I worry about money.
This is nothing new. I worried about money when my wife and I were both working full time jobs. That’s how I saved up enough for a downpayment on a (foreclosure and needing work) house in less than two years. It’s how I managed to keep us afloat when we dropped down to one salary. It’s how I’ve helped multiple households of friends arrange budgets and get out of debt.
There’s nothing wrong with being thrifty, but what I’ve got to learn is to stop /worrying/ about the money.
This comes to mind today because I don’t work for a city anymore. Back in August of 2020 I quit my teaching job and started coaching chess, teaching photography, and running D&D games professionally. It’s a kind of amazing gig. I’m essentially a game streamer and contention creation coach who has found a way to earn income directly, rather than depending on advertising.
And demand has been steady. Even as the COVID rush of homeschoolers fades, I’ve maintained a client base of 80-120 students. And that with refusing to do nights and weekends because I want to be free to spend time with my own kids and help the family with projects. I could probably hit those numbers on Saturday alone if I worked from 11am EST to 9pm PST.
But I worry because I have to feel like I’m contributing. And because I want to take time to make nerdy projects and play video games and read books. And in the frustrating semi-logic of my brain, if I have time to read a novel I clearly have time to develop a new class.
/sigh/
I’m working on this.
My ultimate goal is to be an author and YouTuber.
Yep. I’m admitting it.
I want to make my living from telling stories and creating experiences that people learn from and enjoy. That’s why I’m writing fiction again. Why I’m poking at programming simple video games and generative art. Why I want to make movies and build creative projects.
I’ve been banging my head against the wall of “selling my art” for almost a decade with minimal success, which is why I’m trying to stop putting of a facade of “this is my authorial persona” and just be… me.
I’m an inherently awkward person, but I keep encountering people who say that they like my work, my teaching style, my perspective on things. Maybe the key to not worrying about money or work anymore is to just be myself.
Autoaccountabilabuddy
- Health: I stayed up until 1:30 last night and started work around 11:30 this morning, not counting emails I did over breakfast. Yeah. Heh. I promise that I’ll either do some Supernatural or floor exercises before bed.
- Writing: I wrote until 1:30 in the morning last night. Little new material, just pecking at my encyclopedia of The Covenant for a bit. I’ll probably do the same tonight, unless I get up the nerve to work on my movie script or Apocalypse Summer.
- Mindset: Pretty good. I got anxious about work and money for about two hours today, but mostly was able to stay positive and keep everyone smiling.
Your Daily Serving of Interesting
This morning found me looking at the Ideological leanings of United States Supreme Court justices – Wikipedia over the last century. You know, because the independence of the judiciary has been somewhat called into question as of late.
Meanwhile, DJI has released an amazing drone which is technically capable of fully autonomous charging and mission launches. According to The Verge, the only reason that the drone requires human intervention is because the FAA requires a human to be involved in all civilian drone flights.
The One Ring recently hosted a great conversation about the upcoming The Rings of Power series on Amazon Prime. This led me down a rabbit hole of Lord of the Rings nerding, including this great video from Corridor Crew.
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading. I hope to make this a daily habit, at least until I get back into writing enough fiction or producing enough videos that I don’t need this journal to force me into taking half an hour to practice my craft every day. Please consider reading one of my books, subscribing to my YouTube channel, or following me on Facebook and Twitter if you enjoy these posts.
Take care of yourself and those you love.