Majikthise

Brief bio

As his request for the spring fund raiser Chris asked me to talk a little bit about myself. So, here goes.

Majikthise fundraiser: Day 1

I have been "drug free" for nearly six months: It has been half a year since I swore off pharmaceutical copywriting for good and dove full-time to blogging and other freelance writing! I cut way back on pharma after Katrina, but I was still "chipping," doing the odd copywriting assignment to supplement my blogging/writing income. I knew that if I was serious, I was going to have to go cold turkey and kick my pharma habit once and for all.

So, last October, I quit for good. Since then, my freelance career has been off to a great start. The blog has continued to grow and thrive. I've published in Salon, TIME, The New York Press, AlterNet, Chelsea Now, and other outlets. I also recently joined This Modern World as a co-blogger. It's an exhilarating time, but I'm just barely keeping my head above water.

Over the next year, I hope to take the blog-based reporting side of things to a new level. My goal is to raise the blog's profile and improve my equipment enough that Majikthise will eventually become self-sustaining through advertising. I hope to spend at least part of the presidential campaign on various buses. I'd like to go to New Hampshire. I hope to get credentialed for the DNC and the RNC. This kind of coverage is going to be expensive. I don't have institutional support for most of the reporting I do, so your contributions are extremely important.

This year I hope to do some equipment upgrades in order to deliver better quality content. My slow camera lenses are really getting to be an impediment. The presidential election only rolls around every four years, and I'd love to be able to record it with an f/2.8 lens. So, like everything to do with elections, fund raising will have to start early.

I'll be making another exciting announcement shortly. In order to prepare for that series of projects, I'm going to need to take some Spanish lessons and a driving refresher course. So, that's why this week will be Pledge Week at Majikthise. As usual, I'll be taking requests for post topics. I'll be accepting requests for both photographs and prose. Please leave your requests in the comments below AND send me an email through the link on the upper left column. Depending on the volume of requests and the rest of the news cycle, it may take a while to accommodate everyone. Don't hesitate to email to check on the status of your request.

Thank so much for your support. You can make a donation by clicking the PayPal button below: