The title this blog post could’ve also been The One Where I Got Serious.
On both fronts you may be asking yourself why. Why when I decide to get serious all sudden? Or, more importantly, why the hell would I shave my beard?
Both questions share the same answer. And both are related to my day job.
For those you who don’t already know, I’m a construction worker in the lovely state of Misery. In this context we use the word construction worker very loosely. Technically, the work is construction. As proof, I have to hold an OSHA training card in the construction industry in order to work on some jobs.
At times, calling what I do construction makes about as much sense as calling painter a construction worker. What we do is almost the same. Where painter goes inside a house or building to make the inside beautiful, we spend our days on the parking lot making it… Well, black.
I’m not gonna tell you what company I work for, but the type of work I do is called asphalt seal coating. Yes, I’m one of those guys that slaps that black shit all over the pavement. It’s not glorious work by any means, but it pays rather well.
While that is the industry I work in, my actual job is running the crack seal crew. I spend my day operating a machine that heats hot crack filler up to 400° and applies it to the pavement. In short, I’m the guy who makes those beautiful black stripes on your streets.
I’ve been doing this line of work for fifteen years. Started at the ripe old age of twenty-two.
When I started, I never plan to be working here so long. I always thought it would be one of those jobs I work a few months and then find something better. But since then, our economy has taken multiple tailspin’s. During that time it made finding a job damn near impossible. I know, because my dad spent two of those years trying to find one himself. So I, like many other people, stuck with the job I didn’t like because it paid the bills.
The work isn’t bad. I like the people I work with and getting a change of scenery every day. Today I might be working at a golf course, while tomorrow I might be in an industrial complex. The variety is what keeps me sane.
Unfortunately the job comes with risks. Less than a week ago I faced one of those risks. I was crack filling a brand-new street at an industrial complex when my crack feeling machine now function, spraying me with 400° crack filler. Luckily, my protective clothing and safety equipment kept me out of the worst of the spray, but it didn’t save me from it all.
I managed to walk away with just a few first-degree burns, and crack filler in my hair. I don’t know if you’ve ever had to get gum on your hair, but this is almost the same. Long story short, it was a lot easier to cut my hair and beard than to get it out.
I got lucky. If the flow stayed up for a few seconds longer, or if I hadn’t been wearing long pants and a long shirt, things could’ve been much worse. As you can imagine, that stuff could easily blister your skin. Had that blast that hit my jeans found a similar patch of open skin, I would’ve spent time in the burn unit. In fact, I would probably still be there today. From there, I’d be lucky to be back to work anytime soon, if I wanted to go back at all.
This is one of the things that makes you consider a new line of work. The injuries may be minor, but it put the fear of God into me.
None of this is to say I’m not taking this seriously. I’ve always wanted nothing more than to stay home and focus of my writing. All this did was speed up the timetable.
Goals and plans for 2017
Going into the year I had one goal. I wanted to release eight new books. The original plan was to release one book every seven weeks, with the novella snuck in between the first to. Five months in I’ve already released four books. Endeavor came out in early January with Intrepid later in the month. A few weeks later I released Infamy. Three weeks ago, I released Reliant.
The big thing about this year is that I didn’t have any monetary goals. I’d released almost 20 books before this point and it barely made a blip. Why should I have expected my science fiction to be any different?
Something amazing happened. By some stroke of luck, Endeavor took off. I had one day in the middle of January that I sold almost 90 copies of the book in one day. I still couldn’t tell you how it happened, but I’m happy that it did. For the first time in two years, I see the light at the end of the tunnel.
So for the next six months I need to release for more books to keep with my goals. As of today, I’m ten chapters into Defiant. I’m hoping to have the book out in the middle of June. From there, I intend to finish the rest of the Mythrar War Saga. At least, the first group. After Defiant will be Contempt, and finally Destiny. That still leaves room for one more book. I have a few ideas for that book, but I’m still up in the air.
The thing is, those plans never took my new toys into account. Since I’ve been making some money with my books, I’ve been reinvesting that money into new things.
The first, and most important, thing that I did was invest in an editor. A wonderful woman named Sue Currin. As you can see from some of the early reviews, Endeavor had its flaws. Most notably, it was lacking in the editing department. Some of the problems were eliminated when it came time for Infamy, but still some remained. This all changed with the release of Reliant. That was the first book that I sent to her, but she has since gone back and edited the other two. It’s worth noting, that I still haven’t sent Intrepid off to her. It’s on a short list of things for me to do.
From there, I spent money on things to increase my productivity. The first thing I did was buy a new PC. I spent the last few years writing on a low-end laptop. While it did the job, it was lacking in the processor department. It was good enough to use word and Scrivner, but little else.
The first paycheck also went into buying Dragon naturally speaking. Long-term, the plan was to start writing books with my speech instead of with my hands. Part of the problem with my day job is that it is hell on my wrist. No, I’m not talking carpal tunnel or anything similar, I’m just talking about them being very very sore and hard to work with at the end of the day. Some days, like last week, I found it hard to come home and write. As you can imagine, lack of writing is hell to my goals.
This month, the toy is a brand-new microphone. I plopped down eighty bucks for a blue Snowball ice microphone and desk mount. I just got this a few days ago. In fact, I’m using the microphone and Dragon to write this post.
My new hope, is to get a lot more than the four additional books done. But for now, that goal remains.
My next goal is to be a full-time writer by 2018. To be fair there are a few things that make up this goal. For starters, I’m not simply looking for the replacement of my day job income. That’s only part of the story. In fact, once the next part of the goal is complete, how much I need to survive on is a lot less.
Now that I’m done with toys, the money that I spend that doesn’t go towards my editor or cover designers will go towards paying off my credit card debt. I, like many others, am in well over my head. I don’t have the numbers sitting in front of me, but I’m in the five figure range. This doesn’t count my other debt, like my house payment and car payment. It also doesn’t count is five figure personal loan I took out eighteen months ago. Combined, I’ll about sixty thousand dollars.
With the credit card bills, personal loan, and my normal monthly expenses, I need about twenty-six hundred dollars just to pay the bills. That doesn’t count food, gas, or any other random expenses. Just the bills.
But, if I can eliminate that debt, my monthly expenses will be closer to a thousand dollars. That makes paying off my debt priority number one. If that means I have to work in the asphalt industry for another year, so be it. I have to get that debt out of the way.
I’d also like to have a new house. Coincidentally, so would my wife. Needless to say, getting a house is a lot easier when you hold a day job. Especially one you’ve been at for fifteen years. This one isn’t a necessity, but is a big want.
Finally a business
Another big change my writing is the fact that I treated as a business. Past few years I haven’t made enough to even bother messing with it, but now that I’m making some serious coin, it was time to do things right, if only to keep the tax man off my back.
The business isn’t anything fancy. I’m operating under a sole proprietorship for now. I don’t know if it’ll ever change, but if it does, I’m sure it will be hell to do.
Plans for this blog
I’ve waffled back and forth on what to do with this blog. Part of me want to keep it pure and just focus on my writing in my books. You know, write about what I’m writing about, and stuff and related industries.
That’s cool and all, but I want this blog to be so much more. Something along the lines of what Lindsay Buroker is doing in hers. She talks about both your books in the process of writing in general. Something I’d like to do without having to use two websites.
Part of the joy in writing is sharing my process with others. I’ve learned many things that may be of help to others on their journey.
Going forward I intend to use the blog to talk about my numbers, my process, and my results. I plan to cover things like advertising, changing genres, using pen names for different genres, and many more. In short, I have no shortage of things I want to discuss.
I also want to use the blog for some accountability. Each week I plan to make a post detailing what I want to get done the following week, then the next week I can go into what I got done and why. Some weeks will be good, in that I hit everything I have planned. Others will be bad. I think this is important, since it shows we’re all human. Each one of us has to take our own path, even if our destinations are the same. Some people may get lucky and hit a homerun during their first at bat. Others, like me, need to step up to the plate many times before hitting a base hit. This is to show that luck plays a part in the process too. But one thing I’ve learned about luck is that it will show its ugly head if you continue to do the same. I didn’t start to see any serious income until I had close to twenty titles out. I made more money last month, than my first two years combined. This month is on par to hit that number again (making it three months in a row.)
So, to finally end this long ass monstrosity of a post, here are my goals for the following week:
- Write 25,000 words towards Defiant – This will put me around the halfway point of the book. I have most of that planned out to some extent or another, so it’s just a matter of writing it out. These words don’t count next week’s blog, which I expect to come out on Sunday.
- Continue to work with Dragon Naturally Speaking – A few paragraphs ago, I turned Dragon off. This is because I’m still at the stage of being self-conscious about talking to myself in front of people and my son just walked into the room. This matter will only get worse when I start using it to write fiction full time. My solution to this is to use my digital recorder more often. This will necessitate buying another “toy” to keep from having to hold it in front of my mouth for long periods, but it is something I want in the long term anyway. The benefit to this is that I can start using it on my commute. I spend at least twelve hours a week on the road, so gaining any of that back is a huge bonus.
- Plan out more of Defiant – I have a firm grasp of the direction I want the book to take, so this should just be a matter of getting it on paper. Honestly, this will be the one goal I can see suffering the most, since it will rely so much on my free time.
Challenges I face this week:
- Thanks to the endless rain, my body isn’t quite used to the demands of my day job. That means I’m more likely to come home tired, than not. The challenge is to force myself to get some words in before I rest for the day.
- We have a big job to do this week that will take a lot of time. Not only that, there is a significant amount of windshield time involved, making it take even longer. On a bright note, this is one of those better paying job sites, so it’s a trade. It WILL cost me some time this week.
- Mother’s day this weekend. My day job requires weekends, but that doesn’t mean I’m off the hook with mom. Not only that, I have to consider my wife (who will be coming home sometime that evening.) I’m sure it will eat some time.