CS's Journal

Where are you and where are you going?
jacob
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Re: CS's Journal

Post by jacob »

In case you haven't searched the forum archives, there are several published authors and aspiring authors here. Most successful in terms of $$$ is prosaic who got discovered and ended up with several titles on the amazon bestseller list resulting in a sudden $50k+/month income. I think she is/was more active elsewhere (MMM?). Didn't really hear much from her again after the breakthrough :mrgreen:

cimorene12 has posted a lot of long updates on the writing business in general; she built her writing out very deliberately (testing, strategy, etc.), pursued what worked and canned what didn't, and turned it into a good income.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3764 (for first steps ... this is old stuff, maybe things have changed a bit, but it gives you an idea of the $-numbers)

wolf
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Re: CS's Journal

Post by wolf »

I had a look on portfoliocharts. I know what you mean. But in the long run (5+ years) it has a steady SWR of about 3%. I guess the mid- and longterm is more important than the shortterm returns. ERN wrote a good post about the importance of SR and AssetAllocation. He says: "This is the beauty of early retirement and the 50%+ savings rates: A larger portion of your nest egg will be principal and you rely less on capital gains and compounding than the typical retiree with a 40 or 45-year horizon. For early retirees, asset allocation “mistakes” are less damaging!"
https://earlyretirementnow.com/2017/11/ ... etirement/
But I guess you know that already and that you have a high SR. Keep it going!

CS
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Re: CS's Journal

Post by CS »

@Jacob
Thanks for all those links! I've gotten about halfway through Cimorene12's update (and there is another journal to read too?). I've spent some time on lurking on kboards, but it is entirely something else to follow along on someone's path as they go. I need to do some actual writing today(!) so have to put it down as a later reward for getting some words out.

The best thing I got from it so far is 1. It takes time and 2. It takes effort. I can do those things. So I need to calm down about what is happening now, and worry about what I am doing now, and the result will come of it's own. The fact that I am making zero dollars from writing now does not mean I will always make zero dollars.

$50k a month so far past my goals, I can't even comprehend it. Not saying I wouldn't take it though! :D

@MDFire
I am going for the low withdrawal rate to hedge my bets. There is no reason to believe I can't make *some* money writing, but until I see cash in hand, I'm going on the assumption I need to live off my capital forever. :)

--

One of the links in Cimorene12's update was about Math Kids. My brother probably wasn't an 'official' math kid, but he was pulled out of his classes in sixth grade and sent to the University for calculus. I was little jealous of that. It turned out he hated it - loads of homework (busy work I'm guessing) -and hours on the school bus each day. My brother had stuff he wanted to do. And that math stuff was interfering. When I read the Math Kids article, what struck me was how it was about all who had PhD's, who had great jobs, etc. It really was about who was indoctrinated the most (my take). They were so bound to their framework that they had to evaluate girls verse boys who did more of those indoctrinated behaviors. And here is my brother who was going to have none of that. He hasn't worked for another person since he was eighteen (probably younger). He has had his own businesses all his adult life. He now has fifty plus employees, all making a living off of his creative output (well, now theirs too - he is training them). So who is more 'successful'? I'd say my brother - not because of the size of his current business - but because he hasn't had to take orders from others for close to thirty years. I feel like a sucker next to him sometimes. I hate working for others.

So I think the writers of that article sort of missed the point. But they are so far in the cave, they probably couldn't recognize it if it smashed them in the face.

--

I think I have a plan coming together. I'm going to hang on to be my current certifications, and take one gig a year (~ 3 months) if they come up, until I have three books published or make 15k a year, which ever comes sooner. The worst, worst case scenario is I work three months a year for another five years in my old field. The best, is that in 2019 I can shutter my old business. It will cost be 3-4k to leave it (yes, I have to pay to leave. This payment is in the form of a tail for my liability insurance), but I figure if I have other money coming in, that will take care of itself. Right now I have the cash for my 2018 maintenance expenses aside (2k).

The thing with the old business is I have to work once a year, or it's hard to get back in. And the jobs are not that steady, so there is the constant anxiety of 'will a gig come in time.' (Curiously, I didn't feel it at all while in school though. I want to get back to that zero f's place.)

So for the upcoming year, I'll have two business - one for writing, one for the old career. I don't want an LLC, so I might just file DBA in Minnesota under a pen name so I can get the checking account and the solo 401k started for the writing business. If I ever make tons of money where I want an LLC and/or professional accountant, I can always change things then.

I have also set aside close to 2k for the new business, for software, editors and fees. It should be enough to get started. I know I am going to have to pay for copy editing - my typo rate is amazingly high. Having a development editor would be nice too - if it's not too expensive. I am figuring ~$400 max per book to start, including covers. I can spend more when I have money coming in, although I'm not sure it would be much more... Amanda M.Lee posted about her editing and that is about what she pays - and she has a crew of three editors she uses in various ways. Of course she is a practiced journalist, so her copy is much cleaner than mine to start with! I might have to pay some sort of idiot/pain in the butt tax.

--

I know I am being too precious about this first book. Last night I worked on the characters and wrote ~800 words of a new beginning in a literary style. And hated it. I am not starting over from scratch. I decided to string the first five chapters I've already done in the Caper style (light hearted fluff mysteries with stupid humor) together into one document and viola, I'm already 9k words into my first book. Onwards and upwards.

When I wrote my first screenplay, one of the readers told me the beginning was awful, but it got much better as it went. The later part, that he liked, was written fast, fast, fast. Clearly I can over think things if allowed to.

CS
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Re: CS's Journal

Post by CS »

33 more work days until I am done with this job. I cannot wait.

Just this morning, had to deal with loud laughing (yeah, it could be much worse) from one room over, my officemate's LOUD (like, what-the-heck-loud), and constant, text messages notifications, with a whistle to the sound that hurts my ears (bonus points), and loud conversations between him and others right next to me.

I'm sensitive to noise. My throat hurts just from being here for two hours. I cannot wait to be done. This is so bad for my health.

270 hours.

anomie
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Re: CS's Journal

Post by anomie »

Hi CS -

If you have considered and are truly interested in deleting your LinkedIn account, they do still allow it . How To Here

It is pretty liberating once you have made the decision.

CS
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Re: CS's Journal

Post by CS »

Duplicate
Last edited by CS on Sat Nov 11, 2017 6:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

CS
Posts: 709
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:24 pm

Re: CS's Journal

Post by CS »

@Anomie,

Thanks for the tip. I'm considering it. It seems less is more on the internets.

--

Back in the midwest for the weekend. Facing the issue that I really don't have a long term place to live that I'm all that happy with. Trying to use it as motivation to get the writing stuff underway so that can change.

I registered with DD and read a load of threads. Read a few more stories and confirmed (again) that I don't want to do erotica, and probably not romance (although the money for romance is tempting). The categories of cozy and science fiction are more comfortable fits to my natural interests. So that is some progress.

Outlined the next sequence of my book. I'm finding it difficult to outline chapter by chapter, unless I have more structure. So I drill down, by acts (three - but really four), and sequences (generally two per act, except the first and last). It helps me. I am dead in the water unless I know where I'm going. I'm just too, too, too (I really mean it), too lazy to write a bunch of stuff that just goes into the trash. Yes, I'll kill my stuff when needed, but I'd rather not go 200 pages in the wrong direction. :cry: :shock:

--

In the interest of focus and efficient use of limited energy I think it would be prudent to sign out of/ perhaps delete - Facebook, LinkedIn, and track down what ever happened to my MySpace account (remember those?). Facebook takes way too much of my time. It's worst than TV. I find myself scrolling down pages like an addict looking for just one more interesting story at 10 pm, when I should have been asleep for an hour. Nope.

--

It was funny to read that Taleb goes to bed at 8 pm. With the time change in Portland, I've been changing into PJ's after work and hitting the sack between 6 and 8. Of course I read for a few hours in bed (research, ya know? :lol: ), or less usefully, scroll through Facebook.

So it's work, cook when get home (lunches and dinners), and read. I take shocking pleasure in my solitude. I hope I don't regret it someday, but it feels good right now to have the peace and quiet. (I can see that changing after this job is over and I'm not overstimulated eight hours a day.)

classical_Liberal
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Re: CS's Journal

Post by classical_Liberal »

...
Last edited by classical_Liberal on Thu Feb 04, 2021 11:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

CS
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Re: CS's Journal

Post by CS »

@cimorene12
I sent you a PM.

@classical_liberal
Life is short. I'm reminded of that every day looking at the charts of people with cancer. The funny thing about saving that money is now it feels like not a lot. I think the difference is the mind-set. Once, it was 500k, woohoo!, look what I can buy, now it's "that's 1250/month for living at 3% SWR". :)

I made the (probable) mistake of letting a friend of 20+ years know I was retiring due to savings. Their reaction was I could buy a house they could live there!! I was like "no, then what would I live on?". It might not be a bad idea, except 1. owning a house is a lot of headache, 2. mixing friends and money and 3. what *would* I live on? (unless said house was much cheaper than the average where I'm currently at.) Unless we have some sort of bust/interest rate hike, I don't see that massive a correction coming. Especially not if they ramp the deficit to within an inch of it's life.

It's not so much I hate the actual work - it's more the required 9 hours a day away from my other interests, and often the lack of control of my environment. I've had a few jobs with offices - those I love - but more often than not, I'm in some common area with loud noises and all that. I don't think I'd ever be happy in an environment like that... I don't care if it paid 500k/a year. No thanks.

Plus, there is some internal embarrassment that I'm still doing this career many years after deciding I was not too happy with it. Golden handcuffs. At least there has been loads of time off to do other things.

--

Writing efforts

So I'm putting time in and learning what scrivener is verses vellum, and other nitty gritty details of how to make the writing go smoothly. I've been writing in word, but my irritation level with trying to keep chapters organized, etc is reaching a painful level. So I think I'll start with scrivener, and and deal with vellum (for formatting books) in the 2018 tax year, when I'll officially start my business. I'll also be at home with my 2012 macbook pro 15", so will have more screen real estate. I like my 12" computer I have for traveling work, but the small screen is brutal for digitally 'spreading out' and getting organized.

Finally bit the bullet and got KU for reading more books. I have a few authors that I am studying. I'm also finding a lot of authors that I give up on after a chapter or two. I hope to move my writing past some of their mistakes as quickly as possible. I know it's going to have some of them in there, but you have to start somewhere, eh?

--

Health Insurance

The HSA plan I was on switched doctor networks, so I switched plans. Now I'm on a Bronze plan, but not HSA. It should be cheap enough if I make the minimum I need in MN for tax credits (2x's the poverty level). I don't want to get on the state plan and will just convert traditional IRA to Roth if needed to get the income level right. Yes, I know I'll be paying some income taxes at that amount. If that (the worse case) comes to be because I have such poor writing income, then I figure out a different plan for 2019. I'm worried about this horrible tax bill passing, since it would affect both my health insurance and general tax rate. Now would be a good time to have all dividend income. Oh well.

--

26 more work days

CS
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Re: CS's Journal

Post by CS »

Update for the end of the year.

Work
I was offered a five week extension and took it. So my would have been two more weeks is now seven weeks. Thought for a hot second about buying a car, then got a grip and instead congratulated myself on solidly crossing a nice, round, number in savings. :D

I've also earned almost all my needed continuing education done for the year (and next, actually). I only need two more credits and then I will not have to worry about this at all next year and can just concentrate getting my business up and running. Bonus.

33 more work days.

Investing
Not sure if this counts as investing or not, but I did for the first time try Treasury Direct for buying T-bills. Not too shabby. It was on my 2018 goal list, but I had some energy last weekend and just did it then instead of waiting. It has a better return than my savings account, that is for sure (and that tells you how bad that account is!).

I've also been also reading on the Bogleheads forum just for fun. A lot of them seem confident about a 20-30% correction coming up. I dunno. I saw the graph for one small cap value fund that one of the big brokerages was toting, and it had a huge 50% drop right in the middle. It was easy to overlook that data point in the middle of the rather long climb upwards, but it was there. I wonder how truly confident these "all-in" index stock people will be if the correction is at that magnitude. There was also a prediction thread for the peak for bitcoin (date and valuation). That situation is like watching a car crash in slow motion... fascinating and awful all that the same time. Apparently there is a lot of money coming in from Asia... the old problem of too much money and nowhere to invest it. (Obviously not one of my old problems...)

Writing
Upgraded my computer (free OS software) so I could use the latest Scrivener software just released AND made it through the tutorials and helpful videos last weekend. This weekend's project is importing my current book into it and getting organized. Bit frustrating that I only make progress on the weekends, but progress is progress.

My entertainment has been Sherlock (the TV series) and reading mysteries. All what I call research. I also get to see why my girlfriends were gushing about how sexy Benedict Cumberbatch was a few years ago (when it originally aired). Between that, and the possibly better environment in Hollywood, I am somewhat tempted to go back and try to be a TV writer. But my best shot at that, and all of my other goals frankly, is to first become a successful book writer on my own first. So first things first. Work, work, work. (Don't let the four letter word fool you, I am rather excited for it.)

Treasure Booking
So, one of my friends has invited me to make a treasure book of what I want from the Universe. (Don't even start on how silly that is... I'm willing to give it a go, so you can just let me without mockery, k?) The challenge is - how to do this without spending money (or much money) and without pulling a lot of magazine clutter into my life. I found a good scrapbook I like for ~$6 - yay for that. Now just for the pictures.

In case you don't know, Treasure booking is where you make a scrapbook of images of the things you want in your life, and are asking the Universe for (or just reminding your subconscious to keep working on that problem and solve it already). Since I want things like 'quiet' and 'time freedom' it also makes finding the right image a bit of a challenge. Now if I wanted a Forest Green F150 pickup truck, that would be easier to solve... buy a couple issues of Motor magazine, find the perfect photo, and be done with it. Instead I have to find concrete definitions for vague desires I have in my mind. Which I think is important. I stopped making progress in music when I stopped 'seeing' where I wanted to be. Same with other areas of interest. Not sure if it's a chicken and egg problem or not, but there does seem to be a correlation between Vision and Results. (No vision, little results.)

CS
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Re: CS's Journal

Post by CS »

2018 Goals and End of Year Status*
(with actual numbers!)

End of 2017
*These numbers include funds from my contract extension through Jan. My income is so sporadic that thinking of it in terms of each job's net is the easiest for me. (With my best effort this coming year, this is the last contract in this field, but that is another section.)

Also, before I start, I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself. :D I've just about doubled my net worth since 2013 (Edit: I DID double my NW! Woot). I know back then I was married, so those numbers were technically for two, but most of it I brought to the marriage, and took away again, thanks to the prenup. (Don't worry about the ex - his NW went from negative in loan debt, to a net positive in savings, as well as a future career he would never have had if left to his own devices. No reason for guilt. :P )

Assets
403b $8700 (rolling over this year)
Tradition IRA $271,585
Roth IRA $68,027
TSP $54,047
AU $27,200
Taxable** $108,600

Total $538,159

Liabilities
None (yay!!)

** This number includes allocations for living expenses for 2018 (16.8k), as well one time expenses, such as 12k in dental work I have finally earned the money for, funds for a birthday trip with a good friend, and 4k in start-up funds for writing business which I hope to not use (but it's there if I cannot find other ways to accomplish my tasks. I'm not planning on doing something stupid like splurging on a large advertising budget for my first book, or other money pits that abound for the novice.)

Budget
My monthly budget is $1400, which includes $365 for health insurance. I might get ~$309/month in credit back, or I might get zero, which means I've been successful in earning some cash through writing. I sincerely hope to get zero back. :lol: I'm not going to split the details out, because (insert fake reason here so don't have to admit embarrassing reason), but I will say I spend $300 on groceries and $45 on eating out/coffee (or just fancier groceries). This will probably drop with my having more time but I too have run into unintentionally losing weight due to frugality. I am not trying to lose weight! Hence more treats.

Forward Tax planning for 2018
Of the net income I'll have for 2018 (as of right now), I'm planning on stashing 24.5k into my Roth 401k and the rest (~10k) into a split of traditional 401k and traditional IRA. Why not all into tax-sheltered, you ask? Because in Minnesota a person is not eligible for the Tax credit for health insurance unless they make twice the poverty level (there are other options instead, including Medicare). And I have no idea how much total money I'll make in 2018. Hopefully some from writing, but in case I'm an utter failure, this is the plan right now. It will wipe out my ready cash down (besides spoken for allocations) to a little over one year's worth of expenses (19k) for 2019, but it will net me 24.5k in Roth. Oh yes, please.

Leaving the Current Career
I have approximately a year to a year and a half to ignore my current career without repercussions. Some places are really picky that you've worked within the last year, some don't care. Most agencies *I* don't want to work for since they insist on hiring me as a W2, for less than stellar pay. And going forward, it's even less attractive due to the tax law change - and the huge savings afforded by Solo 401ks that they just cannot compete with. Plus, I've had bad experiences with them sharing my SSN willy nilly. No. Now is the time to be my own business. My last two contracts have been 1099 and it is the way to go.

My current job though might be getting some new (like first one the west coast new) technology, that ironically enough I am ideally suited for because of my PhD project. How often does a decade plus old PhD come in handy? This also re-enforces how far ahead thinking my advisor was. Have I mentioned he's had projects on the space station? :lol: (proud much? Yes, yes I am) They might call me for an interview if they get the new thing. As much as I'm planning on leaving the field, I'd consider it - because shiny new many million dollar toy!

Reducing Fragility
This is my big, big goal for 2018. It comes in two parts: 1. Getting my Italian passport and 2. Getting a second income stream from writing.

The Passport
The Italian passport is actually going to be a lot less work than I somehow recalled. I've already found a company that will secure all the documents for me (an Italian couple), I just need to get them the full names, dates, and locations of the relevant events. Yes, I could probably do this myself. But I'm willing pay to not have to deal with government agencies, especially in Italy. I started this in 2016 and sort of just dropped the ball due to work. I think I can do this by the end of the year.

Going to Iceland this year was educational. I didn't realize just how restrictive some countries are towards American visits, rather than say a Mexican passport. Being able to enter a place on an EU passport could be very handy.

The Writing
This had been my goal for 2017 (three books) and I failed completely. In true procrastinator fashion, I went and worked and made money instead. So, my goal for 2018 is to fix this. I want to do five novels in a series for the first year (at least three in a series, and two in a different series if I end up hating the first one, or it doesn't sell anything). Thanks to Cimorene12 from this forum (and Jacob for pointing her out), as well as some online resources, I know exactly what I need to do.

I'm planning on starting my efforts the first week in Feb. I'm considering starting today, but know I can't do the word counts I want while working this job. Do I start now and do a little each day? Or should I wait? The procrastinator in me says to wait. And it might have a good reason to since the switching costs between tasks is so high - I swear, I spend most of my time thinking "okay, where was I?" and by the time I'm rolling again it's time to go and do some chore, like going to work. But it's only five weeks from now. I think what I might do instead is continue the research and see if I can outline my first two books. Or outline the first book in great detail, do the character sketches (this first, actually), and figure out the series arc and write the loglines for each book. I learned this process from a TV writing class. There is something about the writing (for me) that changes when it is done a lot, in an immersive style. I once wrote twenty percent of a full-length script in one day - and it was some of my best writing ever.

My three-year goal is to make 3k net per month from writing that I can use for living expenses and do things like going to writer's conferences, traveling to a warm place for the winter and all sort of luxuries like that. I'd like to be able to live off the writing income and just let the rest of my savings grow. And add some savings to the total each year. Why not just live off of what I've already got? Well, it took so much to earn that money, that I really don't want to spend any of it(!) and two, I like challenges. Becoming a successful author will really cement that FI status so I never have to work for others again.

My goal for the first year is much simpler - get producing content, get the books completed and make something *net*. :) :) :) This first year is all about getting the foundation in place.

I feel like I probably repeat myself a lot in this journal. Sorry for that folks. Happy New Year!

---
Edited (many times) for grammar. Always the frickin' grammer. (Yes, I want to be a writer.... :lol: )
Last edited by CS on Mon Jan 01, 2018 8:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Chris
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Re: CS's Journal

Post by Chris »

CS wrote:
Mon Jan 01, 2018 4:59 pm
Of the net income I'll have for 2018 (as of right now), I'm planning on stashing 24.5k into my Roth 401k and the rest (~10k) into a split of traditional 401k and traditional IRA.
...
And I have no idea how much total money I'll make in 2018.
Will you have 24.5k+10k in compensation for the year? AFAIK, to make retirement account contributions, the contributions must be from income earned in the tax year of the contribution.
CS wrote:
Mon Jan 01, 2018 4:59 pm
The Italian passport is actually going to be a lot less work than I somehow recalled. I've already found a company that will secure all the documents for me (an Italian couple), I just need to get them the full names, dates, and locations of the relevant events to them.
Huh, I never considered this as an antifragile move, but you're right! I too was put off by the amount of work necessary when I first read about it. Care to share the details of the company you've found? (PM if you want)

CS
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Re: CS's Journal

Post by CS »

@chris
That will be from earned business income. I don't know what additional income I'll get for 2018. Perhaps nothing.

I sent you the name of the company in a PM

CS
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Re: CS's Journal

Post by CS »

Six month update

2018 so far has been a bit of a shit show, I'll be honest. I thought I was done working, but then took a seven-week stint in Florida (because cold in the Midwest) and then two 'favor' jobs for people I knew (ended up being three separate trips/jobs). It has killed my productivity for anything else. I estimate that one of the jobs (a seven dayer) took 40 plus hours of my most productive time to get all the qualifications (doctor's visits, etc) in for, in addition to the actual working hours. Plus, when traveling I pretty much make no progress on my 'real' goals. When I recalculate the per hour over all the hours that really go into these jobs, it is not all that great. When I add in the stress of some of these tasks, the hourly rate is awful.

The one good thing is that I have managed to stash away some additional cash, even after paying for some big-ticket planned expenses this year (see below).

All that work travel, plus a family trip, and job interview trip I felt obligated to take (don't ask), and a writing conference trip that was more than worth the effort, has culminated in my feelings towards traveling being something akin to hate.

On top of it all, my cat has fleas, and the Advantage has not been doing the trick. So now it is flea combing, vacuuming, laundry, baths for all around... not normally that terrible, but when I'm exhausted from traveling, it almost puts me over the top of what I can deal with. And it's gross.

Long-term goals -

1. All the mercury out of my teeth - done and paid for! (~3.5k with new retainer)

2. Italian citizenship - data gathered and the translation/apostille service paid for! Even got my brother and his daughter in on this. The four of us (my mom too) go to the Chicago consulate in January 2020 to submit our applications. That was the soonest I could get us in - and getting those appointments was not easy. They release two appointments a day, and you have to sit your keyboard at Midnight Italian time and try to make those appointments faster than anyone else on their antiquated website. It's a free for all - and both appointments are usually gone within minutes. (6.3k for services)

3. Writing - I've now got a new workflow with using dictation. I was making great progress until I had to leave for yet another job. I can easily do 3k words a day with it. Now the hold up is going to be how thoroughly/fast can I outline instead of how well/fast can I type.

It has been good reading some of the recent topics such as 'Enough', etc, since I'm still struggling with those issues. My solution at the moment is refusing any further travel jobs for at least a year (that "leap of faith" I guess). I'm even paying the tail of my work liability insurance off this year while I have that income to write it off against. This will help support my weak will. I said no to another 13 weeks in Boston, which I would have had to travel to directly from another job in Washington state, but it took all my resolve to do so - and even then my mind won't leave me alone about it. I have enough cash for two years at an inflated lifestyle of 24k /year (1.4k month general budget, plus 6k to pay for rent for winters in the south), even after maxing out the retirement contributions this year. That's an extravagant withdrawal rate of 4.3% but I'm calling this a temporary investment to get a new type of income stream going.

DutchGirl
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Re: CS's Journal

Post by DutchGirl »

It's really hard to take that leap of faith, eh? Even when your numbers show that you can easily do it. I hope that you'll be at home for a while now, to recover from all the hard work and travel.

I admire my boyfriend because he started his own company when he had roughly 20k euros in the bank. That was quite the leap of faith, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do it, even if I had a good business idea (I don't).

I'm not at a number yet where I can quit my day job. So it's good to know that even if you do (like you), it's still going to be a bit difficult. But I hope you can do it, and I also hope that the second year of 2018 is going to be a lot better, with you actually enjoying the fruits of your labor (like a flee-free cat&house...).

CS
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Re: CS's Journal

Post by CS »

@DutchGirl
It is beyond hard (at least for me) to make this leap! I have had severe anxiety to the point of waking up at night. Also, feelings of poverty have announced themselves. What the heck? - I felt richer at half the money, but now it is not enough. I neeeeeeed one million (insert proper whine).

Which I can, all on a some detached level, call bs, but "detached" is not always an accessible state. :geek:

Your boyfriend is doing well if he could do that! I want to channel some of that confidence. In the meanwhile, I'm going to just keep talking myself down.

So, in order to *force* myself to stop the OMJ syndrome I cancelled my professional liability policy and paid off the extended reporting period, starting with the day after my last assignment. Which was a Saturday. On which day I got an offer of more work!! That has to be a new record. It took a week the last time I was retired for that to happen (and my weak, weak Gollum mind said "my precious" and off I went back on the treadmill).

But this time, this time I planned! I have no insurance. And a family trip. And so I said no. And then promptly felt bad about it. Ah well, progress is progress.

CS
Posts: 709
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:24 pm

Re: CS's Journal

Post by CS »

I should update my journal more often... I can never find the dang thing.

This made my head spin today:

"But "Star Trek" fans may know the star by another name: 40 Eridani A. This very real star was confirmed by "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry himself as the host star for the fictional planet of Vulcan, the home world of science officer Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy on the original television show.

In July 1991, Roddenberry, along with astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, wrote in a "letter to the editor" published in Sky and Telescope that 40 Eridani A would be the ideal star to host Vulcan.

"Presumably Vulcan orbits the primary star, an orange main-sequence dwarf of spectral type K1. ... Two companion stars -- a 9th magnitude white dwarf and an 11th magnitude red dwarf -- orbit each other about 400 astronomical units from the primary. They would gleam brilliantly in the Vulcan sky," they wrote.

And now, a planet has been found right where Roddenberry and astronomers Sallie Baliunas, Robert Donahue and George Nassiopoulos thought Vulcan would be."

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/20/us/spock ... index.html

(Logically, it was a good guess. But my brain/science fiction writer-inner-person said "oh no, they WILLED into being by the power of intention, and it ties into the holographic nature of the Universe and the fact that we are just in some fancy simulation toy for a spoilt ass alien-omniscient-god-child and it would make a fantastic book. And I'm going to write it.)

Or something like that.

CS
Posts: 709
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:24 pm

Re: CS's Journal

Post by CS »

Hi all -
Doing my part to update my journal and not just disappear. :lol:

The monies - I check every year in July (first by chance, now by tradition)
Here is how it has gone:
2013 - 232k
2014 - 276k
2015 - 330k
2016 - 369k
2017 - 428k
2018 - 556k
2019 - 595k
Pretty much permanent portfolio, with some SCV. Too much of a coward to go full golden butterfly with the overheated market.

The work
I have failed to completely leave my old day job. It has called me back with the promise of two months of good work, which evaporated into five weeks (bastards) of a week or two here and there. Even one three day trip. Sigh. I'd much rather have a longer single assignment, but they paid all the business expenses for 2019, including the not insignificant writing expenses, so there is that. Thank you contract work.

Thinking of taking another big (2-5 month) assignment next year for advertising capital (see below) and maxing out retirement contributions (feeding the "not enough" demon, as well as placating the "I'm going to die broke because I need a job and can't get it" demon.)

In other words, hedging my bets. If I want to keep this option I have to work at least once every year.

The writing
I'm published! Yay! This was a goal for 2018 that I did not make (boo!) but did this past June. My second book is on pre-order and I just spent two days getting together that manuscript after the final edit and formatting it for print. I had to do all this work to get my paperback covers ordered, which I will do Monday by the latest. So it has been a lot of work so far. I'm calling it a learning experience.
The past six months, I've:
- Written two books (67k and 83k) and am partway through a third
- Gotten much better at dictation
- Found three editors I like
- Gotten the covers made
- Got the website up
- Signed up for a mailing list service
- published for the first time.

I've made two digits so far. Two. But my goal last year was a dollar, so I did make that even if it was a six months late.

Once I get the third book on pre-order and the second book published I'll start advertising. It is a five book series plus prequel, so I figure I'll have it all written by next spring and can then decide what direction to go from there. It is YA coming of age fantasy. I gave up on the murder mysteries for now as the plotting was defeating me. I love the characters I made for them though, so might be going back to that. Or pivot to science fiction, or historical fiction because it fascinates me. I sort of wish I had more interest in romance (voracious readers), but eh, I can't even watch romantic comedies these days. :lol:

Other
- The Italian passport is chugging along. We only need one more doc from Canada.
- I'm thinking about joining a gym and getting a trainer to force myself to do the work. My kettle bell has been a fabulous decoration.
- Still thinking about teaching English abroad.
- Also, coming up with a list of places I want to visit. So far Scotland, Germany again (high quality clothes), Italy of course, Greece, Japan, South Korea. That is a long list for someone who likes slow travel, lol. Will I live that long??

CS
Posts: 709
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:24 pm

Re: CS's Journal

Post by CS »

Thank you cimorene, although I didn't do *much* day job stuff - it still takes a toll. I might be a wimp, but it takes me about a week to recover from any travel.

Have you been to South Korea and Japan? I started learning Korean then stopped. They changed the system on duolingo and I lost my 'club', lol. I had not idea how motivating it had been for me (no practice, no membership!!).

classical_Liberal
Posts: 2283
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2016 6:05 am

Re: CS's Journal

Post by classical_Liberal »

Hey CS!
Congrats on the writing progress! Life sounds pretty good for you. Do you still spend time in MN? The GF and I settled into a spot nearby for at least the next year, always interested in meeting up with ERE folks if you like such things.

Sounds like to contract work is getting a bit spottier, is that industry specific? or do you think it has more to do with you? (ie haven't been working FT for awhile, ageism, etc). Just curious since I'm at the precipice of cutting back to similar amounts you were at a few years ago.

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