I Have Never Caught a Tide

There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

That’s a quote from Brutus in Shakespeare. Brutus was actually referring to military fortune, but people use it to refer to fortune of all sorts. I don’t have enough experience with military endeavors to judge the tactical merit of this, but as a life motto … it’s pretty wrong.

I’m 41 years old, and I’ve never caught a tide. In a minute I’ll explain how this relates to writing. But for now, here are the tides I’ve missed (there’s been more than one!):

Dot.com boom of the 90s? Was in grad school, missed it … but I got my degree and worked an internship I liked and I was 99% sure was going to be a real job. At the time I kept going on dates with guys, busy med student guys, who were telling me how easy investing was. I figured if  guys who should really be too busy to invest properly were saying it was easy, then a crash was imminent. It was. I did get the after internship job. It didn’t pay much, but it was interesting and paid my bills. It kept me afloat. It also allowed me to get a better job I liked even more.

The real estate boom of the 2000s? Didn’t get in early enough. Was urged by family and real estate agents to buy something enormous for the investment value. But everyone telling me “I had to do something fast” to make big bucks made my husband I both nervous. So we bought a home I figured we could live in for at least ten years and that would only take half our income to pay off. Fast forward … big crash … after being underwater for a little while, we’re in the clear. The tide did not drown us. We still have our home. Still love it.

The self-publishing boom? I missed that too. No, I really did. For a while, when ebooks were sparkly and new it was a small pond with not a lot of fish. Or a lot of overpriced fish. Traditional publishers were keeping ebook prices too high, and indie publishers swept in on the wave and made a killing. And then … Rich Dad Poor Dad, the same guy who made a living selling seminars on buying and selling real estate started doing seminars on writing and selling ebooks. A lot more indies jumped in the pool, and then some trad publishers lowered their prices. I keep reading about writers who were making buck a few years ago, and now can barely keep afloat. (There are exceptions! And if you can write fast and theres a popular niche genre that interests you—BBW and werewolfs, for instance http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,184087.0.html —you can still do really well. And this story is inspiring, too http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,192297.0.html .)

If you don’t write in a particular genre, you can still do well if you can build a following and just write fast. The way Amazon’s algorithm’s work, you have about 30 days, where if you’re even moderately successful, Amazon will help promote you. Right now, Warriors is in the “Hot New Releases” category here:  Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Myths & Legends > Norse & Viking. That’s deep, deep, deep down the click tree; but it still counts for something. After 30 days, no matter how well your book is doing, you aren’t “hot” anymore, and you just have to hang up at the top of the rankings to get any visibility — and of course, when you lose visibility, it’s hard to stay at the top of the rankings. Yes, it’s circular.

I don’t have the time to release every month, because I have a day job (and children). And unlike writers in those early days, I won’t be giving up my day job quickly so I do have time to release every month. Yes, it’s circular.

That said, I had a ten-year plan for eventually leaving my day job behind, and I’m about on track for that. And there is freedom in keeping my day job …

Mainly, I get to write really quirky stories that are (hopefully) entertaining and hide great big ideas inside of them. I got to write a series about Loki that makes fun of modern myths and ancient myths, and maybe just maybe redeems the idea of Chaos … and I’m slowly building an audience that likes that sort of thing. And they are awesome. A few are even promising to follow me on my next big adventure … I can’t tell what it’s about without giving too much away, but it has some really big ideas, and it’s Blade Runner meets Star Wars, and there will be action and adventure, and it will probably have more romance in it than my brother/beta will be comfortable with.

I missed the tide, but the tiny pool I’m left in is warm and has extra sparkly starfish. Take that Brutus!