Things and Me
So... realizing I fell off the internet for a week or so again, because RL just keeps trundling along and I flail around and forget to connect. Sorry! But I realized I haven't really talked about me, or why I'm suddenly so set on publishing, or all that jazz. *spreads hands* So.
See, you might recall that I got married last year. This is wonderful! The suck part is that we're still in separate states. I make more money at my job than I've ever earned in my life right now, but frankly, in the greater DC metro area, it's just enough to survive on with a roommate. Seriously. Cost of living is sooooo stupid in this area. I'm certainly not really getting ahead much, except for the one time during the year when we get our annual bonuses and tax returns.
So the books? The books are all about making a little extra cash right now. The books are for A) debt reduction so that B) we can buy a house out in Nevada and then C) I can move out there while still making some income that isn't tied to a specific corporate office location. That's the shorter term this-year-and-next-year plan.
Ideally, long term planning, the writing and publishing gig is so that one or both of us can work from home. And so that, y'know, all my story ideas actually GO somewhere. This doesn't require anyone to write the next big blockbuster hit, it just requires a steady publishing schedule with books that a modest audience of people want to read. I am maybe vain enough to think I can do this.
Writing long form novels is NOT the same as writing short form scenes/fics/sections, and the transition is hard and I'm struggling with it, but I have a goal and this goal requires me to get words on the page and get the words out there and market the words, so that's what I'm doing.
Or ART on the page. >___> Yeah.... newest side job is where I've fallen in with a group of people with good business sense who are all about the 'adult' (as in, more complex than what you give small kids) coloring books - the ones with the patterns and mandalas and words and animals and sometimes, rarely, bits of fantasy things like fairies or mermaids. They were looking for illustrators. I threw my name in the hat. We'll see how that goes, but right now I'm digging through my older art pieces to find existing line art that isn't fandom related that I can use to jumpstart myself. Have I mentioned I fucking LOVE my iPad pro, apple pencil, and the Procreate app? Because I do. I really really do. It's saving me a lot of tech battle with tablets and having to be at a desk and tied to one location, which I am ALL about right now.
I've also started experimenting with writing via dictation (I don't own Dragon Natural software, but the Mac OS comes with a comparatively close speech to text feature built into it) which actually makes me very very slow compared to my regular typing speed BUT allows me to get up, roam around the room, or do other things with my hands (like knit or ink a picture) at the same time (yes, I can do both of those simultaneously with verbally writing. It's two different portions of my brain, apparently.) There's apparently a learning curve for dictation, everyone says it starts slow and gets easier/faster with practice, until most people who use it all the time are actually writing faster than they would by hand. I totally aspire to this, because I'd love to take a recorder with me while going for walks once it gets warm enough.
Now I just need to train myself to do things like "begin quote hello comma end quote he said period" (actually, I leave out the quote marks, I'll put them back in when I edit) so apparently, really, I just need to channel my inner Jubal Harshaw a lot more. =P
Crossposted from Dreamwidth. ::
bunnies - Feed a bunny
See, you might recall that I got married last year. This is wonderful! The suck part is that we're still in separate states. I make more money at my job than I've ever earned in my life right now, but frankly, in the greater DC metro area, it's just enough to survive on with a roommate. Seriously. Cost of living is sooooo stupid in this area. I'm certainly not really getting ahead much, except for the one time during the year when we get our annual bonuses and tax returns.
So the books? The books are all about making a little extra cash right now. The books are for A) debt reduction so that B) we can buy a house out in Nevada and then C) I can move out there while still making some income that isn't tied to a specific corporate office location. That's the shorter term this-year-and-next-year plan.
Ideally, long term planning, the writing and publishing gig is so that one or both of us can work from home. And so that, y'know, all my story ideas actually GO somewhere. This doesn't require anyone to write the next big blockbuster hit, it just requires a steady publishing schedule with books that a modest audience of people want to read. I am maybe vain enough to think I can do this.
Writing long form novels is NOT the same as writing short form scenes/fics/sections, and the transition is hard and I'm struggling with it, but I have a goal and this goal requires me to get words on the page and get the words out there and market the words, so that's what I'm doing.
Or ART on the page. >___> Yeah.... newest side job is where I've fallen in with a group of people with good business sense who are all about the 'adult' (as in, more complex than what you give small kids) coloring books - the ones with the patterns and mandalas and words and animals and sometimes, rarely, bits of fantasy things like fairies or mermaids. They were looking for illustrators. I threw my name in the hat. We'll see how that goes, but right now I'm digging through my older art pieces to find existing line art that isn't fandom related that I can use to jumpstart myself. Have I mentioned I fucking LOVE my iPad pro, apple pencil, and the Procreate app? Because I do. I really really do. It's saving me a lot of tech battle with tablets and having to be at a desk and tied to one location, which I am ALL about right now.
I've also started experimenting with writing via dictation (I don't own Dragon Natural software, but the Mac OS comes with a comparatively close speech to text feature built into it) which actually makes me very very slow compared to my regular typing speed BUT allows me to get up, roam around the room, or do other things with my hands (like knit or ink a picture) at the same time (yes, I can do both of those simultaneously with verbally writing. It's two different portions of my brain, apparently.) There's apparently a learning curve for dictation, everyone says it starts slow and gets easier/faster with practice, until most people who use it all the time are actually writing faster than they would by hand. I totally aspire to this, because I'd love to take a recorder with me while going for walks once it gets warm enough.
Now I just need to train myself to do things like "begin quote hello comma end quote he said period" (actually, I leave out the quote marks, I'll put them back in when I edit) so apparently, really, I just need to channel my inner Jubal Harshaw a lot more. =P
Crossposted from Dreamwidth. ::
bunnies - Feed a bunny