Tag Archives: writing

patreon

03 Friday Jul 2020

Posted by in work

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patreon page
So I am giving Patreon a try. As I have mentioned here before I’ve had friends who have very generously sent me donations since lockdown. But sometimes it’s awkward for them to ask, and also to receive. I’ve also had a couple of people I don’t know at all, but who have been following my various blogs about Sevilla and Spain, and wanted to send me something in appreciation for all the work I’ve put into them. Which of course is lovely and very much appreciated.

And then I heard about Patreon. Now there are several ways to offer up your creativity here. Some offer services, some online classes, others access to otherwise private online content. And others, I have seen, just promise to keep their content free and accessible to all. I’m in that last category. I mean, I always would anyhow, but it has occurred to me that maybe people like it enough that they may want to sponsor me. This is my page…

Patreon / Azahar Sevilla

I’m still working my way around how this works. I know there’s a fee (8% of whatever I receive) as well as handling fees for receiving money (same as Paypal charges, 3.4% + 0.35€ per transaction), then of course taxes. Anyhow, this is for monthly patrons, which is what their infrastructure is set up for. For one-off or occasional donations it still seems like Paypal is the best option.

So I thought I could just put this out there and see what happens. It’s still early days, so we’ll see how it goes. They asked me to write something about what I was doing/offering so I will copy and paste it below here. Let me know what you think.

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back to madrid!

28 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by in andalucia, friends, gastronomy, getaways, madrid

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So while I was away in Galicia I got an invitation to the Spanish book launch of my friend José Pizarro’s Andalucía, which is being held in Madrid on October 30th. You may recall I went to London in May for a event at the Spanish Embassy that included celebrating José’s 25 years as a chef and was also the launch for the English version of this book. But you know, I want to be there to support José and so I booked my train to Madrid and a hotel for a couple of nights, even though I can’t exactly afford to travel right now.

And THEN something amazing happened. Out of the blue I was asked by Decanter Magazine to write another city break travel piece for them… on Madrid! This is my third commission from Decanter in a year, and I am thrilled about that. But also, it will end up paying for my trip and I can use my time there to do research for the article. How perfect is that?  🙂

at the office

27 Saturday Jul 2019

Posted by in articles, travel

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If any of you don’t already know that I’ve been GOING THROUGH IMPOSTER’S SYNDROME HELL writing this commissioned article about Galicia – which was the reason I went to Galicia two weeks ago – then, you know, where have you been?? 😉

Okay, I have actually written a lot. Way over the word limit I was given. The thing is that it all sounds like total crap to me and doesn’t seem very cohesive.  BECAUSE I AM NOT A WRITER, OMG, STOP ASKING ME TO WRITE THINGS. STOP IT NOW.

But then I remembered that my friend Ania said it sometimes helps to get out of the house, find a café or somewhere else to write for awhile… and in desperation I took this advice today. And hey… it worked!

Well okay… “worked”. Still not sure about that but it certainly helped. And I think part of it was – duh – using pen and paper, rather than just writing on the computer. I dunno, there’s something organic about physically writing that seemed to help me put my thoughts together a bit better. And well, the article is still not done, but at least I now feel like I’m a bit more organised. Thanks Ania!