Well... It's been a while, and a notice for my slash fic peeps.
I've fallen out of LJ land and a lot of things have been going on.
I got really sick in January and then had the SUPER FUN complication of two months of vertigo. I was so sick I couldn't open my eyes without throwing up for four days, and finally figured out I didn't have the flu when I wasn't tired enough to sleep anymore, and, if I kept my eyes shut, was ready to seriously injure someone for a hamburger provided they didn't try to struggle. A friend took me to urgent care and practically had to carry me. I had lost like 10 pounds, but they gave me drugs so I wouldn't be nauseous anymore and I celebrated being able to move again with a truly obscene amount of Chinese food. I think the guy who brought it to me saw me (I do not have a body frame that forgives you for 10 missing pounds, I looked like death and could have knocked out a tune on my ribs) must have been wondering where the other four people who were going to eat this Chinese food were.
And then I fell down a lot for a couple months. There's no real getting around the fact that vertigo is kind of funny.I had like three moments of silence for Lucille Austero, who is my new hero.
I got a terrible temp gig that I hate, but they keep extending. The wage is fantastic, the hours work out just right so that I can work the available nights at the part time job that I love, and for a while there I could get a lot of writing done at work. I'm starting to worry that they're going to hire me on as a permanent employee. I'd probably go for it if they offer me a little more money, even though I'm moving today so my commute is going from 15 minutes to about an hour. But I'd only stay a few months longer.
I've been writing. I published "The Promise of Silk" last August and kept telling myself that sixes of dollars is more than anyone's paid me to write before. I wrote "Imperfection" and I got a few rejections on a really out there short story that finally found a home and is coming out in June. I have the best Content Advisory in the world: "This title is not a romance. It is a love story." and I googled it. I'm the only person who's gotten that warning.
I kept telling myself that I'd feel like a real writer if I could ever pay a bill with my writing.
Well... I just got an advance that would let me pay my rent, my car payment, and my electric bill for next month, and I can still buy myself the big white bookshelves that I wanted for my room.
And, because this is what I'm like, I don't really feel like a real writer yet.
But I sat down and did the math and realized that with a solid enough back list, at big enough places, I could be making some real money doing this. If I kept working a full time job, a part time job, and writing, I could pay down enough debt to live on less per month. If I lived on a little less a month I could live on royalties and a part time job. If I only needed a part time job, I'd have more time to write, and I could take a part time job in my field to the experience I would need for a full time job in the future, or I could just keep writing. If I had more time to write, I could sit down and have time to work on the traditional book that I keep starting.
So this whole "I just want to write" idea just moved from a pipe dream to an achievable dream, and from a fantasy to a long term plan.
And the reason I'm posting this here, is because this whole advance situation arose from 45K words of gay romance, which I know everyone who reads this LJ is capable of.
I owe everyone who ever read a story of mine, so if anyone else has a dream and questions, feel free to PM me.
Thanks guys.
I got really sick in January and then had the SUPER FUN complication of two months of vertigo. I was so sick I couldn't open my eyes without throwing up for four days, and finally figured out I didn't have the flu when I wasn't tired enough to sleep anymore, and, if I kept my eyes shut, was ready to seriously injure someone for a hamburger provided they didn't try to struggle. A friend took me to urgent care and practically had to carry me. I had lost like 10 pounds, but they gave me drugs so I wouldn't be nauseous anymore and I celebrated being able to move again with a truly obscene amount of Chinese food. I think the guy who brought it to me saw me (I do not have a body frame that forgives you for 10 missing pounds, I looked like death and could have knocked out a tune on my ribs) must have been wondering where the other four people who were going to eat this Chinese food were.
And then I fell down a lot for a couple months. There's no real getting around the fact that vertigo is kind of funny.I had like three moments of silence for Lucille Austero, who is my new hero.
I got a terrible temp gig that I hate, but they keep extending. The wage is fantastic, the hours work out just right so that I can work the available nights at the part time job that I love, and for a while there I could get a lot of writing done at work. I'm starting to worry that they're going to hire me on as a permanent employee. I'd probably go for it if they offer me a little more money, even though I'm moving today so my commute is going from 15 minutes to about an hour. But I'd only stay a few months longer.
I've been writing. I published "The Promise of Silk" last August and kept telling myself that sixes of dollars is more than anyone's paid me to write before. I wrote "Imperfection" and I got a few rejections on a really out there short story that finally found a home and is coming out in June. I have the best Content Advisory in the world: "This title is not a romance. It is a love story." and I googled it. I'm the only person who's gotten that warning.
I kept telling myself that I'd feel like a real writer if I could ever pay a bill with my writing.
Well... I just got an advance that would let me pay my rent, my car payment, and my electric bill for next month, and I can still buy myself the big white bookshelves that I wanted for my room.
And, because this is what I'm like, I don't really feel like a real writer yet.
But I sat down and did the math and realized that with a solid enough back list, at big enough places, I could be making some real money doing this. If I kept working a full time job, a part time job, and writing, I could pay down enough debt to live on less per month. If I lived on a little less a month I could live on royalties and a part time job. If I only needed a part time job, I'd have more time to write, and I could take a part time job in my field to the experience I would need for a full time job in the future, or I could just keep writing. If I had more time to write, I could sit down and have time to work on the traditional book that I keep starting.
So this whole "I just want to write" idea just moved from a pipe dream to an achievable dream, and from a fantasy to a long term plan.
And the reason I'm posting this here, is because this whole advance situation arose from 45K words of gay romance, which I know everyone who reads this LJ is capable of.
I owe everyone who ever read a story of mine, so if anyone else has a dream and questions, feel free to PM me.
Thanks guys.