Make or break time: Houston, we have a problem

We're getting pretty nitty-gritty over here.

Not just my floor, which is developing a texture all its own thanks to that working-homeschooling-moneyless lifestyle I'd call something clever like "homescreaming" if I had time to call it anything.

I'm going to the printers today, to look at the proofs of the new issue and to cut my order down by a lot of copies.

We have no wiggle room, moneywise. None.

I'm waking up every morning in a panic -- not just because it's morning, which frankly is reason enough for a night owl who sees the sun's insistent rising as a regular betrayal, but because I'm working every minute and it's not enough.

Some days I feel as if I'm homeschooling almost as an afterthought.

Wonderful people I've never even met have offered their help, sincerely and readily. Through no fault of their own, it's generally in forms I can't utilize (though that doesn't stop me from being deeply grateful, because this is one of those situations when the thought really does count).

I'm asking for more help now, because I have the feeling that I won't be able to keep this up if something doesn't change.

I'm fairly creative, have a keen eye for punctuation and spelling errors and a flair for bitter humor. I'm willing to work long, late hours doing boring, repetitive work (mailing, proofreading) and interesting, exhausting work (deadline articles).

Those are my strengths. They're not enough.

I'm no good at publicizing. No good at all. I would have to have a natural aptitude for publicity work to fit it in with everything else involved in creating the magazine, because you always find time for the stuff that you're good at, because it's fun.

I need help.

On a grassroots level, I need help getting the word out to loops, blogs, and other cool online places.

I need people to ask their libraries to please consider carrying SHM. (If "please" runs counter to your lifestyle, "Buy it or we'll riot" is also good. Plus I didn't even know that rhymed until I typed it.)

If you're in the L.A. area, I need you to be a cool person who will bring your cool kid(s) over to play with my son in his room, a.k.a. Santa Monica Legoland, because I can work and clean about eight times more easily when he has a buddy over.

On a larger scale, I want to see if a publicist is an option for us. It would have to be someone who works the same way our advertising guru does -- on a percentage basis, based on increased sales.

Thanks for everything you already do to keep SHM going. I want to keep doing this, and I need some help. Not very eloquent, but true.