It is. But it’s also frightening. It’s difficult to explain but I’ll give it a shot.
It’s righteous and easy to say, “I’m proud of myself for my accomplishment!”. But as you gain a better understanding of the industry and what it takes to gain anything of significance within the industy, you realize one of two things have to happen:
You can continue to toil away doing what you love for little to no money and fading recognition for your earnest effort.
You sell out your values and principles for a worthless but oh so pretty tin nickle.
I was too cowardly for option 1 five years ago and will still never sell out my sense of honor, dignity, and integrity for material success.
But maybe, after five years, I’m not so cowardly anymore. Maybe. We shall see. First I need yelloe legal pads and a vast supply of my favorite bic pens.
I dunno. The Catholic Church convinced people they could literally buy their way into Heaven. So I wouldn’t place much stock in the native intelligence level of the even above average Medievel person.
Besides, it still works wonderfully as a metaphor for leaving yourself unguarded in unknown stitations.
Not that, entirely. But even half a decade ago, the landscape was entirely different. “Shifter Romance” was the big thing. I know people who put in very little work but gained a great deal of success for something so shallow, trite, and trendy.
I absolutely love Noire. I loved writing Habeas Corpseus. I loved writing Sam, Lauren, etc. But at the same time, real life started knocking on the door and I could no longer ignore it.
So, I could sell out for a cheap trend, continue to create something unique and fun with interesting characters to my own financial detriment, or…go back to real life.
Real life has win for the past five years. But that was a mistake borne of my own cowardice. Thanks to watching someone nearly half my age and facing, perhaps, even more adversity in their life than I could imagine yet still choosing to push on…You’ve inspired me, Mer !
I’m just a picky bastard and refuse to write on anything other than yellow legal pads until I’m ready to transcribe to a word doc and I prefer to write with a very specific type of bic pen I haven’t seen in close to four years.
I think that is why I have my Patreon and DA. My Patreon is my secondary income source (Also I think my stars my parents let me be in where I am so I can do all that I am) I can pump out short stories there while I do novels and such. The auduince there builds over time and I am trying to set it up so they can find my books but it is my other place that I write.
I don’t know what to call it exactly. I think it is just a place where I can try and get short stories sold.
I finnaly put my anxity down to start a new short story. My first of three xmas short stories. Someone will be trying to hard to get a xmas tree that they might become the tree for the holidays.
!
last night
and shows Cyndi a brand new otter video
…