Started a longer fast yesterday, and feel super energetic today, getting all caught up on work and even making space for new fiction (brainstorming as I walk).
BookTube is delayed, but even that's only a temporary setback; I now have three 15-20 minute episodes banked, which Patrons will see before everyone else--and to give me a buffer against future scheduling delays.
(I think I might be getting the hang of this indie life after all!*)
*Or paving the way for whole new future flops! 50/50! 🙃
@MLClark admiring how you're making it work! I've given up on making more than just pin money on my books.
@joycereynoldsward Oh, I am *not* making money yet. All our forum discourse highlights that you need a back catalogue and a lot of hustle to start seeing returns down the line. This is all investment energy. I'm stunned to see that folks are subscribing to my YouTube and newsletter, though - so if I keep building this momentum I'm hoping I can monetize in... 6 months' time? Maybe?
Tough times for the world. Long term investment is my gamble - but a gamble it still 100% is!
@MLClark I have the backlist. Not the sales. I've come to the conclusion that selfpub is like tradpub--success comes not just from hard work but luck. And luck has not been very kind to me, alas.
@joycereynoldsward "Luck" is a very delicate way of framing this situation. There's a lot of geopolitical networking that goes into the rise of different people in the industry. I've known plenty who had agents before their first book was finished, simply because they live in LA, SF, NY, Chicago... areas where it's easier to bump into / join the right writers' groups. So don't be too hard on yourself for not having the "right" network. We build as we go, and life is long. ❤️
@MLClark true. But I'm also in my mid-sixties. I have contemporaries who have died, had strokes, etc. I don't have a lot of time anymore.
@joycereynoldsward I resonate with that feeling - if from different lived experience. I didn't think I'd make it to thirty because bipolar left me actively suicidal in difficult cycles. I'm routinely shocked I'm still here.
This is, however, why I think it would be a great idea to lean into talking more about your full self in your newsletter, so people can see the full human behind the prose. Dive into horse-life! Let folks see all the lived experience you bring to your creative pages!
@joycereynoldsward (I mean, as you yourself note, if time is finite, what's there to lose with being more fully *you* in the world while you still can?)
Just a thought! But I think you're doing wonderful work, and my main point was simply to rap knuckles against being too hard on yourself that the industry is what it is. The creative life is deceptively easy for some. For the rest? Constant uncertainty.
(And hopefully, in its midst, a few precious joys!)