Update to digital daydreaming
Dec. 3rd, 2020 12:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maldoror_chantFollowing my pondering on how to proceed with writing original fiction, I spent a lot of time researching matters, and decided to go ahead with a possible monetization route that could also bring some exposure, while dipping my foot into publication etc.
What happened next... well, I swear to god I am making absolutely none of this up, and I have to say this because I would never write such a ridiculous cascade of coincidences in a book, that's for sure.
Within 6 hours of having decided on my way forward, the following three things happened.
1) I discovered that Paypal, my chosen way of doing business, paints your name on a banner and waves it around the entire planet as soon as you start selling via their services. Not necessarily a huge problem, but I write Explicit fics on one hand and have worked and might work again in the school system on the other, so.... that made me pause.
2) Thirty minutes after that, I was advised by our doctor that the mental health issues our family is dealing with are considered serious enough to require medication. Serious fucking medication at a serious fucking dose.
Oh.
3) Three hours after THAT, my chest began to burn and feel heavy and prickly, I started to cough, and when I took my temperature, it had spiked within a matter of hours from my bog-standard 'comfortable for a reptile' to 'so you want that egg over easy?'
😱
The evening ended up in the hospital with an eventual negative COVID test result (though hey, maybe I'll have caught it in the Respiratory ER centre which, though I am in the southern hemisphere and thus not in the middle of a massive outbreak, is still the best place to actually catch the fucking bug outside of licking all the handles and seats in a subway.)
As I lay on the gurney, waiting for my somewhat alarmed doctor to find another med that might actually lower my temperature this time, I came to a realization.
The universe does not want me to monetize my writing.
I mean, that's seriously the only conclusion I can draw from this. You all have to agree, right?
As if to reward me for my epiphany, the second round of medication the ER doctor gave me finally lowered my temperature enough to allow me to go home. It was 2AM. That's when I found out the hospital locks its parking lot access at midnight - I got there eventually but it was a sucky day, alright?
I still don't know what I came down with. A 24 hour virus, or was it a severe allergic reaction to the thought of making money by doing something fun? Who knows. I'm better for now, and so is the dog, and as for the rest, we'll cope.
And for the future, I am going to start putting Outlands out on RoyalRoad (which has a lively community of original fic writers who post good SF&F stories you don't have to delve through 20 pages of pr0n to get to, unlike AO3) and I think on Wattpad as well. And I finished the book cover for Outlands, so that'll look nice. I'll start developing some of my more standard-novel and novella ideas as well for eventual posting, or, if one of them turns out well enough, I might save it for agent submission first and post it after if there's no interest. Thus, a plan forward has emerged.
And did I mention the dog is doing better?
S'all good.
What happened next... well, I swear to god I am making absolutely none of this up, and I have to say this because I would never write such a ridiculous cascade of coincidences in a book, that's for sure.
Within 6 hours of having decided on my way forward, the following three things happened.
1) I discovered that Paypal, my chosen way of doing business, paints your name on a banner and waves it around the entire planet as soon as you start selling via their services. Not necessarily a huge problem, but I write Explicit fics on one hand and have worked and might work again in the school system on the other, so.... that made me pause.
2) Thirty minutes after that, I was advised by our doctor that the mental health issues our family is dealing with are considered serious enough to require medication. Serious fucking medication at a serious fucking dose.
Oh.
3) Three hours after THAT, my chest began to burn and feel heavy and prickly, I started to cough, and when I took my temperature, it had spiked within a matter of hours from my bog-standard 'comfortable for a reptile' to 'so you want that egg over easy?'
😱
The evening ended up in the hospital with an eventual negative COVID test result (though hey, maybe I'll have caught it in the Respiratory ER centre which, though I am in the southern hemisphere and thus not in the middle of a massive outbreak, is still the best place to actually catch the fucking bug outside of licking all the handles and seats in a subway.)
As I lay on the gurney, waiting for my somewhat alarmed doctor to find another med that might actually lower my temperature this time, I came to a realization.
The universe does not want me to monetize my writing.
I mean, that's seriously the only conclusion I can draw from this. You all have to agree, right?
As if to reward me for my epiphany, the second round of medication the ER doctor gave me finally lowered my temperature enough to allow me to go home. It was 2AM. That's when I found out the hospital locks its parking lot access at midnight - I got there eventually but it was a sucky day, alright?
I still don't know what I came down with. A 24 hour virus, or was it a severe allergic reaction to the thought of making money by doing something fun? Who knows. I'm better for now, and so is the dog, and as for the rest, we'll cope.
And for the future, I am going to start putting Outlands out on RoyalRoad (which has a lively community of original fic writers who post good SF&F stories you don't have to delve through 20 pages of pr0n to get to, unlike AO3) and I think on Wattpad as well. And I finished the book cover for Outlands, so that'll look nice. I'll start developing some of my more standard-novel and novella ideas as well for eventual posting, or, if one of them turns out well enough, I might save it for agent submission first and post it after if there's no interest. Thus, a plan forward has emerged.
And did I mention the dog is doing better?
S'all good.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-03 05:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-03 07:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-03 09:39 pm (UTC)I had not heard of RoyalRoad before, but it looks interesting. I read the best rated story there, Mother of Learning, on ff.net and enjoyed it a lot, so I might check out others :) (*looks at to-read list* though maybe not immediately...)
Have you thought about Patreon? I know several non-published original fiction writers use it, and even some fic writers. Some of them offer bonus drabbles for patrons, or bonus chapter commentary, often patrons get new chapters a day or a week early etc. I think it works best if you post regularly, but iirc you can also put an account on hiatus for a while.
I look forward to seeing whatever you write next :)
no subject
Date: 2020-12-06 12:44 pm (UTC)I did think of Patreon, as its familiar to everybody, but that requires a US tax declaration even for foreigners, and I'm not going near the IRS unless someone drives me there at gunpoint. If I use Paypal, whether directly or through Ko-fi or some other app, I only have to deal with Canadian Revenue, who are cuddly teddy bears by comparison :)
no subject
Date: 2020-12-04 06:10 am (UTC)