September was a humbling month.
For one thing, I couldn’t walk for the first half of it.
That gets back to my ankle dislocation at the end of August. Boy – those things take some time to heal.
Thankfully my foot is better now…but not much else seems to be.
It’s a time of thought and reflection, though not much writing.
For the month I wrote 49,078 words, most of them on the Montana blog posts I put up.
I did very little writing on any kinds of books at all, and little in the way of work for others either.
Let’s talk about that.
For one thing, I couldn’t walk for the first half of it.
That gets back to my ankle dislocation at the end of August. Boy – those things take some time to heal.
Thankfully my foot is better now…but not much else seems to be.
It’s a time of thought and reflection, though not much writing.
For the month I wrote 49,078 words, most of them on the Montana blog posts I put up.
I did very little writing on any kinds of books at all, and little in the way of work for others either.
Let’s talk about that.
Doldrums
I guess I feel bored with what I’m working on.
One of those things is Mountain Man Series #10.
Yeah…the tenth book…it’s easy to see why you can lose interest.
It’s called “Manuel’s Money” and I have about 5,000 words on it, no real idea of what it’s about, and no desire to work on it.
There’s no real conflict…besides whites going against Indians.
I’ve written several books about that already, so I’m having a hard time finding a different way to tell that story.
I also don’t have a clear historical outline to follow, such as the previous 8 to 9 books.
We just don’t know that much about the War of 1812 on the Upper Missouri, and even though I’ve found a lot…I’m not sure anyone will care.
So far the antagonist is the Santee tribe and a bunch of hot-headed braves.
The protagonists are Manuel Lisa down in St. Louis and his fur trappers.
I know what Book 11 will be already – “Rose’s Revenge,” or some such, and it’ll be a solo adventure with that character.
But how to get there?
That’s the hang-up, and for now I’m stuck with finding a good conflict to set this story in motion.
Perhaps it’ll come.
Besides that I’m not working on much else, so I’m not working.
I really got out of the habit of making my daily “to-do” list because of this.
On top of that I’m having negative thoughts a lot, mostly about what direction I want to take.
Some of the big thoughts have been, ‘do I even want to be a writer anymore?’ and things like that.
So you start to ask, ‘is this what I should be doing?’
I’m not sure.
One of those things is Mountain Man Series #10.
Yeah…the tenth book…it’s easy to see why you can lose interest.
It’s called “Manuel’s Money” and I have about 5,000 words on it, no real idea of what it’s about, and no desire to work on it.
There’s no real conflict…besides whites going against Indians.
I’ve written several books about that already, so I’m having a hard time finding a different way to tell that story.
I also don’t have a clear historical outline to follow, such as the previous 8 to 9 books.
We just don’t know that much about the War of 1812 on the Upper Missouri, and even though I’ve found a lot…I’m not sure anyone will care.
So far the antagonist is the Santee tribe and a bunch of hot-headed braves.
The protagonists are Manuel Lisa down in St. Louis and his fur trappers.
I know what Book 11 will be already – “Rose’s Revenge,” or some such, and it’ll be a solo adventure with that character.
But how to get there?
That’s the hang-up, and for now I’m stuck with finding a good conflict to set this story in motion.
Perhaps it’ll come.
Besides that I’m not working on much else, so I’m not working.
I really got out of the habit of making my daily “to-do” list because of this.
On top of that I’m having negative thoughts a lot, mostly about what direction I want to take.
Some of the big thoughts have been, ‘do I even want to be a writer anymore?’ and things like that.
- You start to think like that when you’re not making much money from other people doing writing work.
- You start to think that when your eBook sales really plummet.
- You start to think that when you’ve got a ton of medical bills coming and a drop in income to boot.
So you start to ask, ‘is this what I should be doing?’
I’m not sure.
Teachers Like My Work
I sold about 300 books this month.
I did manage to sell 40 print books this month as well, the big reason being school.
Yep, English Rocks! sold 21 print copies, making me about $125.
This happens each year – new teachers get over to China or other countries, realize they have no idea what to do, and get my book.
Then they have 101 ideas of what to do and life doesn’t seem so shitty anymore.
I’ve sold more than 600 copies of that book since April 2013 and I’ve made over $4,000 from that.
I’m proud of that.
I’m proud of the fact that I was able to take what I’d learned in a job and put it into a format that helps others in that job.
Making money doing so is even better.
Sure, maybe it’s not as much money as I’d make working 40 hours a week helping teachers…but that’s alright.
It’s passive income that comes from something I don’t even think about anymore.
I love it.
I did manage to sell 40 print books this month as well, the big reason being school.
Yep, English Rocks! sold 21 print copies, making me about $125.
This happens each year – new teachers get over to China or other countries, realize they have no idea what to do, and get my book.
Then they have 101 ideas of what to do and life doesn’t seem so shitty anymore.
I’ve sold more than 600 copies of that book since April 2013 and I’ve made over $4,000 from that.
I’m proud of that.
I’m proud of the fact that I was able to take what I’d learned in a job and put it into a format that helps others in that job.
Making money doing so is even better.
Sure, maybe it’s not as much money as I’d make working 40 hours a week helping teachers…but that’s alright.
It’s passive income that comes from something I don’t even think about anymore.
I love it.
Charitable Giving
I didn’t give much to charity this month.
I didn’t spend much money, period.
I have $3,000 in medical bills so I’m really pinching pennies.
Despite that, I still gave $10 each to the following charities:
Yep, just $30.
It won’t change the world, but maybe it’ll help.
I didn’t spend much money, period.
I have $3,000 in medical bills so I’m really pinching pennies.
Despite that, I still gave $10 each to the following charities:
- Operation Homefront (92% to cause)
- Feed the Children (90% to cause)
- Boy’s Town (82% to cause)
Yep, just $30.
It won’t change the world, but maybe it’ll help.
On the Agenda for October
My, where to go from here?
I need to write more, and if what I’m working on now isn’t interesting me, I have to find something that does.
And writing about Montana politics all the time won’t cut it – I can’t market and sell that.
Oftentimes when I write about what I’m working on it propels me to get going.
Hopefully that’ll be the case with “Manuel’s Money.”
And maybe it’s time to start a new project as well, perhaps something completely different.
Or I could always get a real job and not write anything for awhile.
Stuff to think on as we get started with October.
I’ll tell you how it all worked out in next month’s post.
I need to write more, and if what I’m working on now isn’t interesting me, I have to find something that does.
And writing about Montana politics all the time won’t cut it – I can’t market and sell that.
Oftentimes when I write about what I’m working on it propels me to get going.
Hopefully that’ll be the case with “Manuel’s Money.”
And maybe it’s time to start a new project as well, perhaps something completely different.
Or I could always get a real job and not write anything for awhile.
Stuff to think on as we get started with October.
I’ll tell you how it all worked out in next month’s post.
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