The Dreaded Announcement.

Hey everyone, first of all I'd like to start by thanking all of my patrons, both new and old. There was a time where I would personally write a message to each and every new patron to show my appreciation, yet as time has gone by the influx of patrons have grown tremendously and it became a little less than feasible to do, so I want to show my appreciation for you all here. This gratitude also extends to my existing patrons who have followed my scuff journey of content creation over the past 5 or so years. Without you I sincerely wouldn't have been able to chase my dream of having my own (smutty) business and have kept myself and Dad afloat for this long.

Now, onto the crux of the announcement:

I shall be going on holiday from the 26th of September to the 11th of October (a month from today).

This isn't a holiday that I particularly wish to go on, but a family friend has already pre-paid for me and my father to attend their daughter's wedding abroad in Spain. I know I sound ungrateful for this 'windfall', but please, read on. As a preface, I hate making posts like this.

Me and my father are seriously broke at the moment and couldn't afford a trip to a local zoo with the money I currently possess, and this holiday clearly threatens the financial security of the both of us concerning the winter period. It was hard last year- we barely made rent, now this could lead to more dire hardships. Winter is always expensive and if I lose a lot of Patrons I fear what will happen to the both of us as a consequence.

For the past two years we have scrimped and scraped to get by on the absolute poverty line. I haven't bought any new clothes, bedsheets, gotten out of the house or purchased any luxuries for myself, only a few for Dad when I've been able to afford it for key events such as birthdays or Christmas Holidays. Hell, I've been tying myself to my PC for 8-14 hour work days nearly every day over a two year period to try and earn more, refusing to even meet friends due to lack of funds and the pressure that brings. For my efforts I have made less than 1/4 of the UK's minimum wage per month in that time.

So why don't you decline the invite? I am torn on this, but Dad raised a few good points:
1- We will never afford to go on holiday on our own, not with the wage I'm currently earning.
2- I was born when Dad was at a relatively old age and now his health is failing (one of the reasons that I sometimes cannot get a page out as I have to help him and keep the rented house in shape as it is getting hard for him to do so).
3- Due to the above (point 2) this may be his last chance to travel abroad before he passes, which brings me no end of shame and regret. I've never been able to look after him the way that I wanted to, even busting my ass day in, day out. For God's sake- he is wearing glasses that have an incorrect focus and dentures that no longer fit him due to the both of us being unable to afford replacement ones.
4- He wants me to enjoy life before I waste it away trying to earn money.
5- The family friend has paid for it and it'd be an insult to decline.

So why not get a job alongside doing the comics and games? I have tried, the only job I managed to land was a factory job (prior to the creation of this page I had worked in them for 11 years or so) but was told that I couldn't have both the Patreon page (being self employed) and the job, so I worked my first week to see how it would go and they never gave me work again in the two months I was in their employ after that. One of the most crushing realities of the job market hit several failed interviews later when I remarked to an employment agent that I had been either rejected or heard nothing from several prospective employers, only to be told that it is most likely due to me being self-employed for so long- no one wants to hire self-employed people when they can choose from a pool of others who have been employed in industries for some time. There aren't really a lot of options where I live either- a town that lost its main industry about 40 years ago, and has had a degrading job market since.

Now I'm not e-begging, or at least, I don't want to, but I need to now. It is unavoidable. Yet what I am asking for from you isn't to bump up any payments or donate, just stay with me during that period when I'm away. What I would have done in the past, when I could afford it, is pause Patreon billing. But I cannot now. I just simply cannot afford it.

What does this mean for content during that time?
I'm going to be talking to a few people/ friends that I'm doing commission work for to see whether I can 'bank' their work for this period and set up posts to periodically release it whilst I'm away so you all have content until I return.

A final bit behind the scenes:
I have been collaborating on a brothel style Unity based game which contains TF/TG elements with a friend, of which I have spent about a year creating, with me being the primary coder/developer. I was hoping to get this out prior to Christmas, but due to bugs and this holiday being sprung on me it'll likely be just past the New Year now.

I will be advertising more post Holiday, as you guys seem to like the content, which should help me out too. I don't want to burden you guys with this post, it isn't my intent.

I think that's everything. Thanks for your support again. I'll be getting another Hivemind(ed) page out tomorrow and another over the weekend to compensate for today as time has been taken up helping Dad again and I didn't quite get the effect that I wanted in the first draft of the page. So I'll speak to you tomorrow.