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Reposted by Allison DeDecker

Lily Meade

@lilymeade.bsky.social

I have a new update to our ongoing housing/life fundraiser. I am losing the last lifeline I had to my ability to maintain a productive life and work towards a better future. I have no hope left. gofund.me/f79eaf5b

Update text continued in thread and in full at the link.

I’m sorry it’s been over a month since I last updated you. I don’t know if I told you that a local charity helped us get Padfoot dental surgery and I know I didn’t tell you that a few weeks later they were able to cover surgery to remove a growth on our other dog. So in addition to work, life, and the general chaos of 2025 I spent most of April nursing two dogs back to health with lots of important medications and monitoring aside from all my other responsibilities. I will tell you: a 70lb dog in a cone inside a very small camper is AN EXPERIENCE. But both girls now have a clean bill of health.

Wish I could say the same for me. About a week after my last update, I had another recertification of income due for my state health insurance. That was confusing and frustrating because I had just submitted my documents in November and it’s usually a once a year thing. I called to ask for an extension because since I am a self-employed novelist, my income is a regular and my best example of my finances is my yearly tax return. I submitted a PDF of my return on April 17th. Their website says it takes between 2-5 days for submitted documents to be processed.

As a reminder, I am on Washington state’s free health insurance plan. I have been on it since I first applied when the ACA (Obamacare) launched. Before that I was without insurance since aging out of pediatric coverage at 18. I have always qualified, even with more income than I made last year—which was 31k gross before taxes or agency commission or expenses.

Without the insurance that I have through the ACA, I would be dead. I was in the hospital within two weeks of being approved for the first time, with a severe kidney infection that probably came from a simple UTI that I didn’t have a doctor to treat before. It took me half a year to recover from that and if I hadn’t been treated when I was, it would’ve likely progressed to sepsis and killed me.

I was born with a genetic condition called neurofibromatosis, which causes tumor growth on nerves and chronic migraines. I require an MRI to monitor my brain for tumors every other year. I have had a few tumors removed on different parts of my body. But the most critical part of my condition that I deal with is chronic migraines. Every three months I get Botox injections from my neurologist to paralyze the nerves that tell my brain it’s in pain. It is the only

treatment that has ever worked for me, without it I am bedridden and unable to work. With it, I have maybe one or two headaches a week.

Yesterday, I checked the progress of my health insurance recertification. Not only had they not reviewed my files yet, my coverage had expired completely during their delay. I called and waited on an hour on hold to reach someone who had me reapply for the same insurance. He told me to then call the documents office and have them review my files with me over the phone so that I could be reinstated. However, it took so long on the call by the time I called the other number they were closed for the day.

So I called them this morning and waited another hour on hold. When I reached someone, he looked through my tax return and told me that according to that I would no longer qualify for my state insurance. Apparently the limit is $1800 a month. The 31k on my tax return would put me at $2500 a month, even though that does not factor in commissions (taken out before I ever receive any money in my bank account), taxes, or deductions and expenses.

The man was really nice and walked me through making a profit and loss statement for the past

three months that would put my income into better context. However, that still doesn’t work because the way that publishing works is that I get big chunks that have to last me for potentially years.

So the small (under 9k) contract payment in March counts against me even though it has to last the foreseeable future, not just the past three months. My business expenses are not the same every month. Sometimes I have a $20 domain name renewal as my only expense, sometimes I have to order hundreds of dollars worth of bookmarks or book travel expenses for an event six months from now. A profit and loss for one quarter could look a lot different than the rest of the year, because my income and expenses don’t follow a normal schedule.

So it seems that even if I can somehow manipulate the numbers right now to stay insured, the next time I get a payment or sell a new book I’m likely to lose my insurance anyway. Even though I’m homeless and my money goes even quicker than it did while I was sheltered. Even though I only allow my business account to send $1,000 to my personal each month as the only money I’m allowed to touch. Even though almost all of that $1,000 goes right back into the

May 13, 2025 at 9:44 PM

Reposted by Allison DeDecker

Todd Dillard

@toddedillard.bsky.social

the solution to the AI problem in schools is simply not “professors should be better” and it continues to be really shitty to blame them for what is obviously extraordinarily awful yet insanely addictive technology

May 14, 2025 at 12:35 AM

Reposted by Allison DeDecker

Todd Dillard

@toddedillard.bsky.social

shoutout to that specific love language that exists in speaking only in instagram DMs via sharing just the weirdest reels and posts

March 7, 2025 at 12:38 AM

Reposted by Allison DeDecker

Kness

@kness.bsky.social

Tiniest of whale sharks 🩵

Whale shark porcelain pendant with gold dots

February 9, 2025 at 11:42 PM

Reposted by Allison DeDecker

Heather

@hceedee.bsky.social

Freya, 23 Jan '25. #PigeonSky 🪶

February 2, 2025 at 7:36 AM

Reposted by Allison DeDecker

Tess || booksky 📚

@htessh.bsky.social

Library tip: check out the classes/programs your library offers! From story time to Citizenship and ESL classes, the library has a lot to offer! Next time you go, pick up an event guide or check out their website! #booksky 📚💙 #libsky

January 31, 2025 at 3:15 PM

Reposted by Allison DeDecker

j. archer avary 🌵🌵🌵

@joeyflash.bsky.social

Dear #BlueSky

I only need 3 more followers to hit the 400 followers milestone.

If you follow me I can promise to only be annoying if I’m drunk

Or when the football is on

Can’t wait to see you in my followers list, then! 👋

February 1, 2025 at 12:20 PM

Allison DeDecker

@allison-dedecker.bsky.social

I have to say the Flu with a capital F is not at all overhyped- I don’t think I’ve ever felt more actively miserable from being sick. (Well *maybe* from appendicitis but that’s about it.)

February 2, 2025 at 7:24 AM

Reposted by Allison DeDecker

Catieosaurus

@catieosaurus.bsky.social

So there is this extant collection of spells from ancient Greece and they're super interesting because we can find traces of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Christian & Jewish religious traditions in them. This spell manifests "magical assistant", described here as a fucking INCREDIBLE magic class for DnD.

January 28, 2025 at 2:45 AM

Reposted by Allison DeDecker

Dr. Taylor Byas, Ph.D.

@taylorbyas.bsky.social

Not much to be said today. So I’ll just say I hope everyone is as okay as you can be today. I hope you’re with loved ones. I hope you have things in place that will help you survive, fight, and feel joy.

January 20, 2025 at 7:11 PM

Reposted by Allison DeDecker

Hank Green

@hankgreen.bsky.social

Weird that we have to say this, but the government doesn’t get to decide what gender a person is.

January 20, 2025 at 8:00 PM

Reposted by Allison DeDecker

Gemma Amor

@manylittlewords.bsky.social

Authors! Submitting your story to an open call? As someone reading through 400+ submissions for an anthology, some tips:

Opening paragraph/sentence: I can tell within the first few sentences if a story is a 'no.'

'Maybes' turn to 'no's' by the end of the first paragraph. Brutal, but it's true.

January 12, 2025 at 12:12 PM

Reposted by Allison DeDecker

Gwen C. Katz

@gwenckatz.bsky.social

Altadena Library: The library buildings have survived but there hasn't been a chance to assess smoke damage. They have lost many books on loan to local residents (ask me how I know).

Donate:

www.altadenalibrary.org/friends

Friends Of The Library — Altadena Library District

www.altadenalibrary.org

January 10, 2025 at 2:05 AM

Reposted by Allison DeDecker

Mignon Fogarty

@grammargirl.bsky.social

I'm thinking about all the people in LA, the vast devastation, and how things like this seem to happen pretty regularly now.

Does anyone know of a non-profit that, in particular, helps libraries refill their shelves after disasters?

January 12, 2025 at 10:13 PM

Reposted by Allison DeDecker

Critical Role

@criticalrole.bsky.social

🚨IMPORTANT UPDATE 🚨

As the evolving fires in Los Angeles are directly impacting our cast and crew, we're taking a break from streaming this week with the intention of returning to Exandria next Thursday, January 16th.

January 8, 2025 at 10:32 PM

Reposted by Allison DeDecker

Identity Theory

@identitytheory.bsky.social

Made a starter pack of lit mags and presses that have been around a while and made their way to Bluesky.

November 25, 2024 at 8:51 PM

Reposted by Allison DeDecker

Jared Beloff

@readinstead.bsky.social

NAWP is back. We are hosting our second annual Hanukkah reading with an incredible group of poets. Come join us on December 19th at 7pm online!

www.eventbrite.com/e/from-darkn...

CC: @notatawp.bsky.social @mitchnobis.bsky.social