That’s right, Grovers…you read the headline right. As a challenge to all my readers, past, present and future, I am putting it out there to spread the word: I will NOT get a haircut until one-thousand (1,000) books are sold in 2011! Now, my hair is pretty long as it is right now (much to the ire of my spouse)…see! Quite shaggy…but I am resolved, I am serious as a heart attack in that I will not cut my hair until my goal has been met.

I give you this challenge, dear friends: Tell a friend, a relative, tell two, spread the word far and wide, have the people you tell tell two more people, three more people, anyone and everyone, buy a copy (or more) of Willow’s Grove – The Kidnapped Saga: Volume 1 (click on the clickery-type button over on the left sidebar and buy it from Paypal! By doing this, you not only allow yours truly to be able to see what he is doing, but also allow me to look less like a homeless artist (which is on the verge of happening for real anyway with the bill collectors banging on my door and me using a pretend voice to say “uh, they no here, please go away”…they buy it at first and start to walk away, but then they realize they have been duped and wait for me in the front yard. Right now, I have about 5 or 6 just mulling around their tents and campfires waiting for me to pop out to get the paper or the mail to tackle me and pin me down while the others rush to the door to change the locks) and more like a professional…I see you laughing out there…and I’d be laughing with you, too…if it wasn’t so serious.

Hi folks, still at the no haircut thing until 1000 books are sold. So far our total stands at 1. I wanted to give you an updated picture of me, to see where I stand after we have cruised through the middle of March with no real sales to speak of…which speaks to me in volumes that I must really suck at what I am doing. Add that to the list of things I seem to suck at big time (besides the fact I seem to be not poor enough to even merit financial aid for school…guess I need to move to a smaller cardboard box) and add it to the cloud hovering over me that this whole thing of Willow’s Grove will come crashing to an end. My luck, I’ll be more popular once I’m dead…;)

Karl getting to look like Cousin Itt

Won’t you please help me achieve my goal so I can get a haircut and perhaps eat? I thank you very much 😀

Yes, Grovers, this may be the very last week of new strips for Willow’s Grove. What? You might be saying to yourself…wait a minute! I know, I know, I’ve tried to keep things going and I do have plenty of more scripts to turn into new strips, plenty of fuel in the tank to produce, but the fact of the matter is this, while I have more material, I have no more cash…nada…all gone…so, if things don’t improve within this week, if money doesn’t start to appear, then it will be out of my hands.

No cash means no way to pay for hosting, no way to pay for internet, no way to pay for electricity, mortgage, homeowners insurance, taxes, food…you get the picture. I am not one to beg, in fact, I hate it, I wanna’ work for my money, earn it, but truth be told, I can’t seem to make money with Willow’s Grove. Sure, I have merchandise to sell, books, t-shirts, mugs, pins, but it hasn’t moved. I even tried to get something moving with a quirky sales pitch…you know, that “no haircut until 1000 books are sold” thing. As you can see by the numbers over on the left there, it’s worked wonders!…;)

Maybe I didn’t make it sound serious enough, maybe the world just doesn’t care too much about Willow’s Grove or its creator/artist/resident insane person. What can you do to help? Well, I guess the first thing I would ask is for you to consider buying a book. That right there would be a place to start and would put money in the bank for me right away. Tell a friend, family, a stranger in the coffee shop. Get them hooked, if you think Willow’s Grove is worth saving, have them invest in it and help keep it going. Buy some t-shirts or other merchandise. This would help in the long term as the revenue generated from Zazzle isn’t as immediate as a book would be, but it would be revenue just the same.

Otherwise, the end is right in sight, at least for Willow’s Grove. It’s been a fun 2 and a half years being back and I thank my loyal readers for hanging around and making comments and enjoying the story…enjoy the archives while you can, because once the hosting payment comes due and I have no money to pay for it, it will be gone.