Wednesday, December 30, 2009
New Year's Writing Competition!
Our first-ever New Year's Writing Competition starts January 1st. For more information on contest rules and prizes, head on over to the main site, Complete Writing Solutions.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
One of many...
January 4th will be the official unveiling of the website we will be using for the launch of Marginal Boundaries, a forthcoming speculative fiction ezine.
At present, we are looking towards proceeding as a quarterly publication, 100% digital and 100% paperless. Submission periods will be January, April, July, and November.
Submissions will open up when the website goes live. We are aiming for the first publication to release in March.
Something to keep in mind: this first issue is more or less an experiment to see how profitable we can make the ezine be. Since we have no plans for doing any print format, we can keep the cost of production fairly low. I am not making a profit from this venture; 100% of the funds will remain in the 'zine. This means more money for the writers, more money for the artists, more money for the editors, and more money for the advertisement of the 'zine. Currently I am assembling a team of editors and artists, and while I have several on board, I'll likely be bringing one or two more editors on board in February as we start going through the submissions.
If the first issue goes as planned, we will be moving towards a second issue, and beyond. If things go beyond expectations, we will be doing an annual print format which will focus on the "best of 2010" from our online department. If things really take off, we will look at bumping production to every couple of months, and perhaps doing some POD issues as well.
2009 was a good year. I was blessed enough to have a bit of money to play around with several different investment opportunities. This is the first of several that we (Evy and I) have planned for 2010. My work in the fiction field has been slowly growing, and I'm using this opportunity to push further into the market, albeit in a new direction.
In any case...spread the word! While we aren't officially opening the website until January 4th, 2010, the more people who know about it the more submissions we can get, the more interest we can generate, and the more issues we can sell. The more issues we can sell means the wider our range of opportunities, and expansion into the professional market rather than indy.
At present, we are looking towards proceeding as a quarterly publication, 100% digital and 100% paperless. Submission periods will be January, April, July, and November.
Submissions will open up when the website goes live. We are aiming for the first publication to release in March.
Something to keep in mind: this first issue is more or less an experiment to see how profitable we can make the ezine be. Since we have no plans for doing any print format, we can keep the cost of production fairly low. I am not making a profit from this venture; 100% of the funds will remain in the 'zine. This means more money for the writers, more money for the artists, more money for the editors, and more money for the advertisement of the 'zine. Currently I am assembling a team of editors and artists, and while I have several on board, I'll likely be bringing one or two more editors on board in February as we start going through the submissions.
If the first issue goes as planned, we will be moving towards a second issue, and beyond. If things go beyond expectations, we will be doing an annual print format which will focus on the "best of 2010" from our online department. If things really take off, we will look at bumping production to every couple of months, and perhaps doing some POD issues as well.
2009 was a good year. I was blessed enough to have a bit of money to play around with several different investment opportunities. This is the first of several that we (Evy and I) have planned for 2010. My work in the fiction field has been slowly growing, and I'm using this opportunity to push further into the market, albeit in a new direction.
In any case...spread the word! While we aren't officially opening the website until January 4th, 2010, the more people who know about it the more submissions we can get, the more interest we can generate, and the more issues we can sell. The more issues we can sell means the wider our range of opportunities, and expansion into the professional market rather than indy.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Happy Holidays
Whatever you want to call your holiday and regardless of which religion you follow...have a happy holiday with your family and/or friends.
Turn off the cell phone, log off the interwebz, and get back to basics. Enjoy some time away from the office, away from the jobs, and just revel in the sense of celebration as we embrace humanity and are thankful for all the blessings the previous year brought us.
Religious or not, the Christmas season is a time of joy for many different cultures around the world, all of them with their own unique way of celebrating. Rather than fight over whose name for the season is more politically/religiously correct, and rather than sneer down your noses at another person's way of celebrating, take the time to accept that everyone on this planet is your brother or sister, in the spirit of humanity.
Happy Holidays, and here's to a great weekend!
Turn off the cell phone, log off the interwebz, and get back to basics. Enjoy some time away from the office, away from the jobs, and just revel in the sense of celebration as we embrace humanity and are thankful for all the blessings the previous year brought us.
Religious or not, the Christmas season is a time of joy for many different cultures around the world, all of them with their own unique way of celebrating. Rather than fight over whose name for the season is more politically/religiously correct, and rather than sneer down your noses at another person's way of celebrating, take the time to accept that everyone on this planet is your brother or sister, in the spirit of humanity.
Happy Holidays, and here's to a great weekend!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Hola
I don't update the personal blog much these days because I'm busy elsewhere, but I will from time to time...although there may come a time in 2010 when I transfer everything over to a different place as things expand.
So, since the last update, I signed a contract for a science fiction MMORPG out of Dubai. The outline they sent me was pretty awesome, and I had an hour long interview over the phone with the head honcho regarding mechanics, outlines, story concepts, and otherwise. Basically, I'm taking the ideas he laid out in outline form and giving them a 6-12k word background story that weaves together all the elements into a short story that he is going to give to an animation team to create an intro movie that they will use to shop for additional funding.
It's a start up. Even if it doesn't go anywhere, at least it's another fiction sale, and to be honest....it paid better than Asimov's or Analog would have paid, which are the two highest-paying sci-fi magazine markets in the world. So it's a few different birds with one stone.
However...I have to say this: after all my years of MMORPGing, the concepts their team has for mechanics and story are extremely unique. I've never seen anything like what they have on paper, and while it's true there is a difference between what's on paper and what can be programmed into a game, they absolutely sold me on the concept from the first 15 minutes of the phone conversation. I truly believe that this is a game that could very well establish a healthy niche for itself based purely upon its uniqueness and its breaking away from the traditional way things have been done for the past decade. I cannot give away too much because of the NDA, but suffice to say...you haven't seen anything like it, not in any game ever created to-date. It's 100% original, 100% badass, and 100% applicable to all styles of gamer...hardcore to casual.
So that's pretty badass :)
What else? Hmm. Already mentioned selling another short story. Ah, yes! After some deliberation, I've decided to front the money for a startup of my own. 2009 was a good enough year that Evy and I have a little bit of extra money, and I'm using that to expand the business. One of the things I'll be doing in 2010 is paying for advertising for Complete Writing Solutions. I'm going to get a logo created for the website, and then I'm going to fork out a grand or so for a marketing campaign. Not much to start, but it's what I'm willing to put out at this point in time.
I still have an e-book I want to launch in January...but this sci-fi project took over for the last part of December, because it's just so damn cool :) So, hopefully that e-book will be done by the end of January. It ties into a little project that I'm going to do for the month writing for a content site to prove just how profitable it can be, while keeping an eye on global awareness.
Another thing I'm doing is starting an e-zine. I've already been in contact with a couple of editors, and I'm slowly building upon some concepts I have. It's still in the planning stages at the moment, but I'll be working on the website in my spare time during January, and launching sometime during the first month. When I say launch, I say "opening for business" and taking submissions for stories. It will be fantasy and science fiction-themed, or rather...speculative fiction. It will be 100% digital; that is, no print format. At least not to start. A major issue in the spec-fic markets today is every time you send something out, you have to wait 4-6 months to hear back from editors as to whether or not they want your story or not. Our plan is to cut that down to a month at most. We won't be dealing with the post office in any way, shape, or form. Everything will be done 100% digitally. The plan is to start small, and build up from there. I'm fronting the money for the venture, and the overall goal is that it won't be a profit venture to start, but more of an expiriment to see how many copies we can sell. If we sell enough copies to turn a profit, we'll put out a second issue, and so on and so forth.
I have some very passionate people on board so far, and I'll be keeping an eye out for more in the coming weeks. Ultimately, it's starting out as a passion project with a fairly small budget, and the first issue will be a simple test to see whether or not it's profitable. If it isn't, I'm only out a small amount of cash, but if it works...then we can head into a round 2.
Not much more than that at present. I'm still doing the research into pricing, marketing, and otherwise.
That's it for my Christmas post. I probably won't post here again until after Christmas and the New Year, so for all the readers...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and I hope you have a great 2010!
So, since the last update, I signed a contract for a science fiction MMORPG out of Dubai. The outline they sent me was pretty awesome, and I had an hour long interview over the phone with the head honcho regarding mechanics, outlines, story concepts, and otherwise. Basically, I'm taking the ideas he laid out in outline form and giving them a 6-12k word background story that weaves together all the elements into a short story that he is going to give to an animation team to create an intro movie that they will use to shop for additional funding.
It's a start up. Even if it doesn't go anywhere, at least it's another fiction sale, and to be honest....it paid better than Asimov's or Analog would have paid, which are the two highest-paying sci-fi magazine markets in the world. So it's a few different birds with one stone.
However...I have to say this: after all my years of MMORPGing, the concepts their team has for mechanics and story are extremely unique. I've never seen anything like what they have on paper, and while it's true there is a difference between what's on paper and what can be programmed into a game, they absolutely sold me on the concept from the first 15 minutes of the phone conversation. I truly believe that this is a game that could very well establish a healthy niche for itself based purely upon its uniqueness and its breaking away from the traditional way things have been done for the past decade. I cannot give away too much because of the NDA, but suffice to say...you haven't seen anything like it, not in any game ever created to-date. It's 100% original, 100% badass, and 100% applicable to all styles of gamer...hardcore to casual.
So that's pretty badass :)
What else? Hmm. Already mentioned selling another short story. Ah, yes! After some deliberation, I've decided to front the money for a startup of my own. 2009 was a good enough year that Evy and I have a little bit of extra money, and I'm using that to expand the business. One of the things I'll be doing in 2010 is paying for advertising for Complete Writing Solutions. I'm going to get a logo created for the website, and then I'm going to fork out a grand or so for a marketing campaign. Not much to start, but it's what I'm willing to put out at this point in time.
I still have an e-book I want to launch in January...but this sci-fi project took over for the last part of December, because it's just so damn cool :) So, hopefully that e-book will be done by the end of January. It ties into a little project that I'm going to do for the month writing for a content site to prove just how profitable it can be, while keeping an eye on global awareness.
Another thing I'm doing is starting an e-zine. I've already been in contact with a couple of editors, and I'm slowly building upon some concepts I have. It's still in the planning stages at the moment, but I'll be working on the website in my spare time during January, and launching sometime during the first month. When I say launch, I say "opening for business" and taking submissions for stories. It will be fantasy and science fiction-themed, or rather...speculative fiction. It will be 100% digital; that is, no print format. At least not to start. A major issue in the spec-fic markets today is every time you send something out, you have to wait 4-6 months to hear back from editors as to whether or not they want your story or not. Our plan is to cut that down to a month at most. We won't be dealing with the post office in any way, shape, or form. Everything will be done 100% digitally. The plan is to start small, and build up from there. I'm fronting the money for the venture, and the overall goal is that it won't be a profit venture to start, but more of an expiriment to see how many copies we can sell. If we sell enough copies to turn a profit, we'll put out a second issue, and so on and so forth.
I have some very passionate people on board so far, and I'll be keeping an eye out for more in the coming weeks. Ultimately, it's starting out as a passion project with a fairly small budget, and the first issue will be a simple test to see whether or not it's profitable. If it isn't, I'm only out a small amount of cash, but if it works...then we can head into a round 2.
Not much more than that at present. I'm still doing the research into pricing, marketing, and otherwise.
That's it for my Christmas post. I probably won't post here again until after Christmas and the New Year, so for all the readers...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and I hope you have a great 2010!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Moving forward...again.
Not much new in the world of Tim. Website brand is growing slowly, and I'm pushing the market out. Invitations to do guest posts, of which I've done one so far, with another one next week. E-book is coming along nicely.
Rights from one of my short stories just reverted back to me in November, and I just re-placed it over at Abandoned Towers. Discussed making it into a serial, but I'm just too busy to realistically do it until March at the earliest.
Three other shorts in submission. Thinking of calling about one of them because it's been in since June and I haven't heard anything from the editor yet. 6+ months is pretty ridiculous.
Stumbled across a sci-fi MMORPG being developed out of Dubai yesterday, looking for a writer. I sent off a query and the guy got back to me within a couple of hours, and I have a phone interview with him tomorrow (Tuesday), so finger's crossed. It's just a single 6k-12k word short story (background story based upon their outline) to start, but the pay is decent and there's a potential for future work if things pan out, including quest writing and further story development. Of course it's a start-up, so things are simply in pre-development stage at this point, but it was an interesting enough opportunity that I couldn't pass up querying about it. After all, it combines fiction work with freelancing, so it's the best of both worlds :) And I love writing sci-fi, plus it furthers my progress in the fiction universe, so.
In any case, I'm pretty excited about that. I'll let you know how the phone call goes tomorrow. I wasn't actively looking for work at the moment because my first few months of 2010 are booked pretty good, but every once in awhile you stumble across those gems that are just so perfect you can't help but query about them, regardless of how busy you are otherwise.
Hoping to get our Christmas tree up this week. We still haven't managed to rearrange the living room...Evy and I keep finding other things to occupy our time. We bought tickets for the Avatar premier this Friday at the Imax, in 3D, so that should be fun.
Anyway...that's it for today :) Got some studying to do and some e-book work to hit up. Hope everyone is doing well!
Rights from one of my short stories just reverted back to me in November, and I just re-placed it over at Abandoned Towers. Discussed making it into a serial, but I'm just too busy to realistically do it until March at the earliest.
Three other shorts in submission. Thinking of calling about one of them because it's been in since June and I haven't heard anything from the editor yet. 6+ months is pretty ridiculous.
Stumbled across a sci-fi MMORPG being developed out of Dubai yesterday, looking for a writer. I sent off a query and the guy got back to me within a couple of hours, and I have a phone interview with him tomorrow (Tuesday), so finger's crossed. It's just a single 6k-12k word short story (background story based upon their outline) to start, but the pay is decent and there's a potential for future work if things pan out, including quest writing and further story development. Of course it's a start-up, so things are simply in pre-development stage at this point, but it was an interesting enough opportunity that I couldn't pass up querying about it. After all, it combines fiction work with freelancing, so it's the best of both worlds :) And I love writing sci-fi, plus it furthers my progress in the fiction universe, so.
In any case, I'm pretty excited about that. I'll let you know how the phone call goes tomorrow. I wasn't actively looking for work at the moment because my first few months of 2010 are booked pretty good, but every once in awhile you stumble across those gems that are just so perfect you can't help but query about them, regardless of how busy you are otherwise.
Hoping to get our Christmas tree up this week. We still haven't managed to rearrange the living room...Evy and I keep finding other things to occupy our time. We bought tickets for the Avatar premier this Friday at the Imax, in 3D, so that should be fun.
Anyway...that's it for today :) Got some studying to do and some e-book work to hit up. Hope everyone is doing well!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Hate mail!
Woot! I got my first piece of hate-mail over at the official website today :) Some lady actually took the time to go out of her way and write this really LOOONG e-mail talking about what a joke I am, how much of a hack writer I am, and etc. etc. etc.
She's just upset because I get to travel around Europe with my wife 4-5 times a year and she's stuck in an environment where her 80k a year barely manages to pay the mortage, car payments, and her kid's health insurance. I didn't chose your life for you, lady. You did!
Jealousy is an odd beast. I've never experienced it. I have always had everything I wanted in life, but I also worked hard to get those things. If I see something, I go out and get it, however I need to. I don't begrudge someone else for taking a different route, or having a different path to success.
It reminds me of my last experience in the US. I dropped my mom off at Safeway and was circling the parking lot, not looking for a space, but just waiting for her to grab a few gallons of milk on Christmas Eve. I saw her coming out, so I pulled around to the entrance and happened to park in front of an empty parking space, at which point I was visually, verbally, and audibly assaulted by a woman who began honking her horn, flashing her lights, screaming out her window, and flipping me the bird, all at the same time.
This Christmas season, take a breather, folks. Understand that the world is a great big place and you are NOT the only person on it. Act like a douche-bag and people are going to treat you like one.
She's just upset because I get to travel around Europe with my wife 4-5 times a year and she's stuck in an environment where her 80k a year barely manages to pay the mortage, car payments, and her kid's health insurance. I didn't chose your life for you, lady. You did!
Jealousy is an odd beast. I've never experienced it. I have always had everything I wanted in life, but I also worked hard to get those things. If I see something, I go out and get it, however I need to. I don't begrudge someone else for taking a different route, or having a different path to success.
It reminds me of my last experience in the US. I dropped my mom off at Safeway and was circling the parking lot, not looking for a space, but just waiting for her to grab a few gallons of milk on Christmas Eve. I saw her coming out, so I pulled around to the entrance and happened to park in front of an empty parking space, at which point I was visually, verbally, and audibly assaulted by a woman who began honking her horn, flashing her lights, screaming out her window, and flipping me the bird, all at the same time.
This Christmas season, take a breather, folks. Understand that the world is a great big place and you are NOT the only person on it. Act like a douche-bag and people are going to treat you like one.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Social Networking
I've begun the first steps of a week-long project dedicated to getting the social networking links up for Complete Writing Solutions. The rest of the week will be spent fleshing out details at LinkedIn, getting new pictures up for Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and getting all the networking details finished.
Then, next week, I begin the actual spreading of the brand. I've been offered a couple of guest blogging spots at some of my favorite freelance writing websites, and I've already been getting a few links back to the main site with some of the topics, so things are moving forward, which is perfect.
In the meantime...while I'm not doing any freelance writing for the month I'm going to be busy as hell! Promoting a brand is still work, it's just marketing and networking. On top of that there's the e-book work, Christmas shopping (I'm buying actually buying new clothing today for myself....I know...shocking!), and general holiday revelry.
Thanks for following folks, and I appreciate the support :) 2010 is shaping up to be a wonderful year, and I can't wait to see what's over the horizon.
Then, next week, I begin the actual spreading of the brand. I've been offered a couple of guest blogging spots at some of my favorite freelance writing websites, and I've already been getting a few links back to the main site with some of the topics, so things are moving forward, which is perfect.
In the meantime...while I'm not doing any freelance writing for the month I'm going to be busy as hell! Promoting a brand is still work, it's just marketing and networking. On top of that there's the e-book work, Christmas shopping (I'm buying actually buying new clothing today for myself....I know...shocking!), and general holiday revelry.
Thanks for following folks, and I appreciate the support :) 2010 is shaping up to be a wonderful year, and I can't wait to see what's over the horizon.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Finally!
Ze contract for November is done, and I'm home-free for the entire month of December. What does that mean?
Re-arranging our living room, as promised to Evy. I moved my desk into the living room so I could start work earlier, rather than in the bedroom, and since then she isn't happy about the "clutter" in the living room, so it's time to reorganize things.
Writing the first of 3 e-books I have planned for Complete Writing Solutions. That's right....three. Big plans for 2010, and I'm planning on transitioning over to mostly passive income for the year. One book will relate to globalization and learning how to become competitive on a global scale, and the other two books are going to be related to Bulgaria...but I'm not allowed to say more or I'll ruin the surprise :)
Getting Complete Writing Solutions into the market. The brand is there...now it's time to push the brand into the market. November was a pretty good start. I've had close to 1,000 hits on the website in a month. That's not enough to consider it professional by any means, but I've already been mentioned on three other freelance writer networks in the month of November, and I haven't even been pushing the brand out yet. Once I get the Twitter, Facebook, and LD connections up things should start to go nuts from here on out.
I have 2 short stories to get out in submission, and I'm still waiting on a third I sent out in June. See why I'm not relying on fiction to pay the bills? Freelance writing pays within a few days, whereas fiction can take 6 months to even hear back from editors.
Christmas, of course. Bulgarian Christmas (Koleda) is awesome :) Lots of fun traditions, and lots of good food. I'm looking forward to it, and this time I can actually speak a little bit of Bulgarian, so I'm actually really excited about that.
Other than that...I'm relaxing for the month. 2010 is going to be a kick-ass year, business-wise. Evy has some pretty big plans starting in January, and my plans are to see if I can't make at least 50% of my income next year as passive income.
That's it for now! Kicking back, drinking some beers, marinating some salmon for dinner tonight, and playing another round of Dragon Age: Origins. Cya'll on the flip side, and hope you had a happy Turkey Day!
Re-arranging our living room, as promised to Evy. I moved my desk into the living room so I could start work earlier, rather than in the bedroom, and since then she isn't happy about the "clutter" in the living room, so it's time to reorganize things.
Writing the first of 3 e-books I have planned for Complete Writing Solutions. That's right....three. Big plans for 2010, and I'm planning on transitioning over to mostly passive income for the year. One book will relate to globalization and learning how to become competitive on a global scale, and the other two books are going to be related to Bulgaria...but I'm not allowed to say more or I'll ruin the surprise :)
Getting Complete Writing Solutions into the market. The brand is there...now it's time to push the brand into the market. November was a pretty good start. I've had close to 1,000 hits on the website in a month. That's not enough to consider it professional by any means, but I've already been mentioned on three other freelance writer networks in the month of November, and I haven't even been pushing the brand out yet. Once I get the Twitter, Facebook, and LD connections up things should start to go nuts from here on out.
I have 2 short stories to get out in submission, and I'm still waiting on a third I sent out in June. See why I'm not relying on fiction to pay the bills? Freelance writing pays within a few days, whereas fiction can take 6 months to even hear back from editors.
Christmas, of course. Bulgarian Christmas (Koleda) is awesome :) Lots of fun traditions, and lots of good food. I'm looking forward to it, and this time I can actually speak a little bit of Bulgarian, so I'm actually really excited about that.
Other than that...I'm relaxing for the month. 2010 is going to be a kick-ass year, business-wise. Evy has some pretty big plans starting in January, and my plans are to see if I can't make at least 50% of my income next year as passive income.
That's it for now! Kicking back, drinking some beers, marinating some salmon for dinner tonight, and playing another round of Dragon Age: Origins. Cya'll on the flip side, and hope you had a happy Turkey Day!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Another snippet
In a twist of fate that I hate to say I predicted several months back, Flashing Swords has closed its doors due to "lack of funds". What does that means? It means that Medallions of Lashiva won't actually be going to print with this publication, despite the recent promo cover.
I won't get into the juicy details here, but suffice to say I saw it coming, which is why I cautioned the promo post a week or so ago with the "if it ever makes it to the publisher" comment.
You can't make a magazine without any funds. When all you can afford to do is have volunteers on staff to edit otherwise, you can't expect to make it work.
Sucks, because the previous owners had made the magazine into something worth respecting.
However...the bonus is that all rights have been reverted to the authors. Good news for me, because I still had another 5 months until the rights reverted. Since I've already been paid for the story once, I can re-sell it somewhere else now.
Just had a long e-mail from the head editor at Abyss & Apex earlier this week regarding another one of my stories. Ultimately they declined, but she wanted to take the time to actually go over why, considering it actually made it to the final editor's desk, rather than just getting slushed. Progress is progress, and honestly...fiction is a major backseat player at the moment, with most of my efforts focused on freelancing and getting some passive income going in 2010 with the website. Had another story rejected, and have one more still in submission. December will be recycling the three completed stories I have which have been searching for a home this year. I've been making it further and further up the slush piles lately, landing on the final editor's desks rather than just the assistant editor's, and I've been getting more indepth and detailed criticism from the chiefs, so the process is ongoing. I have no doubts they'll sell next year, because my freelance success is rubbing off and editors are taking a more serious look based upon my success in that field as a writer and journalist.
Had an idea the other day. For those who don't know, writers like Brandon Sanderson and John Scalzi have been popularizing the idea of sharing stories on their websites for free. In the latter's case, he actually scored his first publishing deal with Tor as a direct result of a serliazed story he had been publshing on his website for free, and since then has gone on to publish half a dozen books and is now a creative consultant for the new Stargate: Universe show. Prior to becoming a freelance writer he wrote e-books and non-fiction, and was writing fantasy and sci-fi as a passion project and showcasing his work on his website. Sanderson, as most know, was picked up to write the continuation of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, and offers a free novel on his website, as well as in-depth look at chapers of his novels, including rough draft forms, multiple endings, and otherwise, all as a way to let his readers get in touch with him on a more personal basis. As is the case with both of them, their sales have significantly increased because of the visibility.
This led me to an idea. Considering I've already been paid for Medallions, and considering that I originally had plans to turn it into a 3 or 4 part series....I'm looking at publishing it online in serliaized format, either here or on the main website. Haven't finalized decisions yet...still percolating up in ze brain. A lot of people ask"why offer it for free", but as many authors have been showing, it's a great way to generate interest, and it's a way to potentially catch the eye of editors as well, because if you can show that your stories are generating X hits per month it means you have a fanbase of readers who will probably buy your products if they are being published by an actual publishing house. Just another facet of the 21st century to think about when looking at the potential business side of things.
Enough for now. Time to get to work. Very busy week this week, then I'm home-free for all of December, and I'll be finishing the e-book and networking the website. Peace!
I won't get into the juicy details here, but suffice to say I saw it coming, which is why I cautioned the promo post a week or so ago with the "if it ever makes it to the publisher" comment.
You can't make a magazine without any funds. When all you can afford to do is have volunteers on staff to edit otherwise, you can't expect to make it work.
Sucks, because the previous owners had made the magazine into something worth respecting.
However...the bonus is that all rights have been reverted to the authors. Good news for me, because I still had another 5 months until the rights reverted. Since I've already been paid for the story once, I can re-sell it somewhere else now.
Just had a long e-mail from the head editor at Abyss & Apex earlier this week regarding another one of my stories. Ultimately they declined, but she wanted to take the time to actually go over why, considering it actually made it to the final editor's desk, rather than just getting slushed. Progress is progress, and honestly...fiction is a major backseat player at the moment, with most of my efforts focused on freelancing and getting some passive income going in 2010 with the website. Had another story rejected, and have one more still in submission. December will be recycling the three completed stories I have which have been searching for a home this year. I've been making it further and further up the slush piles lately, landing on the final editor's desks rather than just the assistant editor's, and I've been getting more indepth and detailed criticism from the chiefs, so the process is ongoing. I have no doubts they'll sell next year, because my freelance success is rubbing off and editors are taking a more serious look based upon my success in that field as a writer and journalist.
Had an idea the other day. For those who don't know, writers like Brandon Sanderson and John Scalzi have been popularizing the idea of sharing stories on their websites for free. In the latter's case, he actually scored his first publishing deal with Tor as a direct result of a serliazed story he had been publshing on his website for free, and since then has gone on to publish half a dozen books and is now a creative consultant for the new Stargate: Universe show. Prior to becoming a freelance writer he wrote e-books and non-fiction, and was writing fantasy and sci-fi as a passion project and showcasing his work on his website. Sanderson, as most know, was picked up to write the continuation of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, and offers a free novel on his website, as well as in-depth look at chapers of his novels, including rough draft forms, multiple endings, and otherwise, all as a way to let his readers get in touch with him on a more personal basis. As is the case with both of them, their sales have significantly increased because of the visibility.
This led me to an idea. Considering I've already been paid for Medallions, and considering that I originally had plans to turn it into a 3 or 4 part series....I'm looking at publishing it online in serliaized format, either here or on the main website. Haven't finalized decisions yet...still percolating up in ze brain. A lot of people ask"why offer it for free", but as many authors have been showing, it's a great way to generate interest, and it's a way to potentially catch the eye of editors as well, because if you can show that your stories are generating X hits per month it means you have a fanbase of readers who will probably buy your products if they are being published by an actual publishing house. Just another facet of the 21st century to think about when looking at the potential business side of things.
Enough for now. Time to get to work. Very busy week this week, then I'm home-free for all of December, and I'll be finishing the e-book and networking the website. Peace!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Snippet
Was doing some random browsing the other evening (had some free time, w00t!) looking at various architectural designs for ideas in regards to our house (whenever they finally get the well drilling issues resolved). Keeping in mind that the actual exterior and layout plans have been finalized, there's a lot of interior decorating for Evy and I to do, and we keep our eyes peeled for things we like. Right now the estimate is that we might be moving into the houses in 2012 provided they actually get a start next year, but things have been pushed back once already (we were supposed to be moved in by 2010), so we're just waiting to see. In the meantime the apartment is 100% paid for, so :)
In any case, Evy has a lot of magazines she collects for ideas on furniture and such, and I'm planning on going a lot of stone work and etc. I found this cool website on the Bungalow style house, and I really dig what some of these people have done with their homes.
In any case, the "plan" is to have a good 25-30k by the time the houses are up and running. We have a few cabinet sets planned out, a bedroom set, furniture, and we are also looking at a home theater, fitness room, and various sundries. Plans change, so no idea how it will work out, but that's the idea. Anyway, enjoy the snippet.
In any case, Evy has a lot of magazines she collects for ideas on furniture and such, and I'm planning on going a lot of stone work and etc. I found this cool website on the Bungalow style house, and I really dig what some of these people have done with their homes.
In any case, the "plan" is to have a good 25-30k by the time the houses are up and running. We have a few cabinet sets planned out, a bedroom set, furniture, and we are also looking at a home theater, fitness room, and various sundries. Plans change, so no idea how it will work out, but that's the idea. Anyway, enjoy the snippet.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Ninja!
Just had to post this :)
Doing some random browsing today and looks like Flashing Swords might FINALLY release Issue 13. After the old owners sold it off, the new ownership has been floundering significantly, and I had thought that Medallions of Lashiva might have to be written off as a lost cause and re-sold somewhere else. It was originally sold back in 2008 (March) and was "lost" when the publication was taken over by new management.
However....they promoed the teaser of the cover (please note this might not be the final cover), along with the TOC, and right there on the front page is "featuring T.W. Anderson".
Now we wait and see if the thing ever makes it to the press. Keep in mind that Medallions was initially slated for February of 2009's edition...which was pushed back to May....and then my story wasn't in that issue....but apparently made it into this issue.
It will be interesting to see how things progress from here :)
Doing some random browsing today and looks like Flashing Swords might FINALLY release Issue 13. After the old owners sold it off, the new ownership has been floundering significantly, and I had thought that Medallions of Lashiva might have to be written off as a lost cause and re-sold somewhere else. It was originally sold back in 2008 (March) and was "lost" when the publication was taken over by new management.
However....they promoed the teaser of the cover (please note this might not be the final cover), along with the TOC, and right there on the front page is "featuring T.W. Anderson".
Now we wait and see if the thing ever makes it to the press. Keep in mind that Medallions was initially slated for February of 2009's edition...which was pushed back to May....and then my story wasn't in that issue....but apparently made it into this issue.
It will be interesting to see how things progress from here :)
Going off the grid for the rest of the month
Starting Monday of next week, I'll likely not be posting anything to my blog until the end of the month.
There are two main reasons for that.
The first, and most important, is that I just had a rather large project land in my lap. Between that and my other clients lined up, I've got a few thousand dollar's worth of projects for the rest of November, and I'm ramping up from my normal 4-5 hour days to 9-10 hour days. Normally I wouldn't do that, but the offer was good enough that I'm willing to put in some extra time for a few weeks. Secondly...I'm swamped with language lessons, which are ongoing until February. At which point I'm taking the second round of classes for total fluency in Bulgarian, with a goal of being fluent by June (which is when the second class is finished with). Concurrent with that is the continued growth of Complete Writing Solutions as I continue fleshing it out and adding links, content, and otherwise.
The trade-off is that I'm taking the entire month of December off, outside of a few articles I have scheduled for TravBuddy. December will be focused entirely on getting my e-book polished and ready for publication. The majority of the content is already written, it simply needs to be polished up and edited...at which point I have to make a choice to either find a publisher and an agent or do it myself via POD. Still undecided on this point.
December will also be spent looking at ways to monetize the new website. Adds, networking with other writing sites and otherwise, I am looking at making the website a major source of income for 2010. It's a big step, and it requires a lot of work, but I enjoy it.
Fiction is almost entirely on hold at the moment, at least in terms of writing anything new. I have 3 short stories in circulation looking for a home. I have a fourth that needs a re-worked ending and it could also be sent out into circulation. Book work....well, as much as I want to work on it, it's completely on hold. I'm 80k words in, and have been since June.
While I'm torn between my real passion--which is fantasy and science fiction--and making money...I can't deny that I'm having an absolute blast doing freelance work. I'm getting to write in two of my favorite niches...travel and video games. I'm also doing a lot of "generic" content work for Pure Content...that is, anything they give to me. A big project I just wrapped up for them last month was for a French poker website that required me to write about poker for nearly a month. It was an absolute blast. I've also written about things like UK universities, towns in the UK, space travel, the X-Files, Robin Hood, health and fitness, and a wide variety of topics that have required me to do a lot of research. I have learned a LOT of new information in 2009, so it's been a dual blessing to be getting a nice paycheck along with furthering my knowledge.
I'm not sure where I want to take this writing career. I started out wanting to pursue fantasy and science fiction primarily. And I still do. But the pull of the freelance market, especially the digital medium where you can work for clients all over the world on all sorts of projects, allows me a great avenue for finding inspiration, and I'm gaining all sorts of new information on a wide variety of topics. The pay isn't too shabby, and I have to admit I'm looking forward to trying to make this website + e-book really pay off. I've been doing a lot of research in the past few weeks and as long as I market things properly it should work out splendidly. We'll have to wait and see. But I really don't know WHERE I want to take it. Do I want to keep writing travel? I've debated doing a Bulgarian-specific website focusing on cultural aspects and things like wine and cuisine, specifically targeting the rest of the EU as Bulgaria moves deeper into the folds and people want to know more about their newest neighbour. The country is fast turning into a major tourist destination because of the low costs, and access to several of the most beautiful mountain ranges in this part of Europe, not to mention the Black Sea. And the wine...well, I've talked about the wine before. Bulgaria is absolutely undiscovered wine country, and I full expect to see things explode in the next dozen years or so once the rest of the world discovers it. Kind of like South Africa and Australia have done in the past 10 years or so.
Who knows? Lots of ideas, lots of passions, and as long as they are making money I'll keep pushing ideas along to see how they work out. I'd love to focus entirely on fiction but at the same time...I'm having fun doing what I do, and I'm making good money and getting to spend a lot of time traveling. Who says I have to write novels right now? :)
Yap with you all later!
There are two main reasons for that.
The first, and most important, is that I just had a rather large project land in my lap. Between that and my other clients lined up, I've got a few thousand dollar's worth of projects for the rest of November, and I'm ramping up from my normal 4-5 hour days to 9-10 hour days. Normally I wouldn't do that, but the offer was good enough that I'm willing to put in some extra time for a few weeks. Secondly...I'm swamped with language lessons, which are ongoing until February. At which point I'm taking the second round of classes for total fluency in Bulgarian, with a goal of being fluent by June (which is when the second class is finished with). Concurrent with that is the continued growth of Complete Writing Solutions as I continue fleshing it out and adding links, content, and otherwise.
The trade-off is that I'm taking the entire month of December off, outside of a few articles I have scheduled for TravBuddy. December will be focused entirely on getting my e-book polished and ready for publication. The majority of the content is already written, it simply needs to be polished up and edited...at which point I have to make a choice to either find a publisher and an agent or do it myself via POD. Still undecided on this point.
December will also be spent looking at ways to monetize the new website. Adds, networking with other writing sites and otherwise, I am looking at making the website a major source of income for 2010. It's a big step, and it requires a lot of work, but I enjoy it.
Fiction is almost entirely on hold at the moment, at least in terms of writing anything new. I have 3 short stories in circulation looking for a home. I have a fourth that needs a re-worked ending and it could also be sent out into circulation. Book work....well, as much as I want to work on it, it's completely on hold. I'm 80k words in, and have been since June.
While I'm torn between my real passion--which is fantasy and science fiction--and making money...I can't deny that I'm having an absolute blast doing freelance work. I'm getting to write in two of my favorite niches...travel and video games. I'm also doing a lot of "generic" content work for Pure Content...that is, anything they give to me. A big project I just wrapped up for them last month was for a French poker website that required me to write about poker for nearly a month. It was an absolute blast. I've also written about things like UK universities, towns in the UK, space travel, the X-Files, Robin Hood, health and fitness, and a wide variety of topics that have required me to do a lot of research. I have learned a LOT of new information in 2009, so it's been a dual blessing to be getting a nice paycheck along with furthering my knowledge.
I'm not sure where I want to take this writing career. I started out wanting to pursue fantasy and science fiction primarily. And I still do. But the pull of the freelance market, especially the digital medium where you can work for clients all over the world on all sorts of projects, allows me a great avenue for finding inspiration, and I'm gaining all sorts of new information on a wide variety of topics. The pay isn't too shabby, and I have to admit I'm looking forward to trying to make this website + e-book really pay off. I've been doing a lot of research in the past few weeks and as long as I market things properly it should work out splendidly. We'll have to wait and see. But I really don't know WHERE I want to take it. Do I want to keep writing travel? I've debated doing a Bulgarian-specific website focusing on cultural aspects and things like wine and cuisine, specifically targeting the rest of the EU as Bulgaria moves deeper into the folds and people want to know more about their newest neighbour. The country is fast turning into a major tourist destination because of the low costs, and access to several of the most beautiful mountain ranges in this part of Europe, not to mention the Black Sea. And the wine...well, I've talked about the wine before. Bulgaria is absolutely undiscovered wine country, and I full expect to see things explode in the next dozen years or so once the rest of the world discovers it. Kind of like South Africa and Australia have done in the past 10 years or so.
Who knows? Lots of ideas, lots of passions, and as long as they are making money I'll keep pushing ideas along to see how they work out. I'd love to focus entirely on fiction but at the same time...I'm having fun doing what I do, and I'm making good money and getting to spend a lot of time traveling. Who says I have to write novels right now? :)
Yap with you all later!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Dragon Age: Origins
Enough said.
Bioware, you are the gods of gaming. This is hands-down the best title I've played since BG 1 and 2. Evy and I have been entranced 100% so far. This game is not only massive, but the voice overs are absolutely phenomenal, the writing is beyond stellar, and the cinematography is movie quality. This is the gaming I was born to be a part of.
Epic. I totally can't wait for ST:TOR now. Story is king :)
Bioware, you are the gods of gaming. This is hands-down the best title I've played since BG 1 and 2. Evy and I have been entranced 100% so far. This game is not only massive, but the voice overs are absolutely phenomenal, the writing is beyond stellar, and the cinematography is movie quality. This is the gaming I was born to be a part of.
Epic. I totally can't wait for ST:TOR now. Story is king :)
hiccup!
So I woke up this morning to find that my brand shiny new website had been suspended. My first reaction was !!!, but upon calling their tech support found out that the reason was fairly simple: I paid for the service with my PayPal account, which is a U.S. PayPal account, but I live in Bulgaria, so the physical address I had on file didn't match their PayPal database, so they flagged the account. I have to call back this evening when the account guys are in the office (they are on U.S. time) and get that worked out. No worries. Same thing happened to me last year when we bought my new computer and put it on my Capital One card. I had to physically call the tech support to have them unblock the transaction because it got flagged as coming from Europe when it's a U.S. card...plus PayPal just did the same thing to one of my clients this weekend. He was in Beijing and issued me a payment through PayPal, but because his account is based out of California (he was on a business trip) they flagged the payment for suspicious activity and he had to call them when he got back Stateside to get the issue resolved. So no worries, it's just a little hiccup in the system :) One of the curses of being in Europe and still having a few U.S. systems in place.
I've been researching a trip to Pokhara, Nepal. I stumbled across it when I was doing some work for a client, and it intrigued me enough that I think we might make that one of our must-see destinations in the next year or two. Spending a week in that setting just looks amazing, and hotels are disgustingly cheap...like 25-30 USD a night for mid-grade, and 50-60 bucks a night for all-inclusive, or 150 USD a night for total luxury. Plane tickets are the only real pricey thing.
A couple of randoms for the week (though they are actually from last week).
Wal Mart selling caskets and urns. Any way to make a buck, eh?
Here's my personal favorite for the month. There's just so much wrong with this guy's thought processes. Why you should be allowed to have mistresses if you make more than 200k a year. Basically this guy honestly believes that women are like a good steak dinner. You have a favorite restaurant that you eat at a lot, but you also like to try different steaks when you are on trips or just for variety. Eating those steaks reminds you why you really love your favorite steakhouse, but you don't want to get bored with them, so you need variety.
What really blows my mind is his advocation for infidelity. The guy honestly believes that it's OK to sleep around...but notice how he only talks about MEN being allowed to do so. A bit sexist, don't you think? And also notice that the more money you make, the more liasons you are supposed to be allowed to have.
There's so much wrong with that article that I don't really even know where to start. Evy's first comment was "sounds like he needs a bullet to the brain", which made me LOL. Call me old-fashioned, but I'm a monogomous guy. The idea of my wife being compared to a steak dinner is just beyond comprehension. She is not a steak dinner. She is the light of my life. There is no way in hell I would ever cheat on her, and I can't believe there is someone out there advocating that "the richer you are, the more you should be allowed to cheat, and your woman should be damn happy you are providing for her in the first place".
Things that make you go "!?!"
I've been researching a trip to Pokhara, Nepal. I stumbled across it when I was doing some work for a client, and it intrigued me enough that I think we might make that one of our must-see destinations in the next year or two. Spending a week in that setting just looks amazing, and hotels are disgustingly cheap...like 25-30 USD a night for mid-grade, and 50-60 bucks a night for all-inclusive, or 150 USD a night for total luxury. Plane tickets are the only real pricey thing.
A couple of randoms for the week (though they are actually from last week).
Wal Mart selling caskets and urns. Any way to make a buck, eh?
Here's my personal favorite for the month. There's just so much wrong with this guy's thought processes. Why you should be allowed to have mistresses if you make more than 200k a year. Basically this guy honestly believes that women are like a good steak dinner. You have a favorite restaurant that you eat at a lot, but you also like to try different steaks when you are on trips or just for variety. Eating those steaks reminds you why you really love your favorite steakhouse, but you don't want to get bored with them, so you need variety.
What really blows my mind is his advocation for infidelity. The guy honestly believes that it's OK to sleep around...but notice how he only talks about MEN being allowed to do so. A bit sexist, don't you think? And also notice that the more money you make, the more liasons you are supposed to be allowed to have.
There's so much wrong with that article that I don't really even know where to start. Evy's first comment was "sounds like he needs a bullet to the brain", which made me LOL. Call me old-fashioned, but I'm a monogomous guy. The idea of my wife being compared to a steak dinner is just beyond comprehension. She is not a steak dinner. She is the light of my life. There is no way in hell I would ever cheat on her, and I can't believe there is someone out there advocating that "the richer you are, the more you should be allowed to cheat, and your woman should be damn happy you are providing for her in the first place".
Things that make you go "!?!"
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Presenting...
Complete Writing Solutions
That's right, ladies and gentlemen. November 1st is here. Evy's birthday was last night, I made some home-made biscuits and gravy with Bulgarian sausage this morning, and just finished putting on the finishing touches of the actual website to make it for today's official launch deadline.
The launch of Complete Writing Solutions ties into our plans for expansion in 2010. The last two years have seen my freelance business grow significantly, and Evy and I are going to be working together in conjunction with her many other projects to move Creative Writing Solutions further into the global market. Specifically, in 2010, we are going to be offering Bulgarian-to-English translations, English-to-Bulgarian translations, and I will be focusing on moving the company into the Bulgarian market, which right now is poised on the brink of the digital era. Many companies still do not offer website services, and Complete Writing Solutions is going to change that. What the company has done for clients around the world for the past two years we are now going to target for this part of Europe.
I chose the name Complete simply because it is not just a content writing website. Along with offering content for people's websites, the company will also offer consultations, freelance writing tips, links to some of the hottest topics in the market, translations (dependent upon who we end up hiring who can speak other languages), journalism, print, and a whole slew of "compete" writing solutions for the globally-aware client who is looking to diversify and expand into the 21st century, away from the centuries-old-fashioned industry that has been bogged down in trying to compete with the digital explosion of media.
The website is still in its infant stages, but we've got some big plans :) In any case, from here on out this blog will be transitioning into my personal blog only, and my freelance business will be linked entirely to the Complete Writing Solutions website.
Enjoy, and I hope to see you there in the near future!
That's right, ladies and gentlemen. November 1st is here. Evy's birthday was last night, I made some home-made biscuits and gravy with Bulgarian sausage this morning, and just finished putting on the finishing touches of the actual website to make it for today's official launch deadline.
The launch of Complete Writing Solutions ties into our plans for expansion in 2010. The last two years have seen my freelance business grow significantly, and Evy and I are going to be working together in conjunction with her many other projects to move Creative Writing Solutions further into the global market. Specifically, in 2010, we are going to be offering Bulgarian-to-English translations, English-to-Bulgarian translations, and I will be focusing on moving the company into the Bulgarian market, which right now is poised on the brink of the digital era. Many companies still do not offer website services, and Complete Writing Solutions is going to change that. What the company has done for clients around the world for the past two years we are now going to target for this part of Europe.
I chose the name Complete simply because it is not just a content writing website. Along with offering content for people's websites, the company will also offer consultations, freelance writing tips, links to some of the hottest topics in the market, translations (dependent upon who we end up hiring who can speak other languages), journalism, print, and a whole slew of "compete" writing solutions for the globally-aware client who is looking to diversify and expand into the 21st century, away from the centuries-old-fashioned industry that has been bogged down in trying to compete with the digital explosion of media.
The website is still in its infant stages, but we've got some big plans :) In any case, from here on out this blog will be transitioning into my personal blog only, and my freelance business will be linked entirely to the Complete Writing Solutions website.
Enjoy, and I hope to see you there in the near future!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Silence?
I've not been posting here that much in the past couple of weeks. Why?
Projects. As I've stated, I'm nearing official launch date for my website. It has a planned release of November 1st, 2009. In conjunction with that, we are finally launching my wife's Etsy shop as well. She's working a full time job, full time classes finishing up her BA degree (business admin), doing translations for her company, and taking pottery classes on Saturdays, with a line of pottery goods that she'll be launching in 2010, time dependent. In between freelance work, the e-book, the website, the language lessons, and everything else...we are lucky if we have free time on Saturday afternoons and Sundays. We are both very, very busy little bees.
Once the website goes live, this blog will be transitioning into personal only. The time for seperation of professional and personal is way past due, which was the whole spark that set this into motion.
On the plus side, once the website is launched, things will slow down for the rest of the year. I'm booked solid with work until the end of the year, and I'm really hoping to have that e-book published by then as well. Had hoped to have it done by November but...well, life has a funny way of knocking your timelines around a bit. Suffice to say, business is great, and only getting better. 2010 should be a really knock-out year, and I'm looking forward to expanding my horizons in Europe, especially.
Hope you have a Happy Halloween!
Projects. As I've stated, I'm nearing official launch date for my website. It has a planned release of November 1st, 2009. In conjunction with that, we are finally launching my wife's Etsy shop as well. She's working a full time job, full time classes finishing up her BA degree (business admin), doing translations for her company, and taking pottery classes on Saturdays, with a line of pottery goods that she'll be launching in 2010, time dependent. In between freelance work, the e-book, the website, the language lessons, and everything else...we are lucky if we have free time on Saturday afternoons and Sundays. We are both very, very busy little bees.
Once the website goes live, this blog will be transitioning into personal only. The time for seperation of professional and personal is way past due, which was the whole spark that set this into motion.
On the plus side, once the website is launched, things will slow down for the rest of the year. I'm booked solid with work until the end of the year, and I'm really hoping to have that e-book published by then as well. Had hoped to have it done by November but...well, life has a funny way of knocking your timelines around a bit. Suffice to say, business is great, and only getting better. 2010 should be a really knock-out year, and I'm looking forward to expanding my horizons in Europe, especially.
Hope you have a Happy Halloween!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Progress!
Settled on a good theme for the website today, and I'm about 30% done with the content sections. Right now I'm just waiting on e-mails back from clients who I asked for testimonials from, as well as finishing up the rest of the content, adding links, bios, pictures, and customizing. Sure, you can set up a website in a day, but to flesh it out takes time, and I'm not a professional web designer. I'm taking my time. Official launch date is November 1st, so I'm not rushing anything. I want it pristine when it goes live.
Other than that...today was smooth sailing. Spent the morning/early afternoon doing some freelance work, then spent about 3 hours working on the website. I'm doing another hour's worth of work while dinner cooks, then it's time for a relaxing evening with a bottle of wine and Evy's company while we watch the latest Heroes and Castle episodes.
Other than that...today was smooth sailing. Spent the morning/early afternoon doing some freelance work, then spent about 3 hours working on the website. I'm doing another hour's worth of work while dinner cooks, then it's time for a relaxing evening with a bottle of wine and Evy's company while we watch the latest Heroes and Castle episodes.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Update
Website is coming along nicely. I expect to have it launched by the weekend. I actually spent about 4 hours this afternoon working on themes and such.
Busy. Have a test on Wed. Two projects to finish up for October. Another rejection on one of my shorts, so time to find another place to ship it off to. Evy's B-day on Halloween. Have to buy her a present.
No time!
Busy. Have a test on Wed. Two projects to finish up for October. Another rejection on one of my shorts, so time to find another place to ship it off to. Evy's B-day on Halloween. Have to buy her a present.
No time!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Things that make you go "%(*)@)#!!!!"
I work from home. As a result, I rarely use public transportation, other than when the weather is crappy, or if we are lugging 50 lbs worth of groceries or some such. Evy tells me horror stories about the tram, but I don't always get to experience things first-hand.
Yesterday, I did. And I can totally appreciate her perspective on it, as well as agree with the big WTF question regarding the following behavior.
Bulgarians, for some reason or another, are incapable of riding the tram without all crowding into the very front of the tram. There can be four tram cars available to sit in...but all forty people on the tram will be crammed into the first 10 feet of the first car, packed in like sardines. They refuse to budge, and they get incredibly irritable and cranky when you need to get through. To the point where they will screech at you for pushing by.
Why do they do this?
Let me explain how the tram system works here. If you want to ride the tram, you either need a ticket, which can be purchased from a kiosk on the sidewalk, or from the driver. Or, you can deposit coins into a slot machine (which rarely ever works) which gives you a paper ticket. This is at the front of the tram. You can also purchase a swipe-card which can be used at the card-reading stations located in each tram car.
If you want to buy a ticket from either the kiosk or the driver, you almost always have to have exact change. You cannot, for example, buy three tickets with a ten leva bill (tickets are 1 leva per). The driver or the kiosk attendant will tell you to get bent. Unless you do like me and just pretend like you don't understand that they are asking you for exactly three leva, at which point they get very cranky. Evy has actually had a kiosk lady yell at her (literally yell) for not having exact change.
In any case. If everyone were using the coin machine or purchasing tickets from the driver of the tram, I could understand why they are all packed in up front. But they aren't. No one from Bulgaria ever uses the coin machines, because they know that the damn things are almost always broken. Only foreigners use the coin machine because they don't know any better, which means you then have to get a ticket from the driver. Most Bulgarians who ride the tram regularly have a card to swipe at one of the various card readers. Remember, there are one per car.
Yesterday we went to the store and got a new router, a all-in-one printer/etc. (needed a new one), and some various sundries. We had coins to burn, so we decided to get on the front of the tram and the tram was just about to leave so we didn't use the kiosk, we just bolted for the door. There were 5 cars.
The front of the tram was so crowded that I couldn't get up the stairs with the printer box I was carrying. I then proceeded to get two paper cuts as I tried to jostle my way through a PACKED crowd of at least 40 people....ALL OF WHOM HAD CARDS AND WERE TRYING TO GET TO THE CARD READER AT THE FRONT OF THE TRAM. The other four cars....empty. Not a soul.
One lady yelled at me. Two older men were cursing as I tried to maneuver through with my box held above my head. Meanwhile there were at least 35 other people yelling at each other trying to get to the damn card reader. Meanwhile, Evy finds out that the coin machine is broken (imagine that) and she needs to buy tickets from the driver. Only, the front of the bus is so crowded it takes THREE stops before it's clear enough for her to actually get to the guy and purchase a ticket.
Know how many of those people purchased a ticket from the driver? Zero. Know how many of them used tickets in the punchers? Zero (when you have a ticket you have to get it punched with a hole puncher unique to each tram mounted on the wall; ticket checkers will sometimes come in and check to see that your hole punches match the tram you are on). Every single individual on that tram used their card, and they all used the very first tram card swiper, ignoring the the other four swipers in the other four cars.
Why? Why don't people use the other tram cars? Evy said she always just gets on the last car and never has to fight for a seat, while she can look ahead and watch 30-40 people all clamoring for the card reader in the first tram car.
I don't get it.
Things that make you go hrmmm
Yesterday, I did. And I can totally appreciate her perspective on it, as well as agree with the big WTF question regarding the following behavior.
Bulgarians, for some reason or another, are incapable of riding the tram without all crowding into the very front of the tram. There can be four tram cars available to sit in...but all forty people on the tram will be crammed into the first 10 feet of the first car, packed in like sardines. They refuse to budge, and they get incredibly irritable and cranky when you need to get through. To the point where they will screech at you for pushing by.
Why do they do this?
Let me explain how the tram system works here. If you want to ride the tram, you either need a ticket, which can be purchased from a kiosk on the sidewalk, or from the driver. Or, you can deposit coins into a slot machine (which rarely ever works) which gives you a paper ticket. This is at the front of the tram. You can also purchase a swipe-card which can be used at the card-reading stations located in each tram car.
If you want to buy a ticket from either the kiosk or the driver, you almost always have to have exact change. You cannot, for example, buy three tickets with a ten leva bill (tickets are 1 leva per). The driver or the kiosk attendant will tell you to get bent. Unless you do like me and just pretend like you don't understand that they are asking you for exactly three leva, at which point they get very cranky. Evy has actually had a kiosk lady yell at her (literally yell) for not having exact change.
In any case. If everyone were using the coin machine or purchasing tickets from the driver of the tram, I could understand why they are all packed in up front. But they aren't. No one from Bulgaria ever uses the coin machines, because they know that the damn things are almost always broken. Only foreigners use the coin machine because they don't know any better, which means you then have to get a ticket from the driver. Most Bulgarians who ride the tram regularly have a card to swipe at one of the various card readers. Remember, there are one per car.
Yesterday we went to the store and got a new router, a all-in-one printer/etc. (needed a new one), and some various sundries. We had coins to burn, so we decided to get on the front of the tram and the tram was just about to leave so we didn't use the kiosk, we just bolted for the door. There were 5 cars.
The front of the tram was so crowded that I couldn't get up the stairs with the printer box I was carrying. I then proceeded to get two paper cuts as I tried to jostle my way through a PACKED crowd of at least 40 people....ALL OF WHOM HAD CARDS AND WERE TRYING TO GET TO THE CARD READER AT THE FRONT OF THE TRAM. The other four cars....empty. Not a soul.
One lady yelled at me. Two older men were cursing as I tried to maneuver through with my box held above my head. Meanwhile there were at least 35 other people yelling at each other trying to get to the damn card reader. Meanwhile, Evy finds out that the coin machine is broken (imagine that) and she needs to buy tickets from the driver. Only, the front of the bus is so crowded it takes THREE stops before it's clear enough for her to actually get to the guy and purchase a ticket.
Know how many of those people purchased a ticket from the driver? Zero. Know how many of them used tickets in the punchers? Zero (when you have a ticket you have to get it punched with a hole puncher unique to each tram mounted on the wall; ticket checkers will sometimes come in and check to see that your hole punches match the tram you are on). Every single individual on that tram used their card, and they all used the very first tram card swiper, ignoring the the other four swipers in the other four cars.
Why? Why don't people use the other tram cars? Evy said she always just gets on the last car and never has to fight for a seat, while she can look ahead and watch 30-40 people all clamoring for the card reader in the first tram car.
I don't get it.
Things that make you go hrmmm
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Swamped
Enough said. I'm finding my schedule very maxed with the addition of language lessons, because suddenly I find myself spending at least two hours a day studying on top of doing freelance work and trying to fit all of my side-projects into my daily schedule.
I'm behind on two of my personal projects. Sounds familiar by this point, doesn't it? :) If you've been following my blog for any length of time, you'll see that my personal projects often fall to the wayside for weeks or even months at a time. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I think, because my professional career is continually progressing, and that's the important part.
Met some really interesting folks @ my language class. One guy is French, and he's my age, married to a very sweet and beautiful Bulgarian woman (met her the other night; they are a super cute couple. And yes, I used the word cute in a sentence). As far as I understand it, he works logistics for a couple of humanitarian companies helping to get medical and other types of aid packages to various places around the world. We are going out for beers next week, so I'm going to find out more.
There's also a German lady who speaks 6 languages fluently. Her husband is a German language teacher and they have traveled around the world for over 20 years living in various countries for 5-7 years at a time on contract with her husband teaching at various places, and they just came here 6 weeks ago for a 5 year stint.
Then there's this Serbian guy who is probably mid 30s. Apparently unemployed. Not sure if he's married.
Was a British woman in her late 30s/early 40s in our first lesson, but she didn't show up on Wednesday, so no idea what she does.
Another kid is an Indian who is here getting his doctorate in mechanical engineering at some university here. He's probably mid/late 20s.
Then we had a late addition last night. She's a Spanish woman who works for the Ministry of Environment and just came to Bulgaria. Probably in her late 40s, early 50s.
So, with the exception of one, we are all working professionals.
Now, having never taking a language course before, I wasn't sure what to expect at my first class on Monday night. I was totally unprepared. It was not "Hi, welcome to Bulgarian for Foreigners. This is an introduction class and we will be getting you into it nice and easy".
Instead, it was bend-you-over-the-desk-and-beat-you-over-the-head-with-a-wall-of-text. She didn't speak a WORD of English, which was a shock to everyone in the class, believe me. Me, probably least, because I didn't know WHAT to expect, but I think everyone else, who had taken language classes in other languages before, expected some sort of English introduction. Nope. This woman is hard-freaking-core-to-the-max.
But she's also very good at what she does. I struggled through the 2 hour class on Monday, but understood most of the lesson by the end. I came home, I studied, and on Wednesday night it was nice to not have to look at my lesson book like most of the others did when it came time to brush up on Monday's work.
Felt bad for the Spanish lady because she walked into day 2 and had no idea, and she was in absolute shock the whole class, because she had NO idea where we were at. At one point she asked the teacher something in English, which warranted a HUGE sigh from her and a "Only this once. Never again".
Still...we had a hell of a lot of fun on Wednesday night. Still don't understand the majority of what she's saying, but we have learned enough at this point to be able to ask people names, where they are from, what they do for a living, what languages they speak, and the generic greetings. We've also learned some of the really confusing sentence structure for Bulgarian, such dealing with that damn "li" (if you are Bulgarian you know what I mean).
Thankfully I have until next Monday, so I've got a few days to study. Had a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to getting in there on Monday and rocking out. It'll be extremely refreshing here in a few weeks to actually have a CONVERSATION with someone other than my wife and her friends :) It's been a very difficult situation at times when at family gatherings because I always need a flipping translator. Thankfully I have a very patient woman by my side, otherwise I'd be up poo creek w/o a paddle!
I'm behind on two of my personal projects. Sounds familiar by this point, doesn't it? :) If you've been following my blog for any length of time, you'll see that my personal projects often fall to the wayside for weeks or even months at a time. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I think, because my professional career is continually progressing, and that's the important part.
Met some really interesting folks @ my language class. One guy is French, and he's my age, married to a very sweet and beautiful Bulgarian woman (met her the other night; they are a super cute couple. And yes, I used the word cute in a sentence). As far as I understand it, he works logistics for a couple of humanitarian companies helping to get medical and other types of aid packages to various places around the world. We are going out for beers next week, so I'm going to find out more.
There's also a German lady who speaks 6 languages fluently. Her husband is a German language teacher and they have traveled around the world for over 20 years living in various countries for 5-7 years at a time on contract with her husband teaching at various places, and they just came here 6 weeks ago for a 5 year stint.
Then there's this Serbian guy who is probably mid 30s. Apparently unemployed. Not sure if he's married.
Was a British woman in her late 30s/early 40s in our first lesson, but she didn't show up on Wednesday, so no idea what she does.
Another kid is an Indian who is here getting his doctorate in mechanical engineering at some university here. He's probably mid/late 20s.
Then we had a late addition last night. She's a Spanish woman who works for the Ministry of Environment and just came to Bulgaria. Probably in her late 40s, early 50s.
So, with the exception of one, we are all working professionals.
Now, having never taking a language course before, I wasn't sure what to expect at my first class on Monday night. I was totally unprepared. It was not "Hi, welcome to Bulgarian for Foreigners. This is an introduction class and we will be getting you into it nice and easy".
Instead, it was bend-you-over-the-desk-and-beat-you-over-the-head-with-a-wall-of-text. She didn't speak a WORD of English, which was a shock to everyone in the class, believe me. Me, probably least, because I didn't know WHAT to expect, but I think everyone else, who had taken language classes in other languages before, expected some sort of English introduction. Nope. This woman is hard-freaking-core-to-the-max.
But she's also very good at what she does. I struggled through the 2 hour class on Monday, but understood most of the lesson by the end. I came home, I studied, and on Wednesday night it was nice to not have to look at my lesson book like most of the others did when it came time to brush up on Monday's work.
Felt bad for the Spanish lady because she walked into day 2 and had no idea, and she was in absolute shock the whole class, because she had NO idea where we were at. At one point she asked the teacher something in English, which warranted a HUGE sigh from her and a "Only this once. Never again".
Still...we had a hell of a lot of fun on Wednesday night. Still don't understand the majority of what she's saying, but we have learned enough at this point to be able to ask people names, where they are from, what they do for a living, what languages they speak, and the generic greetings. We've also learned some of the really confusing sentence structure for Bulgarian, such dealing with that damn "li" (if you are Bulgarian you know what I mean).
Thankfully I have until next Monday, so I've got a few days to study. Had a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to getting in there on Monday and rocking out. It'll be extremely refreshing here in a few weeks to actually have a CONVERSATION with someone other than my wife and her friends :) It's been a very difficult situation at times when at family gatherings because I always need a flipping translator. Thankfully I have a very patient woman by my side, otherwise I'd be up poo creek w/o a paddle!
Monday, October 12, 2009
!)(@#$
Seriously.
So, we had three year warranties on our computers when we bought them. Sounded good.
I've dealt with warranties on computers before. I had to have Dell replace 2 graphics cards back in Colorado, and getting them to do so was like pulling teeth. But they did so in the long run.
Evy's power supply crapped out the other day. Still running power, but the internal fan to keep the power supply cooled isn't working and started smelling the room up like lovely melted plastic parts. We called to see about our warranty and found out that they wanted us to bring the ENTIRE box in (as in the whole case), not just the power supply.
We then find out that because we have opened the cases twice to clean them...we've voided our warranty in its entirety.
WTF? You can't even open your computer to clean out the dust ever 6 months or so without voiding your warranty? Even Dell never pulled that one on me.
On the plus side power supplies aren't that expensive. I'm just very irritated that simply cleaning the dust from the parts voided the warranty because we "opened the case".
(Yes, they can tell. There's a sticker on the inside that gets torn when you open the case, so they know if you've opened it or not).
@)_*(@#$
So, we had three year warranties on our computers when we bought them. Sounded good.
I've dealt with warranties on computers before. I had to have Dell replace 2 graphics cards back in Colorado, and getting them to do so was like pulling teeth. But they did so in the long run.
Evy's power supply crapped out the other day. Still running power, but the internal fan to keep the power supply cooled isn't working and started smelling the room up like lovely melted plastic parts. We called to see about our warranty and found out that they wanted us to bring the ENTIRE box in (as in the whole case), not just the power supply.
We then find out that because we have opened the cases twice to clean them...we've voided our warranty in its entirety.
WTF? You can't even open your computer to clean out the dust ever 6 months or so without voiding your warranty? Even Dell never pulled that one on me.
On the plus side power supplies aren't that expensive. I'm just very irritated that simply cleaning the dust from the parts voided the warranty because we "opened the case".
(Yes, they can tell. There's a sticker on the inside that gets torn when you open the case, so they know if you've opened it or not).
@)_*(@#$
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Moving ahead
Finally got around to calling an international tax accountant this morning, and looks like I'll be moving ahead with getting all my 2008 stuff squared away. Yes, I know I'm way beyond the date you are supposed to take care of taxes, but here's the thing...I didn't make any income last year (about 2,000 total), as we were living off our savings account the whole time. Technically I didn't even have to claim any income for the year because I made below the "claimable" level, but I still want to get things squared away so 2009 will flow easier. 2009 will be a little more complex, because I have clients from all over the world, but obviously I can't file for that until next year. The good thing is, they don't charge nearly as much as I originally anticipated, so that's nice.
Website! I finally took the time and started researching hosting and packages this morning. It looks like I'll be getting the groundwork laid in this weekend. I had a friend of mine offer to look into it for me, but after I did some digging I found some rather nice Wordpress tutorials + hosting packages through the LIP website, and it's only about 80 bucks for a year's worth of hosting, and I'm figuring it'll take me the weekend to get the actual website up and running. So...that's another thing that's about to get knocked off the list.
Next item on the agenda is the e-book. I have the general outline done, and I have the "meat" text there. I've already started doing research for the actual numbers I'll be providing in the book, based upon tax figures and worldwide income statistics, and otherwise. I am pretty sure I'll have it done by the end of October. At which point I need to start looking for a publisher.
Now, I could self publish, but if you remember my post from earlier in the year...I don't really think self publishing gives people any credentials. Anyone can self publish. Which means a bunch of absolute crap gets put on the market because there are a lot of people out there who have no business calling themselves writers, but because they can self publish a book and stick their name on it they can call themselves an author. Nevermind the fact that it's never been put past a professional editor before...in their heads, they are writers. I'm not that kind of guy. I whole-heartedly believe that until an editor has taken a look at your work and approved it, then it isn't really credible. Not everyone agrees with me. That's fine. But that's my feelings on it. So if you know any good e-book or even regular book publishers who you think would be a good fit for publishing a book on global freelancing, let me know. Otherwise I'll be starting to shop for an agent in November, and see if I can't get this thing sold in one format or another.
Evy told me I have way too many ideas, far too many passions, and not enough time. I've been stressing out lately about which projects to focus on, because I have dozens of them I want to work on, and I'm spreading myself too thin. So I made a decision on Sunday. For the rest of 2009 these are my goals:
I really hope to cross the 100k word mark on the fiction novel by the end of the year. Maybe. I've been hovering around 80k words since June, so if I can manage to write chapters 13, 14, and 15, I can push past the 100k mark.
A big issue with fantasy novels these days is that publishers are becoming more and more unwilling to publish novels over 150k even from big-name authors like Brandon Sanderson, George R. R. Martin, and otherwise. Sanderson was discussing his issue with hist latest Mistborn novel on his website, and how the book stores were the ones throwing a fit about the size of the novel, not the publishers themselves. They were worried that a 200k novel was going to "take up too much shelf space" and cut into their profits. Now, while I don't think I'm going to be at 200k words...my outline is for 25 chapters. If I'm at 100k words with 15 chapters...well, that's at least another 60-80k worth of words to finish the outline, which will put it at around 160-180k words. For a first-time author. I have a feeling I'm going to have a hell of a time getting an agent to sell that, but it's not going to keep me from trying. I can't break it down any smaller than that, because the outline calls for 4 books and that's the best natural breaking point. I could probably shave it down to 150k, but...well, we'll just have to see when it actually gets done.
In any case, here's to success, and here's to good health. Hope you head into the holiday seasons with good cheer and good luck.
Website! I finally took the time and started researching hosting and packages this morning. It looks like I'll be getting the groundwork laid in this weekend. I had a friend of mine offer to look into it for me, but after I did some digging I found some rather nice Wordpress tutorials + hosting packages through the LIP website, and it's only about 80 bucks for a year's worth of hosting, and I'm figuring it'll take me the weekend to get the actual website up and running. So...that's another thing that's about to get knocked off the list.
Next item on the agenda is the e-book. I have the general outline done, and I have the "meat" text there. I've already started doing research for the actual numbers I'll be providing in the book, based upon tax figures and worldwide income statistics, and otherwise. I am pretty sure I'll have it done by the end of October. At which point I need to start looking for a publisher.
Now, I could self publish, but if you remember my post from earlier in the year...I don't really think self publishing gives people any credentials. Anyone can self publish. Which means a bunch of absolute crap gets put on the market because there are a lot of people out there who have no business calling themselves writers, but because they can self publish a book and stick their name on it they can call themselves an author. Nevermind the fact that it's never been put past a professional editor before...in their heads, they are writers. I'm not that kind of guy. I whole-heartedly believe that until an editor has taken a look at your work and approved it, then it isn't really credible. Not everyone agrees with me. That's fine. But that's my feelings on it. So if you know any good e-book or even regular book publishers who you think would be a good fit for publishing a book on global freelancing, let me know. Otherwise I'll be starting to shop for an agent in November, and see if I can't get this thing sold in one format or another.
Evy told me I have way too many ideas, far too many passions, and not enough time. I've been stressing out lately about which projects to focus on, because I have dozens of them I want to work on, and I'm spreading myself too thin. So I made a decision on Sunday. For the rest of 2009 these are my goals:
- Get the freelance book finished
- Find a publisher for the book
- Get a website up and running
- See where I can get on the fiction novel
I really hope to cross the 100k word mark on the fiction novel by the end of the year. Maybe. I've been hovering around 80k words since June, so if I can manage to write chapters 13, 14, and 15, I can push past the 100k mark.
A big issue with fantasy novels these days is that publishers are becoming more and more unwilling to publish novels over 150k even from big-name authors like Brandon Sanderson, George R. R. Martin, and otherwise. Sanderson was discussing his issue with hist latest Mistborn novel on his website, and how the book stores were the ones throwing a fit about the size of the novel, not the publishers themselves. They were worried that a 200k novel was going to "take up too much shelf space" and cut into their profits. Now, while I don't think I'm going to be at 200k words...my outline is for 25 chapters. If I'm at 100k words with 15 chapters...well, that's at least another 60-80k worth of words to finish the outline, which will put it at around 160-180k words. For a first-time author. I have a feeling I'm going to have a hell of a time getting an agent to sell that, but it's not going to keep me from trying. I can't break it down any smaller than that, because the outline calls for 4 books and that's the best natural breaking point. I could probably shave it down to 150k, but...well, we'll just have to see when it actually gets done.
In any case, here's to success, and here's to good health. Hope you head into the holiday seasons with good cheer and good luck.
Monday, October 5, 2009
The homeless: should you be socially responsible for them?
I'd like to start off with saying that I'm not the type to give hand-outs. When I see a person begging on the street I say to myself, "They lack the desire to succeed in life". And while it's true that I pass those people by without a second's thought or a moment's hesitation, there are those that I feel genuinely sorry for.
Bulgaria is a poor country. It's going to be a long climb to reach Western standards. Perhaps one of the worst parts about the country is the number of people out on the streets in the various cities with nowhere to go, and no income coming in. Now, don't get me wrong...I spent 10+ years in the Denver area, so I'm very familiar with bums. There was a guy in Denver one year (late 90s) who actually proved a point by showing that he could make more money by being a bum than many people make working a full-time job. He went out and spent the entire year living in homeless shelters and eating food from said shelters while begging for money, and at the end of the year he made over 30k USD simply by lowering his standards of living, proving that you could very well be successful as a bum.
But it's more complicated here. The government doesn't really have a Social Security system in place. If you are an elderly retired person you get (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm going off of what I've been told in the past) around 100 leva a month. I don't know the exact amount, although I'd be curious to find out the hard total.
That's about 80 USD. A month. For food...utilities...clothing...transportation...etc. You can't live off of that.
They don't have homeless shelters in Bulgaria, at least not that I know of. They also have bands of gypsies who are basically actual syndicates of beggars who give a percentage of their profits to an overlord of their syndicate. They routinely sell children to each other based upon if the kid is a good pickpocket or not, and they have been known to cut off fingers to give the children a better chance at slipping into people's pockets. There are also some who purposefully maim themselves in order to continue begging, because they know they won't be able to get a job anywhere, and they know the government won't give them enough money to pay for basic utilities, and they know nobody will hire them because they are physically deformed.
Now...I feel pity for these people, but there also has to be a limit to what one person can or even should do for charity. I'm all for helping people out if I can, but at what point do I put myself above others?
Evy and I have started buying food for a few select people we see on our regular routes. We avoid giving them money. Why? Because we have no idea where that money will go. Booze, cigarettes, or to their "pimp"? We have no idea. We also don't give to certain ones. If they can talk, walk, and don't appear to have any ailments, I refuse to give them money. Why? Because there are jobs at nearly every McDonalds. They can sweep streets. They can empty trash cans. They can join a ditch-digging crew. And while the wages might suck, and they are the shit jobs, at least they would be working for their money. By me giving healthy people who should be out there working jobs money, I am only perpetuating the problem by allowing them to continue their way of life.
I do, however, give food to the elderly, or to those people who are missing limbs. I saw one old man, who had to be in his late 80s, literally crying on the steps to one of the subway stations. It literally wrenched my heart, and made me feel physically sick. That was about 3 months ago. Since then we have been actively going out of our way to buy food for five or six of these people that we see 2 or 3 times a week.
I wish they had a homeless shelter in Sofia, but they don't. The majority of people just don't care. They shun these people like they have the plague. I know it's the same in the States because I've been around it in big cities like Denver, Seattle, and San Jose before.
There is also a difference between the "street rat" gangs and genuinely needy people. The gangs are made up of criminals who choose to be that way. They are healthy. They could have real jobs. They just choose not to. However, the elderly have no choice. The government's not giving them enough money to pay for basic necessities, and if they are someone whose family has died off or something, there's nobody to help them out.
Now, it's getting better. They have been increasing the retirement payouts, but it's not high enough to counter the cost of living just yet. Elderly people have to have family members looking out for them or they are screwed. It's the one part of Bulgarian life that I really hope changes for the better. Don't get me wrong...I am not a big fan of the welfare system in America, but at the very least it does provide a service for a lot of people who are worse off. And while I agree that it's not my social responsibility to take care of the people who can take care of themselves, what about those who really have no other viable options than to beg?
I'd at least like to help those ones out. And I know I'm not making much of a difference, but honestly....50 bucks a month out of my pocket to buy sandwiches and food for a few elderly homeless people is the least I can do. What do you do to help the less fortunate, and what do you think could be done to help move things in the right direction?
Bulgaria is a poor country. It's going to be a long climb to reach Western standards. Perhaps one of the worst parts about the country is the number of people out on the streets in the various cities with nowhere to go, and no income coming in. Now, don't get me wrong...I spent 10+ years in the Denver area, so I'm very familiar with bums. There was a guy in Denver one year (late 90s) who actually proved a point by showing that he could make more money by being a bum than many people make working a full-time job. He went out and spent the entire year living in homeless shelters and eating food from said shelters while begging for money, and at the end of the year he made over 30k USD simply by lowering his standards of living, proving that you could very well be successful as a bum.
But it's more complicated here. The government doesn't really have a Social Security system in place. If you are an elderly retired person you get (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm going off of what I've been told in the past) around 100 leva a month. I don't know the exact amount, although I'd be curious to find out the hard total.
That's about 80 USD. A month. For food...utilities...clothing...transportation...etc. You can't live off of that.
They don't have homeless shelters in Bulgaria, at least not that I know of. They also have bands of gypsies who are basically actual syndicates of beggars who give a percentage of their profits to an overlord of their syndicate. They routinely sell children to each other based upon if the kid is a good pickpocket or not, and they have been known to cut off fingers to give the children a better chance at slipping into people's pockets. There are also some who purposefully maim themselves in order to continue begging, because they know they won't be able to get a job anywhere, and they know the government won't give them enough money to pay for basic utilities, and they know nobody will hire them because they are physically deformed.
Now...I feel pity for these people, but there also has to be a limit to what one person can or even should do for charity. I'm all for helping people out if I can, but at what point do I put myself above others?
Evy and I have started buying food for a few select people we see on our regular routes. We avoid giving them money. Why? Because we have no idea where that money will go. Booze, cigarettes, or to their "pimp"? We have no idea. We also don't give to certain ones. If they can talk, walk, and don't appear to have any ailments, I refuse to give them money. Why? Because there are jobs at nearly every McDonalds. They can sweep streets. They can empty trash cans. They can join a ditch-digging crew. And while the wages might suck, and they are the shit jobs, at least they would be working for their money. By me giving healthy people who should be out there working jobs money, I am only perpetuating the problem by allowing them to continue their way of life.
I do, however, give food to the elderly, or to those people who are missing limbs. I saw one old man, who had to be in his late 80s, literally crying on the steps to one of the subway stations. It literally wrenched my heart, and made me feel physically sick. That was about 3 months ago. Since then we have been actively going out of our way to buy food for five or six of these people that we see 2 or 3 times a week.
I wish they had a homeless shelter in Sofia, but they don't. The majority of people just don't care. They shun these people like they have the plague. I know it's the same in the States because I've been around it in big cities like Denver, Seattle, and San Jose before.
There is also a difference between the "street rat" gangs and genuinely needy people. The gangs are made up of criminals who choose to be that way. They are healthy. They could have real jobs. They just choose not to. However, the elderly have no choice. The government's not giving them enough money to pay for basic necessities, and if they are someone whose family has died off or something, there's nobody to help them out.
Now, it's getting better. They have been increasing the retirement payouts, but it's not high enough to counter the cost of living just yet. Elderly people have to have family members looking out for them or they are screwed. It's the one part of Bulgarian life that I really hope changes for the better. Don't get me wrong...I am not a big fan of the welfare system in America, but at the very least it does provide a service for a lot of people who are worse off. And while I agree that it's not my social responsibility to take care of the people who can take care of themselves, what about those who really have no other viable options than to beg?
I'd at least like to help those ones out. And I know I'm not making much of a difference, but honestly....50 bucks a month out of my pocket to buy sandwiches and food for a few elderly homeless people is the least I can do. What do you do to help the less fortunate, and what do you think could be done to help move things in the right direction?
First day of the new month, random ramblings
Ok, technically it's not the first day of October. It's the 5th. But it's my first working day of the month, as I took the last few days of last week off from writing and spent it doing research for a project I'm finishing up the first half of this month.
Without getting into too much because of the NDA, I can at least say that the overall scheme of the project is about poker. Something I had little/no knowledge of prior to this project, outside of playing a few hands now and again at parties and social occasions. Little did I know just how epic in scope the game is, and how much it has evolved in the past century. I can honestly say this is a project that I have learned a lot from. I've spent a couple of weeks working on the project so far, and I've still got another two weeks worth of work, but I will say this: I never knew there were so many variations of the game, and I never knew just how lucrative (albeit risky) the game could be. There are some incredible success stories in the realm of the game. Normal people going from nothing and becoming multi-millionaires, and not just based upon sheer dumb luck. There is absolutely skill involved with professional poker playing, as is evident by the professionals who make their living playing the game.
Onto our new favorite show, Numb3rs. I can honestly say it's made it into my top 5. How the hell did we miss this show? Probably because we never really watched network TV back when we were in the States, but kept to our cable shows. We just finished season 2 of this gem last night, and both of us agree that it's been slotted into our number 2 all-time favorite shows. Absolutely phenomenal, and I have to admit...it's started a craving within me to see if I can somehow enhance my math skills to really learn more about this subject.
We've been blessed with a financially secure position at present, and there are a lot of doors opening in terms of opportunities, and we are having a hard time choosing exactly which doors we want to open. We've also got time for a lot of hobbies, and when I wrap up my language lessons in February I'm looking into taking some math classes.
I really do need to brush up on the subject, not only for personal desires. I've been debating earning a viticulture degree from one of the universities here. One of our long-term goals is property investments, and tied into that is vineyards. Bulgaria is phenomenal wine country, and my enthusiasm for the grape is such that I want to own my own. I'd like to get started on a vineyard in about 5 years or so, so that it has plenty of time to mature and get to the point where it's providing a healthy yearly revenue for us, but I don't want to be just the money behind the operation. I have a passion for the grapes, and I absolutely want to be as hands-on as possible in the daily operations of said vineyard. If there's one thing I really want to do in the next 5 years, this is it. And math does play a part in that. Seeing as how it's my only weak point, time to brush up.
If things work out the way we are planning (and keep in mind that life doesn't always give you what you plan for), working the part-time hours I've kept the majority of this year should give us around 30k USD in the bank by the end of next year, after taxes. If I work more hours, take higher paying projects, sell stories, or etc., then that number goes up. If Evy's work picks up next year, that number goes up. 30k's a good start for an investment. We don't plan on dumping all of it into something, but over half, probably. We are going to buy a piece of property to start, and go from there.
Granted, that's all based upon things the way they are now, which we don't foresee changing in the next few years. The apartment is paid for, and barring a natural disaster, we won't be moving until the houses are built out in the countryside, which is something that is currently on hold until her mother and company can get the wells drilled...which is taking extra time to get permits from the government. Originally they were supposed to be built by 2008...then 2010...and now it's pushed back again until who knows when. We are personally figuring that they won't be ready until 2014 at the earliest, even if they started building next year, because things in Bulgaria don't work like they do back in the States. Things are slow here. Getting better, but bureaucracy gets in the way more often than not.
Which actually ties into our "5 year plan" rather nicely. Yes, we have one. Yes, I know some people say it's a waste of time to have a 5 year plan, because you can't plan "life". That's fine...what you can do is set goals and have aspirations, and that's what we are doing. Our cost of living for 2009 was around 8k USD, total. Closer to 10k USD when you throw in entertainment for the year. That's 100% total.
10k vs. 60k. Same amenities. You do the math.
This was my first year working freelance "full time". As in, I've had work when I wanted it. I've landed most jobs I query for. I've found one client who has kept me busy all year long with steady work, and another client who is keeping me busy until the end of the year. I've taken pet projects between those. When everything is said and done, I'm averaging around 25 USD between high and low paying clients, although I've really only had steady income since May. First few months of the year were shaky as I was still establishing myself, but since then it's been reliable. If I wanted to work full time, I can say with reliability that I could break 50k USD for the year. Which, as far as I'm concerned, isn't too bad of a wage for a second-year freelancer with no college degree and not even a high school diploma. Especially considering only 10k of that is needed for living expenses, and the entirety of the rest goes straight into the savings account, and doesn't even factor in Evy's income.
Work could dry up next year. But I doubt it. We are in a unique place. Bulgaria is on the crux of a big development push. The last few years have seen significant changes in the country as they joined the EU. Government has changed. Money is being spent in the right places. English is more common. Businesses are in the "calm before the storm" phase due to the recession, but things are poised for a giant leap forward. The beauty of being where we are is that we are ready to take advantage of it. Now, it could all go south, but I don't see that happening. Even if my work were to dry up entirely from the US, most of my work isn't from US clients. Most of my work is from Europeans, and the European market is booming in comparison to the US.
I'm also not putting all my eggs into one basket. I'm planning on starting a construction company here next year. I'm also going to be looking into getting a translation company going for businesses. Also tied into that will be more Bulgarian-specific services for websites and companies who want to make an online presence and have a native English speaker and professional writer who can make their websites read the way they need to read in order to appeal to the investors coming into the country from the West. I have the fiction book to finish writing. I have an e-book I'm working on presently. I had a cook-book planned that I still want to do, hopefully in the spring. My freelance writing is going strong. Stories are selling.
It's an interesting position to be in, and I'm incredibly excited to be blessed enough to have the freedom to expand upon those entrepreneurial concepts.
I read something recently about a lady back in the States who was complaining about her job, and I had to ask the question: why are you still doing it? Don't like what you are doing? Change your circumstances. I honestly don't believe that "you can't do anything about it". That only holds true if you believe that you are stuck wherever you are, and that chances don't exist. The only person standing between you and success is you. You either want it, or you don't. I've seen a lot of people complain that "well I can't change jobs because there aren't any other jobs to be had." Stop being so limited. You don't have to live and work in the US or the UK. Europe is a big place, and there are a lot of countries in it. Canada, Australia...they all have similar economies, but they aren't packed full of people all with the same credentials looking for the same jobs. Market yourself on a global scale. Stop limiting yourself by local constraints. The world is your oyster. Get out there and crack it open.
Understandably everyone has extenuating circumstances, but are you going to let those get in the way of living the life you want to live?
That's enough for a Monday morning :) Time to get to work. I hope you all find success in what you do, and are happy with your circumstances. Evy and I have been extremely blessed this year, and I hope to be able to see more people enjoying such success in the years to come.
Without getting into too much because of the NDA, I can at least say that the overall scheme of the project is about poker. Something I had little/no knowledge of prior to this project, outside of playing a few hands now and again at parties and social occasions. Little did I know just how epic in scope the game is, and how much it has evolved in the past century. I can honestly say this is a project that I have learned a lot from. I've spent a couple of weeks working on the project so far, and I've still got another two weeks worth of work, but I will say this: I never knew there were so many variations of the game, and I never knew just how lucrative (albeit risky) the game could be. There are some incredible success stories in the realm of the game. Normal people going from nothing and becoming multi-millionaires, and not just based upon sheer dumb luck. There is absolutely skill involved with professional poker playing, as is evident by the professionals who make their living playing the game.
Onto our new favorite show, Numb3rs. I can honestly say it's made it into my top 5. How the hell did we miss this show? Probably because we never really watched network TV back when we were in the States, but kept to our cable shows. We just finished season 2 of this gem last night, and both of us agree that it's been slotted into our number 2 all-time favorite shows. Absolutely phenomenal, and I have to admit...it's started a craving within me to see if I can somehow enhance my math skills to really learn more about this subject.
We've been blessed with a financially secure position at present, and there are a lot of doors opening in terms of opportunities, and we are having a hard time choosing exactly which doors we want to open. We've also got time for a lot of hobbies, and when I wrap up my language lessons in February I'm looking into taking some math classes.
I really do need to brush up on the subject, not only for personal desires. I've been debating earning a viticulture degree from one of the universities here. One of our long-term goals is property investments, and tied into that is vineyards. Bulgaria is phenomenal wine country, and my enthusiasm for the grape is such that I want to own my own. I'd like to get started on a vineyard in about 5 years or so, so that it has plenty of time to mature and get to the point where it's providing a healthy yearly revenue for us, but I don't want to be just the money behind the operation. I have a passion for the grapes, and I absolutely want to be as hands-on as possible in the daily operations of said vineyard. If there's one thing I really want to do in the next 5 years, this is it. And math does play a part in that. Seeing as how it's my only weak point, time to brush up.
If things work out the way we are planning (and keep in mind that life doesn't always give you what you plan for), working the part-time hours I've kept the majority of this year should give us around 30k USD in the bank by the end of next year, after taxes. If I work more hours, take higher paying projects, sell stories, or etc., then that number goes up. If Evy's work picks up next year, that number goes up. 30k's a good start for an investment. We don't plan on dumping all of it into something, but over half, probably. We are going to buy a piece of property to start, and go from there.
Granted, that's all based upon things the way they are now, which we don't foresee changing in the next few years. The apartment is paid for, and barring a natural disaster, we won't be moving until the houses are built out in the countryside, which is something that is currently on hold until her mother and company can get the wells drilled...which is taking extra time to get permits from the government. Originally they were supposed to be built by 2008...then 2010...and now it's pushed back again until who knows when. We are personally figuring that they won't be ready until 2014 at the earliest, even if they started building next year, because things in Bulgaria don't work like they do back in the States. Things are slow here. Getting better, but bureaucracy gets in the way more often than not.
Which actually ties into our "5 year plan" rather nicely. Yes, we have one. Yes, I know some people say it's a waste of time to have a 5 year plan, because you can't plan "life". That's fine...what you can do is set goals and have aspirations, and that's what we are doing. Our cost of living for 2009 was around 8k USD, total. Closer to 10k USD when you throw in entertainment for the year. That's 100% total.
10k vs. 60k. Same amenities. You do the math.
This was my first year working freelance "full time". As in, I've had work when I wanted it. I've landed most jobs I query for. I've found one client who has kept me busy all year long with steady work, and another client who is keeping me busy until the end of the year. I've taken pet projects between those. When everything is said and done, I'm averaging around 25 USD between high and low paying clients, although I've really only had steady income since May. First few months of the year were shaky as I was still establishing myself, but since then it's been reliable. If I wanted to work full time, I can say with reliability that I could break 50k USD for the year. Which, as far as I'm concerned, isn't too bad of a wage for a second-year freelancer with no college degree and not even a high school diploma. Especially considering only 10k of that is needed for living expenses, and the entirety of the rest goes straight into the savings account, and doesn't even factor in Evy's income.
Work could dry up next year. But I doubt it. We are in a unique place. Bulgaria is on the crux of a big development push. The last few years have seen significant changes in the country as they joined the EU. Government has changed. Money is being spent in the right places. English is more common. Businesses are in the "calm before the storm" phase due to the recession, but things are poised for a giant leap forward. The beauty of being where we are is that we are ready to take advantage of it. Now, it could all go south, but I don't see that happening. Even if my work were to dry up entirely from the US, most of my work isn't from US clients. Most of my work is from Europeans, and the European market is booming in comparison to the US.
I'm also not putting all my eggs into one basket. I'm planning on starting a construction company here next year. I'm also going to be looking into getting a translation company going for businesses. Also tied into that will be more Bulgarian-specific services for websites and companies who want to make an online presence and have a native English speaker and professional writer who can make their websites read the way they need to read in order to appeal to the investors coming into the country from the West. I have the fiction book to finish writing. I have an e-book I'm working on presently. I had a cook-book planned that I still want to do, hopefully in the spring. My freelance writing is going strong. Stories are selling.
It's an interesting position to be in, and I'm incredibly excited to be blessed enough to have the freedom to expand upon those entrepreneurial concepts.
I read something recently about a lady back in the States who was complaining about her job, and I had to ask the question: why are you still doing it? Don't like what you are doing? Change your circumstances. I honestly don't believe that "you can't do anything about it". That only holds true if you believe that you are stuck wherever you are, and that chances don't exist. The only person standing between you and success is you. You either want it, or you don't. I've seen a lot of people complain that "well I can't change jobs because there aren't any other jobs to be had." Stop being so limited. You don't have to live and work in the US or the UK. Europe is a big place, and there are a lot of countries in it. Canada, Australia...they all have similar economies, but they aren't packed full of people all with the same credentials looking for the same jobs. Market yourself on a global scale. Stop limiting yourself by local constraints. The world is your oyster. Get out there and crack it open.
Understandably everyone has extenuating circumstances, but are you going to let those get in the way of living the life you want to live?
That's enough for a Monday morning :) Time to get to work. I hope you all find success in what you do, and are happy with your circumstances. Evy and I have been extremely blessed this year, and I hope to be able to see more people enjoying such success in the years to come.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Pet Peeves
At the top of my list is potential clients who don't bother to check your references or even bother to read your resume and/or your writing samples.
I recently sent a query off to a job which asked for my resume + links to published work. I did so. Within a few days I heard back from the guy and he wanted me to provide him with "additional samples" so he could judge the quality of my work.
........................
I proceeded to write him the following:
If you were a homeowner and wanted to remodel your house, you would send out a query for interested builders. Those builders would show up and give you quotes. Along with the quotes they will give you a run-down of their credentials, which allows you to determine which of them has rates and experience relevant to your particular job. You base your opinion of hiring them upon what credentials they give you.
What you do not do is ask them if they can build your son a tree-fort in the back yard for free over the weekend, so that you get a chance to "judge" the quality of the work up close and personal.
The guy replied to me with this comment: "Well, I've gotten over 30 replies to my e-mail and I just don't have the time to go through every person's resume and check all of their samples and contact their references. It's just easier for me to have you write a sample for me."
First of all...samples were included. The resume includes dozens of links to published materiel on the web and in print. Second of all...you just admitted you didn't even bother to read the resume I sent you, nor did you bother to check the credentials you asked for in the first place.
Way to inspire me to want to work with you.
Seriously. What the hell is up with people who ask you for resume/samples/references, and then don't even bother to check them? Furthermore, I just can't believe the audacity of some of these people when they come up with things like "well, we need you to provide us with some additional samples".
No, you don't. I'm a professional. When I was running a ceramic tile and natural stone company people didn't get free samples. I didn't go in and install an entryway for them for free, just so they could "see my work". They were provided with a list of credentials, which are easily verified through simple phone calls and/or Internet searching, and they were able to base their final decision upon my reputation as an installer, my prices, and the quality of my work. There was no such thing as freebies.
It's the one thing I really can't stand about freelancing. And it's becoming a far more prevalent issue.
People only want free samples for one reason: they want free work so they can use it and claim that "well, your sample didn't make the cut", and then sneak it in somewhere.
If a resume and published articles can't give them an accurate picture of your work, then they aren't worth working for in the first place. Especially if they point-blank tell you that they didn't bother to read the resume they requested from you in the first place...
I recently sent a query off to a job which asked for my resume + links to published work. I did so. Within a few days I heard back from the guy and he wanted me to provide him with "additional samples" so he could judge the quality of my work.
........................
I proceeded to write him the following:
If you were a homeowner and wanted to remodel your house, you would send out a query for interested builders. Those builders would show up and give you quotes. Along with the quotes they will give you a run-down of their credentials, which allows you to determine which of them has rates and experience relevant to your particular job. You base your opinion of hiring them upon what credentials they give you.
What you do not do is ask them if they can build your son a tree-fort in the back yard for free over the weekend, so that you get a chance to "judge" the quality of the work up close and personal.
The guy replied to me with this comment: "Well, I've gotten over 30 replies to my e-mail and I just don't have the time to go through every person's resume and check all of their samples and contact their references. It's just easier for me to have you write a sample for me."
First of all...samples were included. The resume includes dozens of links to published materiel on the web and in print. Second of all...you just admitted you didn't even bother to read the resume I sent you, nor did you bother to check the credentials you asked for in the first place.
Way to inspire me to want to work with you.
Seriously. What the hell is up with people who ask you for resume/samples/references, and then don't even bother to check them? Furthermore, I just can't believe the audacity of some of these people when they come up with things like "well, we need you to provide us with some additional samples".
No, you don't. I'm a professional. When I was running a ceramic tile and natural stone company people didn't get free samples. I didn't go in and install an entryway for them for free, just so they could "see my work". They were provided with a list of credentials, which are easily verified through simple phone calls and/or Internet searching, and they were able to base their final decision upon my reputation as an installer, my prices, and the quality of my work. There was no such thing as freebies.
It's the one thing I really can't stand about freelancing. And it's becoming a far more prevalent issue.
People only want free samples for one reason: they want free work so they can use it and claim that "well, your sample didn't make the cut", and then sneak it in somewhere.
If a resume and published articles can't give them an accurate picture of your work, then they aren't worth working for in the first place. Especially if they point-blank tell you that they didn't bother to read the resume they requested from you in the first place...
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Doing favors for your neighbors is now a crime!
The lengths a government goes to in order to strip people of their personal freedoms suffers no limits. The latest in my ongoing study of governments who involve themselves too greatly in their people's lives shows the American government regulating neighbors and the favors they do for each other.
Remember that blog post I made earlier this month detailing how the US government is about to start telling its citizens they can't grow their own produce or have gardens because the average citizen is "too dumb" to know how to safely grow a garden? Or that if you don't have health insurance you are going to be fined, even if you couldn't afford to pay for insurance in the first place? This one takes it a step further.
Remember the days when you could knock on your neighbor's door and ask them for a cup of sugar? A couple of eggs? Watch the dog while we're on vacation? Take care of our son/daughter while we enjoy a night out on the town? Or heaven-forbid, something bad happens to your spouse, and you need someone to watch your kids while you work some extra hours in this recession-driven economy and you can't afford daycare because the rates are too high?
Enter the no-longer-allowed-to-be-a-good-neighbor-program. Gone are the days of being able to do favors for your neighbors. This is just the first step. Another personal freedom that is being wrenched away from Americans by a government that claims you aren't allowed to take care of your family in the way you see fit.
Need to go to the hospital and need someone to watch over your kids for the night? Better get a government-approved-and-appointed babysitter, because otherwise you are breaking the law and going straight to jail. Need a cup of sugar? Only if you get it from your government-approved-and-appointed sugar provider. Want to have a veggie garden? Toss that right in there with "only if it's government approved".
This article made me puke in my mouth just a little bit. Seriously. In the recession, people are having to find all sorts of ways to make ends meet. Spouses are working double shifts, taking part time jobs, doing everything they can to make ends meet, and it's not uncommon for people to ask their neighbors to help them out when it comes to taking care of the kids if grandma/relatives can't. But now the government is stepping in and telling you when and how often your friends and family can watch your children for you.
Recession got you down, hurting your checkbook, and making it so you can't afford official daycare? Doesn't matter...prepare to be fined for having your neighbour wait for your kids at the bus stop, because working that second job you need to work in order to put food on the table isn't as important as making sure that government-appointed-and-approved babysitter is getting theirs, and giving their cut back to The Man.
Makes me sick to my stomach.
Remember that blog post I made earlier this month detailing how the US government is about to start telling its citizens they can't grow their own produce or have gardens because the average citizen is "too dumb" to know how to safely grow a garden? Or that if you don't have health insurance you are going to be fined, even if you couldn't afford to pay for insurance in the first place? This one takes it a step further.
Remember the days when you could knock on your neighbor's door and ask them for a cup of sugar? A couple of eggs? Watch the dog while we're on vacation? Take care of our son/daughter while we enjoy a night out on the town? Or heaven-forbid, something bad happens to your spouse, and you need someone to watch your kids while you work some extra hours in this recession-driven economy and you can't afford daycare because the rates are too high?
Enter the no-longer-allowed-to-be-a-good-neighbor-program. Gone are the days of being able to do favors for your neighbors. This is just the first step. Another personal freedom that is being wrenched away from Americans by a government that claims you aren't allowed to take care of your family in the way you see fit.
Need to go to the hospital and need someone to watch over your kids for the night? Better get a government-approved-and-appointed babysitter, because otherwise you are breaking the law and going straight to jail. Need a cup of sugar? Only if you get it from your government-approved-and-appointed sugar provider. Want to have a veggie garden? Toss that right in there with "only if it's government approved".
This article made me puke in my mouth just a little bit. Seriously. In the recession, people are having to find all sorts of ways to make ends meet. Spouses are working double shifts, taking part time jobs, doing everything they can to make ends meet, and it's not uncommon for people to ask their neighbors to help them out when it comes to taking care of the kids if grandma/relatives can't. But now the government is stepping in and telling you when and how often your friends and family can watch your children for you.
Recession got you down, hurting your checkbook, and making it so you can't afford official daycare? Doesn't matter...prepare to be fined for having your neighbour wait for your kids at the bus stop, because working that second job you need to work in order to put food on the table isn't as important as making sure that government-appointed-and-approved babysitter is getting theirs, and giving their cut back to The Man.
Makes me sick to my stomach.
Finally!
So, after living here for what is now approaching two years...
...I've finally signed up to take some Bulgarian lessons.
But Tim, you ask, how could you possibly have lived there for two years and not learned the language by now?
Believe me, it's a question I field quite frequently. And, to be honest, it's a little disturbing the growing number of the elderly generation (see 50+) who have begun to think that I'm lazy because I haven't spent the time to do so yet.
Let me explain my situation.
I work from home. All of my clients are in English. All of my work is in English. Evy speaks English. Everywhere I go in Sofia there are English signs as a result of their joining the EU 2 years ago. Almost everyone you meet in the stores speak English. The only place English is not common is with the 50+ generation or the vegetable markets and interior of the country, where things are still very rural and cultural/traditional. Most of the older generation speak Russian and Bulgarian, because Russian was an unofficial language for them because of the Communist regime, but now that English is the unofficial second language, anyone who is anyone speaks it because it's required by their jobs.
What this has boiled down to is that most of the time, I very rarely have issues with communication. I can do all of my shopping without ever uttering a single phrase of Bulgarian. I can use the taxi, order food at a restaurant, and do almost all of my daily activities without needing to know the language.
That's not to say I haven't learned a bit in that time. I can understand conversations about 15% of the time, and I know a lot of phrases. I order my food in Bulgarian at restaurants (I actually know a lot of "food" related words/phrases, so I can generally read a menu pretty well). I genuinely try to use my phrases as often as I can. I know whether or not the lady at the store is asking me if I want a big bag or a small bag for my groceries. I know whether or not the waitress is telling me they are out of Stella Artois and only have Kamenitza, and do I want draft or bottle. I can "get by" if I absolutely had to, purely using "baby" Bulgarian.
However, it's not conversational Bulgarian, not in the least.
My 2 year residency is up in June, which means I can apply for permanent residency. While it's not required to be fluent in the language to be granted permanent residency, I have decided that my goal is to be fluent by that point in time. Why? Well, I got to thinking about how pissed off I used to get at the Mexican immigrants in America who came to the country and proceeded to work, live, and use American resources but never bothered to learn the language. Then I realized I was doing almost the same thing. I might not be working for Bulgarian clients, but I live here, I use their stores, I walk on their sidewalks, I take their trams, and I plan on living here for the foreseeable future over the next 10+ years, and probably for the rest of my life.
Not to mention, I know her grandparents and other people would love to have an actual conversation with me, and our rather talkative wine merchant will actually be able to talk to me directly instead of having to use Evy as a translator. And I can do more things on my own without Evy helping me when I need it.
But I also have another reason to do so. I want to branch out my business. Bulgaria is just now starting to get into the whole website craze. While a great many businesses have them, not everyone does. And not all of them are in Bulgarian + English. As more and more businesses get "up with the times" and the future with the European Union grows, more and more people are looking for translations. We have a friend of the family who recently told me how much money he was making doing translations and it was an obscene amount. Obscene! As in...a few hundred per day obscene, for just a few hours worth of work. And it got me to thinking.
Why wait? If I can get myself to the fluent stage by next spring I can start branching out my business into the Bulgarian market, offering translation services and freelance content work just like I do now all over the world. I have clients from Taiwan, Australia, the UK, the US, the Netherlands...just to name a few. I'd like to add Bulgaria to that list, and why not? I live here, and this is a developing country, which means there are far more opportunities than there are in other countries where development has stagnated or already peaked, so I might as well jump on the bandwagon of people making money off of the development.
Not to mention I was thinking (if you remember that blog post awhile back) about starting up a construction/remodeling company here catering to the high-end clients, and it would be better if I was able to communicate directly with people rather than just hiring someone to do it for me and being the "money" behind the operation only.
In any case...there are a lot of reasons I really do need to start worrying about it. And now that we are in a financially secure position, there's no time like the present. So I signed up today, and I start classes on the 12th of October.
...I've finally signed up to take some Bulgarian lessons.
But Tim, you ask, how could you possibly have lived there for two years and not learned the language by now?
Believe me, it's a question I field quite frequently. And, to be honest, it's a little disturbing the growing number of the elderly generation (see 50+) who have begun to think that I'm lazy because I haven't spent the time to do so yet.
Let me explain my situation.
I work from home. All of my clients are in English. All of my work is in English. Evy speaks English. Everywhere I go in Sofia there are English signs as a result of their joining the EU 2 years ago. Almost everyone you meet in the stores speak English. The only place English is not common is with the 50+ generation or the vegetable markets and interior of the country, where things are still very rural and cultural/traditional. Most of the older generation speak Russian and Bulgarian, because Russian was an unofficial language for them because of the Communist regime, but now that English is the unofficial second language, anyone who is anyone speaks it because it's required by their jobs.
What this has boiled down to is that most of the time, I very rarely have issues with communication. I can do all of my shopping without ever uttering a single phrase of Bulgarian. I can use the taxi, order food at a restaurant, and do almost all of my daily activities without needing to know the language.
That's not to say I haven't learned a bit in that time. I can understand conversations about 15% of the time, and I know a lot of phrases. I order my food in Bulgarian at restaurants (I actually know a lot of "food" related words/phrases, so I can generally read a menu pretty well). I genuinely try to use my phrases as often as I can. I know whether or not the lady at the store is asking me if I want a big bag or a small bag for my groceries. I know whether or not the waitress is telling me they are out of Stella Artois and only have Kamenitza, and do I want draft or bottle. I can "get by" if I absolutely had to, purely using "baby" Bulgarian.
However, it's not conversational Bulgarian, not in the least.
My 2 year residency is up in June, which means I can apply for permanent residency. While it's not required to be fluent in the language to be granted permanent residency, I have decided that my goal is to be fluent by that point in time. Why? Well, I got to thinking about how pissed off I used to get at the Mexican immigrants in America who came to the country and proceeded to work, live, and use American resources but never bothered to learn the language. Then I realized I was doing almost the same thing. I might not be working for Bulgarian clients, but I live here, I use their stores, I walk on their sidewalks, I take their trams, and I plan on living here for the foreseeable future over the next 10+ years, and probably for the rest of my life.
Not to mention, I know her grandparents and other people would love to have an actual conversation with me, and our rather talkative wine merchant will actually be able to talk to me directly instead of having to use Evy as a translator. And I can do more things on my own without Evy helping me when I need it.
But I also have another reason to do so. I want to branch out my business. Bulgaria is just now starting to get into the whole website craze. While a great many businesses have them, not everyone does. And not all of them are in Bulgarian + English. As more and more businesses get "up with the times" and the future with the European Union grows, more and more people are looking for translations. We have a friend of the family who recently told me how much money he was making doing translations and it was an obscene amount. Obscene! As in...a few hundred per day obscene, for just a few hours worth of work. And it got me to thinking.
Why wait? If I can get myself to the fluent stage by next spring I can start branching out my business into the Bulgarian market, offering translation services and freelance content work just like I do now all over the world. I have clients from Taiwan, Australia, the UK, the US, the Netherlands...just to name a few. I'd like to add Bulgaria to that list, and why not? I live here, and this is a developing country, which means there are far more opportunities than there are in other countries where development has stagnated or already peaked, so I might as well jump on the bandwagon of people making money off of the development.
Not to mention I was thinking (if you remember that blog post awhile back) about starting up a construction/remodeling company here catering to the high-end clients, and it would be better if I was able to communicate directly with people rather than just hiring someone to do it for me and being the "money" behind the operation only.
In any case...there are a lot of reasons I really do need to start worrying about it. And now that we are in a financially secure position, there's no time like the present. So I signed up today, and I start classes on the 12th of October.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The Shows We Love, Part III
Stumbled across a new one that I'm surprised we had never watched before.
Numb3rs.
There's not a lot I can say about this show other than "amazing".
I love math. I've enjoyed reading about it since I was a small child, and its basis in science fiction has driven me to explore the "theories" of math to some small degree since that point in time. I enjoy talking about dark matter, chaos theory, quantum physics, and beyond.
The only thing is...I suck at math. I don't "get" math. I understand the theories. I can talk about it using "everyday-man" speech. But I don't get math equations. I was close to a straight A student in high school. Except for in math. I struggled to even get a B, and hovered near a C most of the time. Although it depended on the subject. In geometry I was the star public of my class, with well over 100% on my grades due to enjoying it enough that I always did extra credit just because. But algebra? For some odd reason those equations and other things just escaped me.
In any case, the show is produced by Ridley and Tony Scott, and I guess it's been on the air for 5 seasons, with the 6th just starting. We discovered it last week, and are already mid-way into season 2. It's great!
The premise, for those who don't know, is this FBI guy whose brother is a math genius. The brother uses math to help solve FBI cases. They use math for everything. It's just frickin' awesome! And they go into the math theories using analogies that are easy for us math-dummies to grasp and understand. Which makes it even more uber because I can "get it" even though I don't understand the equations or the actual quantifying of the numbers or any of the "math" stuff they are actually doing to come to the conclusions.
Still, it's highly entertaining :) I recommend you try it out if you haven't watched it yet. Very good show, and is now added into our schedule of shows we follow.
Numb3rs.
There's not a lot I can say about this show other than "amazing".
I love math. I've enjoyed reading about it since I was a small child, and its basis in science fiction has driven me to explore the "theories" of math to some small degree since that point in time. I enjoy talking about dark matter, chaos theory, quantum physics, and beyond.
The only thing is...I suck at math. I don't "get" math. I understand the theories. I can talk about it using "everyday-man" speech. But I don't get math equations. I was close to a straight A student in high school. Except for in math. I struggled to even get a B, and hovered near a C most of the time. Although it depended on the subject. In geometry I was the star public of my class, with well over 100% on my grades due to enjoying it enough that I always did extra credit just because. But algebra? For some odd reason those equations and other things just escaped me.
In any case, the show is produced by Ridley and Tony Scott, and I guess it's been on the air for 5 seasons, with the 6th just starting. We discovered it last week, and are already mid-way into season 2. It's great!
The premise, for those who don't know, is this FBI guy whose brother is a math genius. The brother uses math to help solve FBI cases. They use math for everything. It's just frickin' awesome! And they go into the math theories using analogies that are easy for us math-dummies to grasp and understand. Which makes it even more uber because I can "get it" even though I don't understand the equations or the actual quantifying of the numbers or any of the "math" stuff they are actually doing to come to the conclusions.
Still, it's highly entertaining :) I recommend you try it out if you haven't watched it yet. Very good show, and is now added into our schedule of shows we follow.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Some personal musings
Just got confirmation on continuing work with one of my newer clients, with an extended schedule that will be until roughly the end of December. That means I have the rest of 2009 booked with work, and can rest easy in terms of paying gigs.
As it stands now, I've got three different projects going for two different clients. Busy, busy little bee, for sure.
I talk about it a lot, but I really am torn. I love my job, but I do want to write fiction full time. The downside is that fiction writing doesn't pay well...not for the first few years, unless you get exceptionally lucky. It also takes an increasingly frustrating length of time to hear back from editors regarding your submission. Right now I'm at the four month mark on three different short stories that I haven't heard back on yet. I won't make much more than a few hundred dollars per story at most if they manage to sell, so you can see how getting started in the fiction world just doesn't work unless you happen to have a paying job and/or a spouse who is willing to foot the bills while you struggle at finding yourself getting published.
Now, I'm blessed in that I've already been published here and there with some short stories. The real issue I'm having is this: do I want to pursue my passion, or do I want to keep padding the savings account?
Thing is, we spent all of our savings in moving over here + living off of it for the entirety of 2008. By the end of October we will be where we were before we moved here in terms of how much we have in the savings. On the plus side, we will be considerably more than that by the end of December. This year has been very good to us in terms of finances, which was a blessed relief in comparison to 2007, which was a horrid year. Up until that point I had been making a steady 60k a year on the net end, which afforded us to live rather high on the hog. 2006 I dropped to 48k, and then in 2007 I didn't even clear 38k on the gross end of things, and I was working twice as many hours and driving 4 hours up the mountain every week. I'd leave home on Monday mornings at around 6 a.m., and I'd work four 10-12 hour days, leave Steamboat Springs around 6 p.m. on Thursday evening and be back home by 10 or 11 p.m. and get to spend Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with Evy, before turning around and doing it all over again. There was literally no work in the Denver area in 2007, nor along the Front Range. Housing market had dried up completely, and with the immigration crisis on top of it...well, it wasn't a pretty picture.
So...we are padding up nicely. I have now determined that my book, as much as I enjoy working on it, and as much as I want to get it done, has pretty much been pushed to the back burner. I started out at the first of the year with good intentions. I did the first 11 chapters plus the prologue between January and June, with each chapter between 6 and 7k words. Not a bad start. I was doing at least 2 chapters per month. But by June my freelance work had picked up to the point that the book got shelved in favor of paying gigs...and now I find myself still struggling to get chapter 12 written. Not for lack of wanting to, nor for lack of time. I just...don't seem to be that motivated. It's pretty much turned into a pet project that I do in my spare time. As much as I want to work on it, I just don't. I started working on chapter 12 last Sunday...and that's the only work I've done on it all week. I'm hoping to get some more work done on it tomorrow morning while she's sleeping, but we have to go to Grandma's house to help paint tomorrow afternoon, so my time is limited there.
However, when everything's said and done I have one consolation: I'm being successful. Which makes it really hard to feel all that bad about not getting work done on the novel. It's a passion project, after all. A life-long dream. And I will get to it. I'm just enjoying what I'm doing right now so much that I'm not stressed about it.
Now, of course a lot of it's simply motivation. I have a lot of spare time. A lot. But Evy and I do a lot of different things. We take walks every day. Those take 2-3 hours. And yes, it's every single day. Then there's working out...that takes at least an hour. We also watch a lot of shows, and September means that all of the ones we follow just started new seasons...Fringe, Dexter, Dollhouse, Castle...and Legend of the Seeker, Sanctuary, and Stargate: Universe all start in October. Plus she follows Gray's Anatomy (or is it Grey's?). I also read, do a lot of Internet browsing, and we also play computer games from time to time.
As the winter months come closer, I think what will happen is that our 2-3 hour walking sessions will end up transferring into book writing sessions. Or at least, that's what I hope happens. It's too damn cold to go traipsing around Sofia in the middle of winter, so that's a slot of time I hope to put to good use, and stop procrastinating for no good reason.
I think what it boils down to is that I've become complacent in my success. I didn't anticipate freelance writing was going to be this easy, or this lucrative, and now that I'm firmly established in the field as a bonafide writer, I've met one of the major goals in my life. It also doesn't hurt that our living expenses are negligable, and we aren't starving by any means. Mostly, however, I think it's something psychological in terms of being established as a writer...any writer. It doesn't necessarly have to be fiction. I just wanted to be a writer. And I've done that.
So...kudos to me. And kudos to Evy for letting me spend the time necessary to branch out to do it. The first few months were noticably barren, but since then it's only continued to grow, and I am extremely comfortable now, which is a good thing.
I've been having a discussion with some of our gaming friends recently about Halloween traditions around the world. I find it interesting that America has commercialized every single holiday under the sun in order to maximize profits year-round, and when I'm in other parts of the world it's sometimes disconerting in a sense to notice an absolute lack of marketing in regards to holidays. Not to mention many European countries don't even worry about "celebrating" Halloween, or other such days. There is no trick-or-treating, no decorating, no costume parties, or otherwise. It feels weird to me.
In any case, it's close to 2:30 a.m. here, and I've a need to sleep. More next time!
As it stands now, I've got three different projects going for two different clients. Busy, busy little bee, for sure.
I talk about it a lot, but I really am torn. I love my job, but I do want to write fiction full time. The downside is that fiction writing doesn't pay well...not for the first few years, unless you get exceptionally lucky. It also takes an increasingly frustrating length of time to hear back from editors regarding your submission. Right now I'm at the four month mark on three different short stories that I haven't heard back on yet. I won't make much more than a few hundred dollars per story at most if they manage to sell, so you can see how getting started in the fiction world just doesn't work unless you happen to have a paying job and/or a spouse who is willing to foot the bills while you struggle at finding yourself getting published.
Now, I'm blessed in that I've already been published here and there with some short stories. The real issue I'm having is this: do I want to pursue my passion, or do I want to keep padding the savings account?
Thing is, we spent all of our savings in moving over here + living off of it for the entirety of 2008. By the end of October we will be where we were before we moved here in terms of how much we have in the savings. On the plus side, we will be considerably more than that by the end of December. This year has been very good to us in terms of finances, which was a blessed relief in comparison to 2007, which was a horrid year. Up until that point I had been making a steady 60k a year on the net end, which afforded us to live rather high on the hog. 2006 I dropped to 48k, and then in 2007 I didn't even clear 38k on the gross end of things, and I was working twice as many hours and driving 4 hours up the mountain every week. I'd leave home on Monday mornings at around 6 a.m., and I'd work four 10-12 hour days, leave Steamboat Springs around 6 p.m. on Thursday evening and be back home by 10 or 11 p.m. and get to spend Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with Evy, before turning around and doing it all over again. There was literally no work in the Denver area in 2007, nor along the Front Range. Housing market had dried up completely, and with the immigration crisis on top of it...well, it wasn't a pretty picture.
So...we are padding up nicely. I have now determined that my book, as much as I enjoy working on it, and as much as I want to get it done, has pretty much been pushed to the back burner. I started out at the first of the year with good intentions. I did the first 11 chapters plus the prologue between January and June, with each chapter between 6 and 7k words. Not a bad start. I was doing at least 2 chapters per month. But by June my freelance work had picked up to the point that the book got shelved in favor of paying gigs...and now I find myself still struggling to get chapter 12 written. Not for lack of wanting to, nor for lack of time. I just...don't seem to be that motivated. It's pretty much turned into a pet project that I do in my spare time. As much as I want to work on it, I just don't. I started working on chapter 12 last Sunday...and that's the only work I've done on it all week. I'm hoping to get some more work done on it tomorrow morning while she's sleeping, but we have to go to Grandma's house to help paint tomorrow afternoon, so my time is limited there.
However, when everything's said and done I have one consolation: I'm being successful. Which makes it really hard to feel all that bad about not getting work done on the novel. It's a passion project, after all. A life-long dream. And I will get to it. I'm just enjoying what I'm doing right now so much that I'm not stressed about it.
Now, of course a lot of it's simply motivation. I have a lot of spare time. A lot. But Evy and I do a lot of different things. We take walks every day. Those take 2-3 hours. And yes, it's every single day. Then there's working out...that takes at least an hour. We also watch a lot of shows, and September means that all of the ones we follow just started new seasons...Fringe, Dexter, Dollhouse, Castle...and Legend of the Seeker, Sanctuary, and Stargate: Universe all start in October. Plus she follows Gray's Anatomy (or is it Grey's?). I also read, do a lot of Internet browsing, and we also play computer games from time to time.
As the winter months come closer, I think what will happen is that our 2-3 hour walking sessions will end up transferring into book writing sessions. Or at least, that's what I hope happens. It's too damn cold to go traipsing around Sofia in the middle of winter, so that's a slot of time I hope to put to good use, and stop procrastinating for no good reason.
I think what it boils down to is that I've become complacent in my success. I didn't anticipate freelance writing was going to be this easy, or this lucrative, and now that I'm firmly established in the field as a bonafide writer, I've met one of the major goals in my life. It also doesn't hurt that our living expenses are negligable, and we aren't starving by any means. Mostly, however, I think it's something psychological in terms of being established as a writer...any writer. It doesn't necessarly have to be fiction. I just wanted to be a writer. And I've done that.
So...kudos to me. And kudos to Evy for letting me spend the time necessary to branch out to do it. The first few months were noticably barren, but since then it's only continued to grow, and I am extremely comfortable now, which is a good thing.
I've been having a discussion with some of our gaming friends recently about Halloween traditions around the world. I find it interesting that America has commercialized every single holiday under the sun in order to maximize profits year-round, and when I'm in other parts of the world it's sometimes disconerting in a sense to notice an absolute lack of marketing in regards to holidays. Not to mention many European countries don't even worry about "celebrating" Halloween, or other such days. There is no trick-or-treating, no decorating, no costume parties, or otherwise. It feels weird to me.
In any case, it's close to 2:30 a.m. here, and I've a need to sleep. More next time!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
On the Aion bandwagon
We waited until the last minute, but decided to jump on the bandwagon for Aion.
Contrary to AoC and WAR last year, I think Aion is going to take those 500k+ pre-launch subs and keep them...and keep growing.
In the past few days since we've had a chance to play on the headstart, I can say this:
It's flawless. No glitches. Amazing graphics. Smooth as silk. We get 65+ FPS regularly, dipping down to around 50 in the most crowded cities...and with 1 hour queues during prime time, they are crowded.
Combat is a lot like Fable...very fast-paced, but also very complex. The higher you get, the longer your chains become, and the more branches become available. I can see this being a strategy game at the higher levels, needing to choose which branch to take dependent upon where the fight is, or if you are in a group or not.
Gameplay is easy, a lot like WoW. Very easy to pick up and learn. The storyline and cut-scenes remind me of the single-player storyline in Guild Wars, so it's very easy to get sucked into being "the main hero" of the story. While there is a lot of extra fluff quests to do, the main storyline is very linear, so it's impossible to get lost along the way.
Harvesting reminds me of EQ2. Crafting is fairly complex, actually, but also reminds me of EQ2.
Flying around with wings is...pretty damn cool. The first time I experienced it I was literally giggling like a little school girl with her first Barbie doll. Was pretty epic.
Also, the leveling is fairly slow in comparison to some of the recent games I've played. Took us about 5 hours to get to level 10, which is about twice as long as it takes in LOTRO or EQ2. Hell, in EQ2 you can get level 10 in about an hour, hour and a half.
So far...I'm impressed. It's a nice, new, fresh MMO, and I think it's going to keep us busy for the winter months. LOTRO just kind of grew stale, and the fact they are going to start charging for book quests now on top of the monthly fee just kind of put us off, even though it's Middle Earth and all. We may still play, but...probably only when Rohan and/or Gondor/the major expansions come out.
Anyway, yep...on the Aion bandwagon in our spare time, and loving it.
Contrary to AoC and WAR last year, I think Aion is going to take those 500k+ pre-launch subs and keep them...and keep growing.
In the past few days since we've had a chance to play on the headstart, I can say this:
It's flawless. No glitches. Amazing graphics. Smooth as silk. We get 65+ FPS regularly, dipping down to around 50 in the most crowded cities...and with 1 hour queues during prime time, they are crowded.
Combat is a lot like Fable...very fast-paced, but also very complex. The higher you get, the longer your chains become, and the more branches become available. I can see this being a strategy game at the higher levels, needing to choose which branch to take dependent upon where the fight is, or if you are in a group or not.
Gameplay is easy, a lot like WoW. Very easy to pick up and learn. The storyline and cut-scenes remind me of the single-player storyline in Guild Wars, so it's very easy to get sucked into being "the main hero" of the story. While there is a lot of extra fluff quests to do, the main storyline is very linear, so it's impossible to get lost along the way.
Harvesting reminds me of EQ2. Crafting is fairly complex, actually, but also reminds me of EQ2.
Flying around with wings is...pretty damn cool. The first time I experienced it I was literally giggling like a little school girl with her first Barbie doll. Was pretty epic.
Also, the leveling is fairly slow in comparison to some of the recent games I've played. Took us about 5 hours to get to level 10, which is about twice as long as it takes in LOTRO or EQ2. Hell, in EQ2 you can get level 10 in about an hour, hour and a half.
So far...I'm impressed. It's a nice, new, fresh MMO, and I think it's going to keep us busy for the winter months. LOTRO just kind of grew stale, and the fact they are going to start charging for book quests now on top of the monthly fee just kind of put us off, even though it's Middle Earth and all. We may still play, but...probably only when Rohan and/or Gondor/the major expansions come out.
Anyway, yep...on the Aion bandwagon in our spare time, and loving it.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Coming Soon™
- An actual website.
- A book on freelancing.
- The separation of personal and professional.
As my career continues to grow I find the need to distinguish my personal blog posts from my professional blogs posts. I've discussed this in the past, but it's becoming even more prevalent as my business continues to expand. I've gotten to the point where my resume is literally so thick that it's impossible to cover it all in a simple blog, and in order to give clients the opportunity to really explore my credentials as a professional, I need to expand into an actual, full-blown website.
I've also finally taken that nugget of an idea my wife suggested months ago and I'm taking my consultation and advice for freelancers to the next level: a book. Probably an e-book. I can't give away too much on it at this point in time, but suffice to say it will be regarding freelancing in general, and how to be competitive and successful in a global market, based largely upon my own success and the success of a few of my peers and friends. The outline started to go into effect this morning, and my new schedule is as follows:
8-10 is work on the e-book.
10-3 is freelance work.
In the evenings I continue to work on fiction as I find time. I got a good chunk of chapter 12 done yesterday morning.
I think I can have the majority of this e-book done by the end of the month. I've already written most of the content via my blog here, and this morning was spent sifting through my blog posts and creating the outline. Tomorrow will be refining the main points and continuing the outline. I'd like to further edit and refine and flesh out and have a marketable product by the end of October.
I never anticipated having so much success as a freelance writer when I first started out in this career last year. I went into it knowing that I had a talent, and a passion for the work, at least from a fiction perspective, but I never knew that the industry could be this lucrative. I am absolutely thankful to have been blessed with these opportunities, and I am eternally grateful that I have made it as far as I have, as fast as I have. I honestly feel like shouting it from the rooftops some days because that's how passionate I am about this career. It's incredibly invigorating, incredibly rewarding, and incredibly fun.
Also in October/November will be a new blog attached to my website. Again...I'm still in the early phases of planning everything, but I fully anticipate having an entirely new website and blog up by the New Year. I have a ton of energy and I have been finding a lot of reasons to be inspired lately, mostly due to the amazing successes I've been blessed to accomplish. I can't go into details on everything due to NDAs and such, but suffice to say I am swimming in work up to my ears, and the opportunities just keep rolling in. I'm diversifying in a lot of ways, and I've also got a lot of opportunities I'm looking at here, locally, in Bulgaria. Most of those won't begin to go into effect until 2010, and of course are dependent upon other things, but so far everything is looking swell.
In any case, I hope this message finds all of my readers enjoying as much success in their own careers, and I look forward to continuing these little notes from time to time, and making this blog my personal, with the other being aimed at professional blog information.
Cheers!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
The World is Your Oyster: Part Six
It's been a couple of months since I've written one of my "World is Your Oyster" posts, and I figured it was time to dive back into it.
Recently I have been discussing the topic of digital media and the Location Independent Lifestyle with a lot of different people. The Internet has changed the face of the world not only on a communication level, but also on a business level. As I've discussed in previous posts on the topic, you (the person working in the digital age in digital media, regardless of its form) are no longer simply competing with people in your same town/city, state, or even country. College degrees exist in nearly every country in the world, and as long as someone has the relevant qualifications it doesn't matter if they live in the US, Canada, Australia, the Philippines, some coastal town in Scotland, a hut in the middle of some unheard-of South Pacific island, or kicked back on the beach in Milan or somewhere in Montenegro.
Digital media has opened the doors for people on a world-wide basis. You are no longer locked into the concept of "I have to live in X to take advantage of Y". As I've expanded my base of operations over the past couple of years, and through my travels as well, I have come across a wider and broader range of people who are taking advantage of working in digital media by living and working in countries far removed from their country of origin.
And contrary to popular belief, it doesn't always have to deal with the tax benefits of living and working abroad. Quite possibly the best part about the LIP lifestyle is the fact that you can live anywhere, as long as their is an Internet connection, and take advantage of the same wage you made back in your home country, but such a drastically reduced cost of living that you can literally spend your hard-earned money on things that you can appreciate now...not in 30/40/50 years when your house is paid off and you can finally retire.
I regularly meet people now who are from the UK, America, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and otherwise, who work from countries where the cost of living is a fraction of what it is back in their homeland. People who make 60k+ a year, but in their home country, 55k of that goes towards living conditions and taxes. Now they live outside of their home country and their hard-earned paychecks go towards what they want, because their cost of living is negligible.
I talk about our own situation quite frequently because it's proof of how this works. Our living expenses are less than 1,000 USD per month. In fact...they are about half of that, INCLUDING entertainment. And yet we have the *same* amenities we had back in the US and were costing us 4500+ a month while living in Colorado in a 40+ year old apartment.
One of my favorite websites on the topic, Location Independent talk about this regularly on their website and blog. They chronicle their journey since they first started the lifestyle back in 2007, about a year before Evy and I started doing similar. I actually wasn't even aware of their website until a few months back, but since then I've become an avid fan and I promote the concept to everyone I talk to, and I regularly meet people who are involved.
If you are lucky enough to work in digital media, it's worth looking into. Don't be fooled into thinking that you have to live in a country where your cost of living is 50k+ a year for as a couple, or 25-30k as an individual. You can live quite comfortably in another country for literally a fraction of what it costs to do so in a Western country, and you can enjoy the benefits of frequent travel, a paid-for home LONG before you are 60, and plenty of time/money to enjoy your life now, while you are still young and in your prime.
I highly suggest you read the aforementioned website/blog, because it is extremely informative on how the world really is your oyster.
Recently I have been discussing the topic of digital media and the Location Independent Lifestyle with a lot of different people. The Internet has changed the face of the world not only on a communication level, but also on a business level. As I've discussed in previous posts on the topic, you (the person working in the digital age in digital media, regardless of its form) are no longer simply competing with people in your same town/city, state, or even country. College degrees exist in nearly every country in the world, and as long as someone has the relevant qualifications it doesn't matter if they live in the US, Canada, Australia, the Philippines, some coastal town in Scotland, a hut in the middle of some unheard-of South Pacific island, or kicked back on the beach in Milan or somewhere in Montenegro.
Digital media has opened the doors for people on a world-wide basis. You are no longer locked into the concept of "I have to live in X to take advantage of Y". As I've expanded my base of operations over the past couple of years, and through my travels as well, I have come across a wider and broader range of people who are taking advantage of working in digital media by living and working in countries far removed from their country of origin.
And contrary to popular belief, it doesn't always have to deal with the tax benefits of living and working abroad. Quite possibly the best part about the LIP lifestyle is the fact that you can live anywhere, as long as their is an Internet connection, and take advantage of the same wage you made back in your home country, but such a drastically reduced cost of living that you can literally spend your hard-earned money on things that you can appreciate now...not in 30/40/50 years when your house is paid off and you can finally retire.
I regularly meet people now who are from the UK, America, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and otherwise, who work from countries where the cost of living is a fraction of what it is back in their homeland. People who make 60k+ a year, but in their home country, 55k of that goes towards living conditions and taxes. Now they live outside of their home country and their hard-earned paychecks go towards what they want, because their cost of living is negligible.
I talk about our own situation quite frequently because it's proof of how this works. Our living expenses are less than 1,000 USD per month. In fact...they are about half of that, INCLUDING entertainment. And yet we have the *same* amenities we had back in the US and were costing us 4500+ a month while living in Colorado in a 40+ year old apartment.
One of my favorite websites on the topic, Location Independent talk about this regularly on their website and blog. They chronicle their journey since they first started the lifestyle back in 2007, about a year before Evy and I started doing similar. I actually wasn't even aware of their website until a few months back, but since then I've become an avid fan and I promote the concept to everyone I talk to, and I regularly meet people who are involved.
If you are lucky enough to work in digital media, it's worth looking into. Don't be fooled into thinking that you have to live in a country where your cost of living is 50k+ a year for as a couple, or 25-30k as an individual. You can live quite comfortably in another country for literally a fraction of what it costs to do so in a Western country, and you can enjoy the benefits of frequent travel, a paid-for home LONG before you are 60, and plenty of time/money to enjoy your life now, while you are still young and in your prime.
I highly suggest you read the aforementioned website/blog, because it is extremely informative on how the world really is your oyster.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
My schedule
I was talking about this with Evy the other day when I was reading Brandon Sanderson's blog on his writing schedule. For those of you who don't know, he was the writer brought on board to finish the final book in the Wheel of Time series after Robert Jordan passed away. What was initially supposed to be one simple book...was split into three by the publisher and Jordan's widow. Apparently when Sanderson was brought on board he thought he could do it in 200-250k words. Now, 2 years later (almost 3 now) he's 500 thousand words in and estimates the final word count around 750-800 thousand words. As a result, the publisher broke it up into three volumes, with the first coming out this November, and then (theoretically) another one next fall, and then a third, making three separate 250-275k novels encompassing the final outline.
Now...on top of his work for the Wheel of Time book, he is also under contract to various publishers for his other projects as an author. He was talking about working 14-16 hours a day to meet all his deadlines, and I got to thinking....
I'm a lazy slacker.
Seriously. I get up at 7 in the morning. I work out, take my shower, have my breakfast, check my e-mails, read the news, and I generally start work between 9:30 and 10 a.m. I rarely work past 3 p.m., and when you throw in a lunch break and various other little pee breaks and such I'm only working realistically for about 4 hours a day.
Now, I'm fine with that. I've covered our living expenses and my income more than enough times in other blog posts and, suffice to say, working 4 hours a day freelance means we are putting quite a bit into the savings accounts, and affording a lot of nice toys and vacations. This is on top of Evy's income, which is continuing to increase at her job.
What do I do when I get done at 3? I generally wait around for 15-20 minutes until Evy calls me that she's off work, then I go meet her for our daily walk to the park. We usually get ice cream and a beer (she the former, I the latter) and our walk usually takes 2 hours or so. We generally get home around 5:30 or 6. We browse shops, tuck into side alleys, walk around the parks, and enjoy the weather. Sadly, that will come to an end when winter hits, but still.
Back in the house around 6. I don't go to bed until 11 or midnight. That means I've generally got 5-6 hours of "free time" after we get home. We watch movies, play MMORPGs together, or we read books and other things. This is when I have "free time" to work on my fiction work which, sadly, I have completely been slacking on in the past few months.
I finally started working on the book again this week, after months of not doing so. Chapter 11 got edited this morning while I was eating breakfast and sipping coffee, and I've begun putting down a few words every night. The hard part is getting back into the saddle again after so many months of not working on the fiction work.
Almost every professional author aims for 1,000 words a day, minimum. That's not that hard. It's around 2-3 hours worth of work if you take your time, longer if you type slow, faster if you aren't too hard on your first draft edits. I tend to just vomit on paper and come back and clean it up later.
In any case...I can't imagine sitting in front of the computer writing for 14-16 hours a day. The guy was talking about taking a few months off and I kind of nodded my head and went, um, yeah...some breathing space is needed from time to time. Why burn yourself out on a career that is supposed to be fun and enjoyable?
On that note...it's getting close to my beer-and-a-walk portion of the day. See you on the flip side.
Now...on top of his work for the Wheel of Time book, he is also under contract to various publishers for his other projects as an author. He was talking about working 14-16 hours a day to meet all his deadlines, and I got to thinking....
I'm a lazy slacker.
Seriously. I get up at 7 in the morning. I work out, take my shower, have my breakfast, check my e-mails, read the news, and I generally start work between 9:30 and 10 a.m. I rarely work past 3 p.m., and when you throw in a lunch break and various other little pee breaks and such I'm only working realistically for about 4 hours a day.
Now, I'm fine with that. I've covered our living expenses and my income more than enough times in other blog posts and, suffice to say, working 4 hours a day freelance means we are putting quite a bit into the savings accounts, and affording a lot of nice toys and vacations. This is on top of Evy's income, which is continuing to increase at her job.
What do I do when I get done at 3? I generally wait around for 15-20 minutes until Evy calls me that she's off work, then I go meet her for our daily walk to the park. We usually get ice cream and a beer (she the former, I the latter) and our walk usually takes 2 hours or so. We generally get home around 5:30 or 6. We browse shops, tuck into side alleys, walk around the parks, and enjoy the weather. Sadly, that will come to an end when winter hits, but still.
Back in the house around 6. I don't go to bed until 11 or midnight. That means I've generally got 5-6 hours of "free time" after we get home. We watch movies, play MMORPGs together, or we read books and other things. This is when I have "free time" to work on my fiction work which, sadly, I have completely been slacking on in the past few months.
I finally started working on the book again this week, after months of not doing so. Chapter 11 got edited this morning while I was eating breakfast and sipping coffee, and I've begun putting down a few words every night. The hard part is getting back into the saddle again after so many months of not working on the fiction work.
Almost every professional author aims for 1,000 words a day, minimum. That's not that hard. It's around 2-3 hours worth of work if you take your time, longer if you type slow, faster if you aren't too hard on your first draft edits. I tend to just vomit on paper and come back and clean it up later.
In any case...I can't imagine sitting in front of the computer writing for 14-16 hours a day. The guy was talking about taking a few months off and I kind of nodded my head and went, um, yeah...some breathing space is needed from time to time. Why burn yourself out on a career that is supposed to be fun and enjoyable?
On that note...it's getting close to my beer-and-a-walk portion of the day. See you on the flip side.
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