Time is ticking away until the trial.
A lot is happening behind the scenes, both mundane and intriguing.
I have a specific request – two tools to help my blog be more sustainable and thus less likely to be a casualty of this situation. I need two things
* ‘kit’ of simple equipment to make videos and ‘vlog.’ The kit I’ve identified is about $200.
* verification on Meta (long explanation available upon request) $360
So $560. If you can chip in a portion of that, it will have tangible outcomes.
Am I launching a podcast? No.
Where can I find this video content? My socials and the blog.
Why am I doing this? To boost engagement AND increase the blog’s self-sufficiency.
Tapping in to creating video
My blog and social media content are important, they resist authoritarianism and promote resistance efforts. However,I am shadow banned on multiple platforms because of words like ‘lesbian.’ Social media drives most of the traffic to my blog. So I must diversify my content to satisfy the GoGo Rythm gods.
For the past many months, I’ve been creating video using my phone and an editing app. Reflections on my blog content, anecdotes,cat stuff, and social commentary. It seems to be working in terms of engagement. It works in terms of adding fury/fun to a blog post.
These are not fancy. I ad lib, have occasional cat interruptus, and use no lighting, stabilizer, or microphone. Editing is not my strength, but I’m learning.
This isn’t about becoming a vlogger so much as building on what works with better tools. I do not want to become a hype creator who yells “like/comment/share” every other sentence.
As for the blog, those resources come from my own pocket. I have a few ads that generate a few dollars. I have a Patreon and a few monthly donors through Paypal. This revenue is nowhere near enough to cover my expenses – software, webhosting, domains, plugins, etc. It costs around $250/month when I can afford the paid tool subscriptions and $150 when I cannot. The sizeof 20 years of content is also creating need for paid storage and an even higher tier webhosting. Oh I forgot to include cloud storage, phone apps, Lord, it is just a lot.
Investing $560 with the goal of increasing sustainability seems smarter than asking for $250 each month. It is a risk – can I create short video content that will drive people to my blog, encourage them to sponsor the blog or look at the few ads? It seems worth asking the blog to pull its weight a bit more.
This is what tipped my decision to make this ask – a microphone cover that reduces wind sounds and is jocularly referred to as a dead cat. That’s okay – I spit my coffee out, too. It is hilarious gallows humor (see image to understand why.) I am drawn to the cat references wherever they appear.
Quickly, the verification gives me access to real time live support which is a wonderful thing when I am constantly targeted. It also does reduce hacking and phishing attempts, not completely but some. There’s also an identity lock feature so if someone does get control of my page (again), they cannot change the name.
This can be really important when I am researching memorials for our trans neighbors. Someone grieving a loss gets a random DM or comment. That’s not good. I always start by listing how they can verify me and my intentions. Every bit of help to reassure them is important.
The gifts of kindness – more than the money
I want to give a lovely shout out to my friend and supporter Robyn O. who picked up on some despair I was feeling over writing several memorials. She remembered I need new hiking boots per my physical therapist suggestion for my feet, knees, hips, and back. So she sent me hiking boots.
They are the brand I need, super cute, and fit well. The boots are great and will be a big help as the weather changes and I’m tromping to cat stuff, as well as our new pet food pantry location. I wear hiking boots most of the time in the winter because they are sturdy.
But the extra great thing is that she paid attention and recognized some real pain and trauma I was experiencing. She had also remembered my reference to needing hiking boots.Beyond her kindness, I appreciate that she made time to support me. Robyn sees my struggles, doesn’t expect me to be okay, and knows the boots won’t fix everything. She knows kindness does help.
When I resisted because I thought it was too much, she could tell and reassured me.
Some local friends took me out to dinner the other night. Same thing. We just did dinner and a round of drinks and had a normal friends going out night. We ended the night buying back to school shoes for my nephew in some larger overly lit box store. Obviously, these things involve people paying for things that I cannot afford. But they can and they do. And I’m going to need financial help to get through this.
I told my friends I simply cannot do things that cost money. That’s a choice I make so I can do other things that are important to me. I have to live my life right now even though it could blow up in 2 or 3 months.
But I’m going to need kindness even more.
How to help
- GoFundMe bit.ly/HelpLGBTQBlogger
- Venmo @ Pghlesbian
- Paypal.me/Pghlesbian
- Cash App $Pghlesbian
- Zelle sitnscoop@gmail.com
Examples of videos (and the nasty comments)
I posted a few videos I made using my phone. I was surprised by the response. Sadly, not surprised by the mean comments.
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