As an extension of this blog, I’ve had my Patreon account up and running for a little over a year. It serves as a place for anyone who is interested in investing in my health journey or work to do so in exchange for more regular updates.

I’ve always valued everyone’s feedback – patron subscriber or not – and tend to make changes accordingly. Y’all have always had wonderful constructive criticism that have made my website and Patreon offerings more accessible (transcripts provided with vlogs, etc) and given me space to grow.

I wanted to share my most recent changes with all of you to give you an inside look as to what content offerings are there and what’s new!

None of the changes will affect current patronage or what existing subscription tiers provide. Instead there are two more tiers, and a few new offerings that expand the content available and some investment rewards.

You’ll notice I changed the name of tiers as well. Here’s the new breakdown:

($1) Baby Leaf
· Occasional Updates

($3) Clippings (NEW)
· Occasional Updates
· Content Previews
· Some Vlogging Content

($5) Big Leaf
· All Blog Style Updates – this is your midweek updates and extended weekend updates
· Content Previews
· All Vlogging Content
· Occasional Long Essay Access

($15) Plant Haul (NEW)
· Access to all previous tier content
· PLUS All Personal Essays
· Occasional Artwork/Photography Prints mailed to you

($50) Fern
· Access to all Patreon content
· Occasional Artwork/Photography Prints mailed to you

The new addition to my Patreon is the addition of Long Essays. I’ve published one in the past that you can reference as a sample. These essays are personal opinion pieces that will not be published anywhere else that will range in topics allowing me to explore writing in a variety of disciplines. These are not primarily health related essays. I will be publishing another Long Essay in the next few days for an additional sample of what the Plant Haul tier will contain.

Past Long Essay:
504 Sit Ins and Black Lives Matter

Plant Haul and Fern tiers are considered investment tiers, and as a special thank you for your investment in my writing and health journey, you will also receive artwork and photography prints on occasion.

The addition of sharing my artwork with you is the result of polling that came in August as it related to potential goodie boxes. I had a really great response to the idea and wanted to find a way to integrate it into my offerings.

How do Tiers Work?

If you’re interested in sampling one of the new tiers, adjusting tiers, or signing up for the first time Patreon makes it super easy. At any time throughout the month you can edit your pledge and either change tiers or increase your pledge. For example, if you’re a member of the $50 tier you can change tiers to $5 with ease and the next month you will be charged for the lesser tier subscription price. If it’s your first time signing up, you will be charged upon sign up and then afterwards on the 1st of each month.

If you choose to increase your pledge by moving to a higher tier you will be charged the difference immediately and unlock access to that tier’s content immediately. Then the following month your subscription will reflect the new higher tier.

You can also adjust your pledge within a tier – say you’re a $5 tier member but want to contribute $10 you can edit your pledge. You will be charged the difference, but the pledge change will not unlock additional content.

Patreon Posting Schedule:

In the past, although not perfectly consistent, I’ve strived to post regular updates – a vlog every weekend and a midweek smaller update.

Going forward, I’m dropping a posting schedule as it is not feasible for me or the content I’m putting out there. You likely won’t notice because of how sporadic the last few months have been and it doesn’t mean there will be less content. Vlogs will be standard with more in depth announcements, while blogs will cover smaller updates.

And finally, a brief breakdown of what content is what:

Occasional Updates/Blog Style Updates: These are written blog style updates that share personal and medical updates. Over the last few months these updates have included: renovation sneak peeks and progress updates, and health updates.

Content Updates: These relate to my blog My Life My Migraine and range from general polling about blog topics, early knowledge of topics, and drafts/early versions of blogs that will be published later.

Vlogging Updates: These are more specific updates that share more details on doctor’s appointments, health concerns, and other updates in a more personal format. All vlogs have a transcript.

Personal Essays/Long Essays: These are various essays that I write that explore my thoughts and opinions surrounding a variety of topics. They are published exclusively to Patreon.

What does Patreon provide me with and what are my future goals?

By considering a monthly subscription, you are considering investing in me and my future, which I am eternally grateful for.

I want to be completely transparent in what my goals are and where your investment goes.

Patronage covers costs of keeping this blog up and running ad free. Being ad-free is super important to me. In providing migraine resources I want to have complete control over my page, and ads can be flashy and distracting and can cause harm to my readers.

Patronage also covers educational opportunities that come back to creating more resources for you! Events like the Migraine World Summit provide insight to new research and therapies and management that help me understand new options available to me, while giving me more information to help me be the best advocate possible.

Finally, patronage covers my medical expenses including costs of prescriptions, medical devices that aren’t covered by insurance (like the Allay Lamp), and therapies also not covered by insurance.

Although I have a few goals with my Patreon page, the first one is to reach a level where I can comfortable resume my massage therapy which greatly reduces my widespread chronic pain, neck and shoulder tension, and relaxes my overall system.

If you’re considering signing up, check out my page here.

As always, my patreon page wouldn’t exist without all of your (non-financial) support. Every one of you who has read, subscribed, and shared some of your own experience makes a huge positive difference on my life and I am eternally grateful for you.

Thank you for being here and I am looking forward to my (now 9 month) moving transition to come to an end so I can get back to providing more regular articles to y’all. 🙂

A.