News & Events

Haunted by Fall Events and Visions of Flying-Away Dollar Bills

money flying away and pumpkin
September 22, 2025 by Liza Achilles No Comments

October is approaching, and I’m positively haunted by fall events.

I’m also haunted by visions of flying-away dollar bills.

In this blog post, I’ll be sharing these hauntings with you. Spooky season is rapidly approaching, and I hope you will help me celebrate! But first, we need to talk about those spooky vanishing wads of cash.

Fearsome Flying-Away Money

Hey where’d my green go? Folks, things have gotten real, here in LizaAchillesLand. No, I’m not horribly disappointed that I was laid off by DOGE and Elon Musk in March 2025, because, as it turns out, I love being a freelancer. However, I need to step up my game and be more strategic in my business decisions. Otherwise, I will be forced to—O the horror!—go back to working for the man.

I have only 3 months remaining to make this work. I believe this is achievable, because lots is going well so far. Let us count the ways:

Business Objectives I Am Consistently Achieving
  • Many more people subscribe to my blog each month than unsubscribe.
  • Organic web traffic to my blog has increased dramatically over the past year.
  • My email open rate is very high, at the top of the industry.
  • Two Novembers continues to sell well, and sales have been increasing as I hone my marketing strategies.
  • I’m making great progress on my autobiographical novel-in-progress; I’m almost halfway done.
  • I regularly get new freelance clients seeking editing, web design, and/or graphic design services, and previous freelance clients regularly hire me again.
  • I regularly land paid writing and speaking gigs.
  • Readers of my book, blog articles, and Patreon articles regularly reach out to me with praise.
  • My Patreon subscribers continue to support me month after month (thank you!!!!), and it’s rare for someone to cancel their subscription.
  • I rent two rooms in my home to tenants, which helps me pay my mortgage and utility bills.
Business Objectives I Am NOT Consistently Achieving
  • I have not gained any new Patreon subscribers in the last 6 months, despite inviting blog readers to subscribe every week.
  • I started a GoFundMe account in case people weren’t subscribing to Patreon because they don’t like autopay subscriptions, but no one took me up on that, either.
Financial Support Is Vital for This Blog

Look, I know everybody is asking for financial support nowadays, especially since federal funding for the arts is being slashed. I also know that not everyone has the financial means to support the arts on a regular basis. I hope to keep this blog free for all to enjoy, regardless of individual readers’ financial means.

This is a plea to my readers who have flexibility in your budget: Can you spare a few bucks a month to support this blog? I am eternally grateful to my current Patreon subscribers. You are amazing, and I adore you!!!! The trouble is, there aren’t enough of you yet to make this sustainable.

Some weeks ago, I wrote a Patreon post about the number of hours I put into writing blog posts, plus the articles I write for Patreon subscribers, each and every week. It’s a lot. This blog has been a labor of love for 7 years now. It’s been wonderful to offer a paid subscription in exchange for extra articles and other goodies on Patreon, but this adds extra work for me every week, and it’s important that I start earning enough to make this extra work sustainable.

I no longer have the financial bandwidth to sustain professional article writing for this free blog and for paid Patreon subscribers at an hourly rate that’s below minimum wage.

Friends, book lovers, and supporters of the arts, I am asking for your help.

If I can pick up a substantial number of new Patreon subscribers within the next 3 months, I can keep this blog going.

GoFundMe is an option for those who do not like autopay, but I feel better about Patreon for two reasons: you get something in return (which rewards you and makes me feel good about the exchange); and I get the security that I will receive approximately the same amount of funding the following month. But I will keep GoFundMe as an option.

What Will Happen If This Blog Doesn’t Receive Enough Support

If I am not able to pick up a substantial number of new Patreon subscribers within the next 3 months, I will be forced to put the blog and Patreon on hiatus, at least until I finish my novel. This will probably take about 6 months or so. But this hiatus will likely need to continue even more months, because I will need to start pitching to literary agents, which is a time-consuming endeavor.

Putting the blog and Patreon on hiatus is far from ideal because, as an author, I need to reach my audience (aka you!!!!), not ignore them (aka you!!!!). Putting the blog and Patreon on hiatus is an option of very last resort. Only you can ensure that I don’t have to resort to it!

Number of New Patreon Supporters Needed

I currently have 21 wonderful! amazing! incredible! active, paying Patreon subscribers. This blog will be sustainable if I can gain 50 additional subscribers over the next 3 months. This assumes that half of these new subscribers join at the $4/month tier (and receive bonus articles on Wednesdays), and half join at the $8/month tier (and receive bonus articles on Wednesdays and Fridays).

Gulp . . . 50 is a lot. That’s too many to wrangle up all at once. So let’s focus on September and October only, and worry about the November and December targets later.

By the spooooooooky day of October 31, I need to gain 20 new Patreon subscribers, half at the $4/month tier and half at the $8/month tier.

This is not a drill, friends. This is the real, terrifying, ghoulish deal. I can’t sustain the current situation much longer.

What You Get as a Patron: Bonus Stuff!!!!

As a Patron, you get stuff in return for being a wonderful! amazing! incredible! supporter of this blog.

At the $4/month level, you get secret bonus articles on Wednesdays. These articles will keep you informed about wacky publishing industry news, new books that just didn’t make the cut, and classic books that deserve a modern readership. I also share incidental musings about the literary life, always in my own sometimes questionable but guaranteed authentic voice and style.

At the $8/month level, you get all the secret bonus articles on Wednesdays, plus secret bonus articles on Fridays. The Friday articles take you behind the scenes into my author and freelancer life. I really do share secrets here that I do not want to put out in public, but am cool with sharing with a small circle of friends and supporters.

There are also higher tiers where you get even more rewards, such as monthly postcards from the inquisitive one!

Your Free Gift for Joining Patreon by October 31

Get a free inspirational sticker for becoming a Patron by October 31!!!! If you are a current Patron who jumps to a higher tier, you also get a sticker!!!!

Here’s what the sticker looks like:

Once you sign up, I will request your mailing address and mail you the sticker!

This offer is while supplies last only, so act fast. I have only 20 stickers to give away to any new Patrons who join in on the fun, and any current Patrons who jump to a higher tier, by October 31.

Will You Please Help?

If you can spare a few bucks a month to save this blog from a chilling, spectral, eerie, and downright ghastly hiatus, please click the link below and sign up today!

BUT!!!! Before I give you the link, I must urge you: Do not make your purchase through the iOS Patreon app. You can read the articles on the app, but go to the actual Patreon website on a browser (Safari, Chrome, etc.) to make your purchase. Otherwise, the iOS App Store will charge you a hefty fee every month.

I can see on my Patreon creator account that at least one of my Patrons, maybe more, is paying the iOS App Store fee every month. I don’t have information about who this is. If it’s you, you may wish to cancel your current subscription and resubscribe using a browser, not the iOS Patreon app, to avoid future fees.

If you are using a Windows or Android device, you don’t need to worry about this.

AND NOW, DRUMROLL PLEASE . . . THE LINK! I HOPE THAT 20 OF YOU WILL BE ABLE TO HELP BY OCT 31! GET BONUS CONTENT AND AN INSPRATIONAL STICKER!

BECOME A PATRON HERE: https://www.patreon.com/lizaachilles

Or, if you prefer to make a one-time donation, use this GoFundMe link. (If you donate an amount equivalent to 12 months at $4/month or more—for any mathophobes out there, that’s $48 or more—I will send you an inspirational sticker!) https://www.gofundme.com/support-lizas-book-blog

If you want to avoid fees entirely, you can send a one-time donation through Zelle at liza at lizaachilles dot com or through Venmo at @liza-achilles. The same rules apply as far as the sticker!

Curiously Creepy (and Some Perfectly Normal) Events

Wow, my October is full of events this year! And so is my end of September! Here’s a list of upcoming opportunities for you to join me in bookish and artsy endeavors this fall.

Note that if I’m not an active participant, I can’t guarantee I’ll be there (though I will try to make it!), since this calendar is overly full—and I haven’t even included in this list musical and theatrical performances I have tickets for, and social engagements I have committed to, over the next few weeks.

I don’t think I’ve ever had such a busy 6 weeks. So take a deep breath and check this out:

THU 9/25: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s birthday celebration in Rockville, MD
SUN 9/28: Wheaton Arts Parade and Festival, at which I will be selling my book, in Wheaton, MD
WED 10/1: Beltway Cafe poetry reading & open mic in Washington, DC
MON 10/6: Screening of the documentary film Banned Together & interview with filmmakers, moderated by me, to celebrate Banned Books Week and fight back against book banning, in Bethesda, MD
WED 10/8: Fall for the Book festival: A panel and presentation called The Body Breaths Poetry: Call & Response, featuring me reading sonnets from Two Novembers as dancers do a choreographed dance to my poetry (how cool is that?!!!), in Fairfax, VA
THU 10/9: F. Scott Fitzgerald Short Story Readings: winners of the annual short story contest share their work, Rockville, MD
SAT 10/11: From Brain to Bookshelf, the annual Maryland Writers’ Association conference, featuring a workshop by me about how to successfully launch a book, Linthicum Heights near Baltimore, MD
SUN 10/12: 10th Anniversary Silent Book Club Global Readathon at Wonderland Books in Bethesda, MD
FRI 10/17: F. Scott Fitzgerald Readings in honor of the winner of the 2025 F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Achievement in American Literature (the winner this year is Percival Everett!), Bethesda, MD
SAT 10/18: F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival, featuring Percival Everett, author of James, who will be there in person!! in Rockville, MD
SUN 10/26: Locally Crafted market, at which I will be selling my book, in Rio, Gaithersburg, MD (not yet announced but will be announced soon on their Instagram page)

And most paranormal and dreadful by far . . .

FRI 10/31: Liza’s Annual Halloween Party 2025, Rockville, MD!!!!

You Are Cordially Invited to My Halloween Party

If you love books, you are cordially invited:

1. Visit this web page: https://lizaachilles.com/halloween-2025/
2. Use this password: edgarapoe

I hope you can make it!

Looking for an Editor, Web Designer, or Graphic Designer?

I have several clients at present, but there’s room for more!

I can edit your book. I specialize in literary fiction, memoir, poetry, and nonfiction. I do developmental editing and copyediting.

I can assist with WordPress web design. I recently redesigned the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival website. View it here.

I just made my debut as the graphic designer for a book! I designed the cover and laid out the interior pages for a book that contains poetry, prose, and photography. Contact me to view the cover and a few sample interior pages.

I can assist with social media marketing. I can help you with graphic design and caption writing that will appeal to your target audience.

Check out my Services page for more info, and it’s easy to reach out with an inquiry or a request for a quote on my Contact page.

Looking for a Good Book?

This blog post has gotten way too long, so I’ll keep this short. People really like my book Two Novembers. I have been told by people, over and over, that they don’t often read poetry, and they don’t usually like poetry, but they like my book. They like my book a lot!

Two Novembers has a 5-star average customer review rating on Amazon. I promise you, the people who reviewed my book are not diehard poetry readers. They are regular readers like you who like good books. Please check out their reviews here. I promise, if you read my book, you will be delightfully entertained.

Are you looking for a great book to read? Do you know someone who might enjoy receiving the gift of Two Novembers? Visit my Publications page for purchasing options.

TL;DR

Here is the most important part of this too-long article:

Support me on Patreon here or GoFundMe here if you want articles from me to continue to be written and shared.

BOO! Happy fall!