Hi, gang. It's been quiet on the blog the last week or so because I've been relocating--to a whole new town. It's an exciting time as this is the first time I have been able to afford my own apartment. For the last ten years I've been renting rooms from other people. The downside to this is that I have no furniture of my own, so the living room is bare.
For the first month or so I am skipping cable television, so the apartment is not only bare but also quiet, but it is not without built-in entertainment. The walls in this place are decent but even the thickest walls cannot keep the loudest noise from getting through, and tonight I heard a couple of wild hollerings from neighbors that I absolutely must share.
First, on the kitchen side of the apartment, I heard a woman shout (to apparently her male counterpart), "If yo' momma had put her foot in yo' ass when you were young you'd be an entirely different person today." I tried, I strained, I even put a glass to the wall, but I did not hear the gentleman's response.
Then, down the hall on the bedroom side of my place, I heard another woman yell, "Don't you just look at me and go meow meow meow." One assumes she was yelling at her cat, and one also assumes, from having owned many cats, that the poor kitty was hungry and momma hadn't yet realized this. Either that or she indeed fed the animal, and the cat was trying to con more food out of her. That is not outside the realm of possibility.
So, as my second week in this domicile begins, I look forward to more entertaining snippets from the neighbors that I will delightfully share.
Also, coming up in a few days or so, I will share with you a round-up of my appearances around the web promoting my new spy novel, Show No Mercy. The indie community (and other seasoned pros) welcomed my work with open arms, and it's been a great experience. Till then.....
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Quit My Day Job? Heck No!
A friend said to me the other day, "Now that you're a tiger-blooded totally bitchin' big shot author from Mars, I bet you can't wait to quit your day job, right?"
I suppose there are plenty of authors who have quit day jobs in order to write full time, but I'm afraid I won't be joining those ranks. I spent the last three years either unemployed or underemployed. I had a lot of time to write, read, smoke cigars, watch television, and basically live the life of a "full time author" complete with weekly checks that arrived from the pixies at a small government office. You know what? I was bored out of my mind. Bored stiff. So bored I would go outside just to count grass pedals. I mean, seriously, if there is another way to describe how bored I was, I would insert it here, because I don't think I can tell you how totally bonkers I was going. I did some volunteer work with my church, which I was already doing, and that helped, but the days were long. I decided that if that was the life of a full time author, I didn't want it.
I like having something to do and somewhere to go every morning. It doesn't hurt that my current job is cake--I work for a company that sells food to restaurants. Yeah, sales is a tough gig, but I have a good time with it, the people are good, the pay is decent. My living expenses are covered. Income from book sales is gravy.
If I am going to keep working full-time, though, I need more hours in the day to write, so to that end I have found a new apartment a few miles from the office which will greatly reduce my commute time (ten minutes as opposed to the one hour drive I have now) so that frees up some hours. I will be able to devote two hours a night to my manuscripts, and on that schedule I can finish a book in three months.
What's nice about having income from my eBooks is that it will eventually build up and allow me to maybe get a house, a nice sports car, take a Caribbean vacation... who knows. It will also allow me to eventually say, should I ever want to, "forget you" to my boss. Who doesn't want to be able to say "forget you" to anybody and be rich enough to get away with it? You never know, my boss will someday tick me off one too many times, and I'll be too rich to put up with his crap. Or her, really. My boss is a her. Did I not mention that? I've known her all of my life, you know.
My boss is my mother.
I suppose there are plenty of authors who have quit day jobs in order to write full time, but I'm afraid I won't be joining those ranks. I spent the last three years either unemployed or underemployed. I had a lot of time to write, read, smoke cigars, watch television, and basically live the life of a "full time author" complete with weekly checks that arrived from the pixies at a small government office. You know what? I was bored out of my mind. Bored stiff. So bored I would go outside just to count grass pedals. I mean, seriously, if there is another way to describe how bored I was, I would insert it here, because I don't think I can tell you how totally bonkers I was going. I did some volunteer work with my church, which I was already doing, and that helped, but the days were long. I decided that if that was the life of a full time author, I didn't want it.
I like having something to do and somewhere to go every morning. It doesn't hurt that my current job is cake--I work for a company that sells food to restaurants. Yeah, sales is a tough gig, but I have a good time with it, the people are good, the pay is decent. My living expenses are covered. Income from book sales is gravy.
If I am going to keep working full-time, though, I need more hours in the day to write, so to that end I have found a new apartment a few miles from the office which will greatly reduce my commute time (ten minutes as opposed to the one hour drive I have now) so that frees up some hours. I will be able to devote two hours a night to my manuscripts, and on that schedule I can finish a book in three months.
What's nice about having income from my eBooks is that it will eventually build up and allow me to maybe get a house, a nice sports car, take a Caribbean vacation... who knows. It will also allow me to eventually say, should I ever want to, "forget you" to my boss. Who doesn't want to be able to say "forget you" to anybody and be rich enough to get away with it? You never know, my boss will someday tick me off one too many times, and I'll be too rich to put up with his crap. Or her, really. My boss is a her. Did I not mention that? I've known her all of my life, you know.
My boss is my mother.
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