This post is a cop-out
I don't have a real post to share with you guys tonight. It's 5 in the morning and I have to leave the house in a few hours to pick up Kuma, which means that once we get back I won't really have time to write again today, meaning I have to draft at least 3000 words in 2 hours after I finish posting this blog, if I want to stay on schedule with this short story, which is set in a hotel and has monsters and a hot rock star boy.
I just felt bad not posting here, since I want to be more active on this blog. I don't think many people read it, either because I post at odd times, I'm bad at tagging/sharing things, and because author blogs are everywhere and I'm hardly famous, or even have a halfway decent following - but that will probably change if I'm more active and persistent, so, here we are.
I also just like looking back at all my blog posts and feeling productive, knowing I have those memories no matter what, and also knowing that there's something for people to read while waiting for books or if they want information on the process a specific book went through during its writing.
My birthday is in a few days, on the 22nd, and since I'll probably spend the day right here at my desk, alone, working, and may not even notice the date other than a cursory "Ha, I'm old now" (I'm turning 21 so I'm lying to myself, but still) Kuma figured they'd come out and celebrate with me now, while we have the chance.
My 20th birthday was miserable - I spent most of it sitting in the same place/position I'm in now, except instead of blogging or writing, I cried over my finances, got high and watched broad city, called the bank and SOBBED over my finances, then ate some bad pizza and watched more Broad City. If that sounds like a miserable twentieth birthday, it was, both because I was going through so much financial stress and also because I was snowed in so I couldn't go anywhere and it honestly felt like winter would never be over, and isn't March supposed to be in the spring?
I had to call the bank lady and she noticed my account listed my birthday as that day, and kept asking me questions about my plans, which made me both depressed and embarrassed because I didn't have any, wasn't doing anything or hanging out with anybody, and only 3 people remembered it was my birthday anyway, so after lying through my teeth and hanging up the phone I sat there and cried for like 20 minutes, and then got stoned. This year I'm pretty sure I'm even worse-off financially than I was then and for some reason I'm unphased by it now?
Maybe I just don't have the energy, or maybe over the past year I've just stopped worrying about my money troubles as much. I think it's a bit of both. In full disclosure I've made like 14 dollars off of my books in the last 90 days, according to kdp, which is really mortifying to admit, but also not, because I know it isn't a reflection of the quality of my work.
My books are good. They're entertaining. I'm writing the same stuff popular authors like Laini Taylor and A.G. Howard are writing, with more diverse characters and some really pretty covers that I know for a fact stand up to the covers of traditionally published books and are, in some cases, even better looking than those. But I also know I have zero marketing budget, not to mention that I am the only person marketing my books, with no outside help, and I know that there are so many books being published right now it's hard to find a number to describe them all. Many people only read one book a year - that's a lot of competition.
If I had to choose one thing about my books I'd like to improve, it would be the formatting. I'm not even sure how it displays on other devices - I know it looks fine on mine, or as fine as I can make it, but who knows?
If I ever take off and start making real money I'm going to buy a Macbook so I can get Vellum and make them pretty, with chapter heading illustrations and stuff like that, which I can't do alone using Kingsoft Writer and Calibre, which are my formatting tools.
So yeah, that's that. Things are looking up (slightly) emotionally but looking down financially, and I want that to change.
I don't want to get rich off of my books. For the next few years I just want to earn enough to buy a new laptop, buy Grammerly, get some new headphones, and maybe a new desk. Just spending money that I can put back into my books and career, you know? Within ten years I do want to be living entirely off my books though, and considering how fast I can write them once I get down to it, I don't think that's so unrealistic.
So, we'll see. First I have to survive this birthday, and everything else will follow from there, right?
Anyway, I'm going to go and draft this short story, pick up my best friend, and then scream my way through another episode of Riverdale, which I will officially boycott if they don't give me AroAce Jughead and more Cheryl-centric episodes, because we all know Cheryl is the show's saving grace/
I just felt bad not posting here, since I want to be more active on this blog. I don't think many people read it, either because I post at odd times, I'm bad at tagging/sharing things, and because author blogs are everywhere and I'm hardly famous, or even have a halfway decent following - but that will probably change if I'm more active and persistent, so, here we are.
I also just like looking back at all my blog posts and feeling productive, knowing I have those memories no matter what, and also knowing that there's something for people to read while waiting for books or if they want information on the process a specific book went through during its writing.
My birthday is in a few days, on the 22nd, and since I'll probably spend the day right here at my desk, alone, working, and may not even notice the date other than a cursory "Ha, I'm old now" (I'm turning 21 so I'm lying to myself, but still) Kuma figured they'd come out and celebrate with me now, while we have the chance.
My 20th birthday was miserable - I spent most of it sitting in the same place/position I'm in now, except instead of blogging or writing, I cried over my finances, got high and watched broad city, called the bank and SOBBED over my finances, then ate some bad pizza and watched more Broad City. If that sounds like a miserable twentieth birthday, it was, both because I was going through so much financial stress and also because I was snowed in so I couldn't go anywhere and it honestly felt like winter would never be over, and isn't March supposed to be in the spring?
I had to call the bank lady and she noticed my account listed my birthday as that day, and kept asking me questions about my plans, which made me both depressed and embarrassed because I didn't have any, wasn't doing anything or hanging out with anybody, and only 3 people remembered it was my birthday anyway, so after lying through my teeth and hanging up the phone I sat there and cried for like 20 minutes, and then got stoned. This year I'm pretty sure I'm even worse-off financially than I was then and for some reason I'm unphased by it now?
Maybe I just don't have the energy, or maybe over the past year I've just stopped worrying about my money troubles as much. I think it's a bit of both. In full disclosure I've made like 14 dollars off of my books in the last 90 days, according to kdp, which is really mortifying to admit, but also not, because I know it isn't a reflection of the quality of my work.
My books are good. They're entertaining. I'm writing the same stuff popular authors like Laini Taylor and A.G. Howard are writing, with more diverse characters and some really pretty covers that I know for a fact stand up to the covers of traditionally published books and are, in some cases, even better looking than those. But I also know I have zero marketing budget, not to mention that I am the only person marketing my books, with no outside help, and I know that there are so many books being published right now it's hard to find a number to describe them all. Many people only read one book a year - that's a lot of competition.
If I had to choose one thing about my books I'd like to improve, it would be the formatting. I'm not even sure how it displays on other devices - I know it looks fine on mine, or as fine as I can make it, but who knows?
If I ever take off and start making real money I'm going to buy a Macbook so I can get Vellum and make them pretty, with chapter heading illustrations and stuff like that, which I can't do alone using Kingsoft Writer and Calibre, which are my formatting tools.
So yeah, that's that. Things are looking up (slightly) emotionally but looking down financially, and I want that to change.
I don't want to get rich off of my books. For the next few years I just want to earn enough to buy a new laptop, buy Grammerly, get some new headphones, and maybe a new desk. Just spending money that I can put back into my books and career, you know? Within ten years I do want to be living entirely off my books though, and considering how fast I can write them once I get down to it, I don't think that's so unrealistic.
So, we'll see. First I have to survive this birthday, and everything else will follow from there, right?
Anyway, I'm going to go and draft this short story, pick up my best friend, and then scream my way through another episode of Riverdale, which I will officially boycott if they don't give me AroAce Jughead and more Cheryl-centric episodes, because we all know Cheryl is the show's saving grace/
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