givin

What This Is

I'm trying an experiment where, any money I can get my greedy little paws on, I'm going to put at least ten percent of it back into the world where it's needed.

A lot of rich people say that the more they give, the more they get. So I will freely admit that this really is about greed on my part, but if I'm helping at the same time, I'm hoping to feel less guilty about it.

I guess you could say I'm trying to create a charmed life, as Victoria Moran advises, but without being able to afford her books right now, it's hard to say if I'm going about it right.

I'm also curious to see if it's really true. This is going to be an interesting way for me to track what happens.

Seriously, I legitimately want to help a lot of charities, but never have any money to do so. So, lately, I haven't been able to afford to do my share, and I feel very suckworthy about that.

The only way I know of to earn money (other than my day job, which is draining all the life from me at the same time as my life drains all the money from it) is to write, so here I am.

Most, if not all, of the sponsored-post blog companies require about a three-to-one ratio of regular writing to sponsored writing. Therefore, I will have a category of posts in this blog called "Freeposting," consisting of some crossposts from golfwidow.net and some items I may write exclusively for this blog. The purpose of freeposting will be to maintain the three-to-one ratio and keep the quality of my content as active and readable as possible.

The balance of the posts in this blog will endorse a variety of sponsors, with a twist:

Rather than taking the total payments for these writing assignments for myself, which only did me the disservices of a) making me feel very greedy and selfish and b) eventually drying up the assignments, I am planning on donating at least ten percent (more when I can afford it) of the profits from anything made on this page to charity.

Jeff V. collects and trades in just about any kind of baseball trading card he can find, but he's a specialist in Roger Clemens and his collection of BGS-graded and -registered Roger Clemens is just — well, massive is the only word I can think of to describe it.

Jeff's a nationally-known Roger Clemens expert at the beckett.com website, and has a fantastic eBay positive feedback record. You can trust him to help you find the card you need (heck, he probably already has it) and to deal with you fairly, ship quickly and with care, and make sure you're happy with your purchase.

Click to see what Jeff V.'s got for sale!

This piece originally appeared at my home site, http://www.golfwidow.net, in July of 2006, and is a representation of a post prepared for a business specializing in online writing opportunities. I am not being repaid for this crossposting, having already received payment in full when it was originally posted.

I actually saw a link for http://www.payperpost.com on a blog whose author went off on a sort of diatribe about how bloggers compromise their integrity by advertising products they don't really care about.

Which strikes me as a bit silly, since PayPerPost is going to pay him or her for having said so.

And unlike Google's Adsense (which this integrity-laden blogger also features on his or her site), PayPerPost lets you choose what you're going to write about and advertise. Adsense tries to match ads based on your entry, but it's not always an accurate match.

Anyway, I write because I love to, but I'm broke. If someone is willing to give me some money for something I'm going to do anyway for no pay, I'm very much about that.

Does that compromise my integrity?

Or am I actually being more honest with myself for owning my greed?

I mean, I think I'd probably like myself a lot less if I were the type to play holier-than-thou and call others out for their supposed lack of integrity whilst collecting the metaphorical bounty on them.

I guess it doesn't matter either way. I am greedy and I am willing to accept the fact that I'm a sellout.

Like the punchline of the old joke, we've established what I am — we're just haggling over the price.

But I have Other Fine Qualities.

So this guy, Ronald Montesanto from TravelGolf, has asked me to write a post about the Carly's Club 100-Hole Golf Marathon, in which a bunch of fools get together in sweltering heat and hit a small white ball all over the place to raise money for cancer.

I figure if I can do that for the Hanahoe Children's Clinic, who doesn't even have a decent fundraising page, surely I can do it for Carly's Club, which is so delightfully well organized that not only was I able to make a contribution, I was instantly able to do so and have said contribution not only be tied to RonMon, but to include the fact that I want him to golf for the Mom and her 1½ remaining boobs, even though Carly's Club is really geared more toward kids with cancer. The Mom can be appropriately silly if the occasion calls for it, and kid-ness is a state of mind, as far as I'm concerned.

Think about contributing to this cause. Not only will you be supporting a bunch of fools who get together in sweltering heat and hit a small white ball all over the place so you don't have to, but the money you give will go toward finding cures so you also don't have to do any of the following:

• get part of your boob cut off
• lose your hair and eyebrows
• wear hot itchy wigs or hats that don't fit right
• draw on your eyebrows and wind up looking like the grandmother on Queer as Folk
• throw up a lot
• be tired all the time
• worry that someone has created a teenaged girl out of thin air to trick you into being their friend
• die

It's easy enough for me to have written this post, even though I have no vested interest in getting RonMon out of the house, as I do when That Man of Mine golfs in the Hanahoe tournament.

Which is coming up, but That Man of Mine may not be golfing it this year, as he is still on the DL (knee, of course). We'll cross that water hazard when we get to it.

Meanwhile, let's cheer on RonMon.

Easy as clicking a link.

Here's the scoop on "Hoops," with all the inside poop that's keeping you in the loop.

Sahara Aldridge has gotten a room makeover, courtesy of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Story here: http://www.semissourian.com/story/1201442.html

Sahara, if you'll recall, was the subject of a Rick Springfield benefit concert last winter, coupled with a massive campaign by Michael Manning to have everyone get on a big ol' tour bus and go see the concert.

I couldn't make the concert, but I did contribute to Make-A-Wish at the time, and now I feel less guilty and more like I participated in something lasting — a utilitarian, yet really cool room that will be more convenient, more fun, and less cabin-feverish to hang around in at home with her tumor when she really wants to be out playing basketball and being a kid.

Wish.org. They couldn't make it easier.

I started this project, literally, with nothing.

There's enough house money (barely) for the mortgage and bills, but for precious little else.

So I had just spent the last four bucks and change I had in cash by dumping it into a random veteran's can outside Sam's Club and hurrying away, too embarrassed by his effusion even to accept the crépe paper flower he was trying to press into my hands.

I donated the last $10 in my Mad Money bank account to sponsor RonMon's forthcoming attempt to make it through a hundred holes of golf in the middle of June.

Yesterday, I built and began populating this blog.

I was out of money, but I was beginning to stop thinking only of myself, which was my goal.

I still have no money.

But I got to spend yesterday afternoon with a dear friend who treated me to dinner (and ice cream), and today, not only did I find out that I sold another copy of my book, but that it had been bought by one of my favorite authors, and he sent me an email telling me nice things about my writing, which has cheered me up immensely.

I'll take it.