Stinger in 2022

First of all, once again: happy new year wishes to all those that read this. I cannot speak for everyone, but for me personally 2021 was a year of high and lowpoints, with a ton of stress and uncertainties, but also moments I will cherish for my entire life. I got married, bought a new house and also had the pleasure of seeing Stinger grow and grow. We gained quite a few new members this year and it makes me really happy to see just daily activity here. So thanks for that!

This year comes with an immediate change though that I wish to share: I'm quiting my job and going full freelance. Currently I worked full time as an art-director at an e-learning company. This provided me and my family, allowed us to buy our upcoming house and sustain us financially while also allowing for hobbies etc. Stinger being one of them.

After my manager unexpectedly passed away a few months ago, I've been really thinking of what I want to do with my life. After some soul searching and discussions with my wife, we decided I would freelance as an illustrator which was always my dream. It's scary, exciting, imposing and all around wonderful. Starting around may 2022 I will be a full-time freelancer. As a result I will have far more time on my hands next to my freelance-work (especially at the start) to put into Stinger, which is great as well.
On the flip side, the expendable income that I used to keep the servers up, pay my editor etc. will now vanish.

Thanks to some extremely generous donations on Patreon, these costs are currently covered, which is fantastic and I'm super thankful for. As thanks for this I've added a few extra things to the Patron-page like some 'thoughtdump videos' and the ability to read drafts of articles. If that catches your fancy, feel free to subscribe. If not, that's more than fine!

To put some matters at ease though, there's a few things I will never do though:
1) gatekeep communication: I'll always be open on twitter, the forums etc., you don't have to 'pay to talk to me' like you see with so many other pages. I won't do exclusive online sessions with paying subs or w/e.
2) ads. They are annoying, I hate them, so do you.
3) make the site all about money. I won't have users dictate what I write, impose deadlines or follow trends to seek out a bigger payday. I've seen so many channels lose their luster when money became a focus. And I won't want that to happen to something so dear to me as Stinger. I'll just be happy if the site has enough revenue to pay for server and editor costs. That's all I need.
4) it won't be my job. Stinger will always be a (passionate) hobby for me.

Note that building up to May I'm going to put a lot of work in my freelance activities, building client relationships etc. so I might be a bit more absent until then.

Thanks for understanding and if you have any questions, please let me know!

Roy

How long are the costs covered for?

As it stands, at least a year, so that's more than fantastic. That's assuming I have a disposable income of 0$ for a year, so we're more than good.

Wow, that is a big change. Good luck with it man, change is always exciting and a bit scary.