 14 hour days,) I could definitely find the time to complete a book. What I'd require isn't just time - it's a comfortable enough financial shoulder to be able to ensure I can spare that time. Since my income can fluctuate wildly (one week, I'll make 3 weeks' income, another week, I make negative $750,) it's been difficult to save that amount for myself for any reason, but if I could have a little help....

And that's where you come in. :) 

See, the way I see it is that I need a certain amount "saved" to do this work, and once I have it, I'll be in a financially-better position to begin my literary journey, and most-likely never require this assistance again. I'll be getting an income from my first book, also working, and therefore able to make time for a second book (because income from the first book,) and then a third book, and so on and so forth, until I'm living the modern-occultist's dream (which is mostly, - outside of doing occult-things - to write and speak at conventions.)

While I've done my research and located a few publishing houses that I find respectable (implied: they don't publish pulpy mainstream occult-disinformation books,) who I'm sure would be willing to publish a manuscript for me (even in a nice hard bound volume!) my next need is money and time. Since time = money, I need donations.

So, if you'd all like me to publish a book, put your money where your mouth (hands? most of you communicated via type) is (are,) and let me know by helping me make enough to keep the lights on, feed the pets, keep my stuff from getting repossessed, and keep the heat on at my house while I complete the manuscript. The suggested amount should be enough to cover my needs for ~2 months if I work "part time" (approximately full time for a regular person, lol,) at my current job. 

As a bonus, if you donate $500, I will personally send you a personalized and signed copy of my book when it is published. Keep in mind, publishing is not a "this is happening tomorrow" sort of deal, and that could mean months (even a year) from today. Please be sure to make sure I have your contact information handy. :)

QUESTIONS YOU PROBABLY HAVE:

1. How close is this to being finished? 

a. Basically I have a really battered copy of something I wrote 7 years ago that needs a good clean up and redo. (That's a nice way of saying about 1/3 of it is salvagable, the rest needs to be rewritten.) 1-2 months is a generous amount of time for me to complete this process.

2. What is the topic of the book?

a. A primer on useful spellcraft, with chapters devoted to rituals you can do for yourself on the topics of love/reconciliation, money/business, cursing/controlling spells, and also miscelaneous spells.

3. Is it a formulary?

a. No. I might put a few formulas in there, but it isn't a formulary.

4. I hate PayPal - can you accept credit cards by phone like you do at work?

a. Yes, we just need to get on the phone for that. :)

5. Can I still get the personalized and signed book if I use credit card by phone?

a. Yes, I will be happy to oblige. 

6. What if I donate and no one publishes your book? 

a. I've had several requests from publishers looking for a book from me for about 10 years now, I could self-publish if I wanted to (but I don't unless it's my only option,) and even the "big" occult houses have attempted to solicit me for a book. My 2 problems have been ridiculous editing (large mainstream publisher,) and time/money constraints (see above,) so I'm going to take a gamble here and say if I wanted to, I could publish something right now by just sticking parts of my blog together, and get it published.

What I'm offering here is something wholly new, not available on my blog, and something you've all been asking for. If worse came to worst, I can self-publish it, then personally inscribe a copy and sign it for my backers. HOWEVER, I'd rather give you a fancy hardbound edition from a really nice publisher, which I'm pretty certain I could accomplish.

7. If I donate will you dedicate the book to me?

a. I would be more that happy to acknowledge someone who made a large contribution in the acknowledgements section. :)

Now, as an added bonus, if I don't get near my goal, you can all remind me of that the next time I get a big ol ego about being awesome. ;) Also, you can wait another 5-10 years for me to get a f***ing book complete, lol. ;)

If you have questions, you can always contact me and ask away. 

~Cat