So it's been forever....

[2metaldog]

Just what the title says. It's been forever since I posted here. Truthfully, I needed to Google how to do a cut thingie because it's been so long (and then I saw the little tool doohickey and wow, it really has been forever since I don't remember that being there the last time I posted). Long post is also going to be long.

Comments

Ikigai

[ext_5642585]

Hey so I originally found you on ao3 and you gave me links to your lj and your dreamwidth. I'm sorry to hear about the physical distance but I'm glad you're doing things that you love. I wanted to talk to you about ikigai (thank you gabriel iglesias) it's supposedly a Japanese thought to help people give what to do. If you're great at it, you live doing it, the world needs it, and you can get paid for it - then that's your ikigai. (From what I understood from the Netflix episode). So you're great at writing, from what I understand you love doing it, the world absolutely has a need for it (authors are necessary and I'll fight someone who says otherwise), and you definitely should be paid for it.

Patreon is definitely more of a subscription site but I think there's options that allow for one time purchases. Honestly I'd happily pay for everything I've read because it is all so good. And there is a market for it. I feel like you could publish but I also know how that bit you previously. Honestly just tell me where you end up with it and I'll be there trying to give you all the money and support.

I'm glad to hear that you are healthy as far as covid goes. I sincerely hope that this is a beautiful turning point for your life and you end up having the career of your dreams.

-Stella Celestial

Re: Ikigai

[2metaldog]

When I was published (about 10 years worth of having my stuff pro-published), I didn't make much money doing it. A good portion of that falls on my shoulders because I'm horrible at self-promotion. But at that time it wasn't about the money as I was working full-time at a good paying job I really enjoyed doing (architecture and structural engineering). I believe I learned quite a bit from that publishing experience on the back end and think it's helped me put out better stories.

One of the nice things about self-pub is that you're not under any constraints about the content of your story (whether a house finds it acceptable or not) and I can keep the Canadian spelling (which is a tiny thing but I like it better that way).

As I mentioned, I'd likely want to put something out once I have it completed even if I'm doing weekly posts to Patreon. There are times when I need to go back and do minor edits to what I wrote for consistency with later parts and you can't do that when you're posting as you go. I have written 3 stories (well... 2.5 stories) as monthly things on a site where I was a guest author and I did that for close to 10 years so I'm familiar with writing that way, too.

I'm trying to get some writing done every day. I'd say I'm having a 90% success rate right now. I'm still easily distracted and sometimes I just don't feel the groove. But I consider it a win even if I only manage 500 words. That's better than nothing, right?

I very much appreciate the support from readers. It means a lot to me to hear that people enjoy what I write. I'm positively giddy when they ask for more.