That economic reality about your life is why I do have you on my FL and not any number of other people. Also, some others, who do seem to have made similar decisions. I also know how male-dominated that industry is. Bit late in my life to have done things completely differently.
People do make too much of publication (I've had a fellow adjunct tell me that I could only say that from the published side, but I don't think so). When I did the work (meaning worked to the top of my capacity and didn't make excuses for myself), getting published wasn't hard. Most of the people who made pro publication that big a deal generally weren't writing that well and the token was being a substitute for dealing with the problems in their writing. Selling a couple of books really isn't that meaningful. I've known lots of people who sold one or two to commercial publishers and that was it.
Your community has avoided that issue.
I don't know if I'm deluded or not, or have the abilities to do what I'd like to have done, but writing (not publishing) has made me happier than anything else I've done. I also think I could have done other things and been as happy or happier. One of the guys I knew in Virginia is a judge with three novels out now. He won't give up his day job for writing either, but writing also is fun for him. I don't know if being a country judge or lawyer is less time consuming than being in Bay Area technical work, probably does give more time for other things.
At this point, my other job is collecting Social Security and figuring out where in the world I can live off what I made. Will be visiting Nicaragua soon to check that out.
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People do make too much of publication (I've had a fellow adjunct tell me that I could only say that from the published side, but I don't think so). When I did the work (meaning worked to the top of my capacity and didn't make excuses for myself), getting published wasn't hard. Most of the people who made pro publication that big a deal generally weren't writing that well and the token was being a substitute for dealing with the problems in their writing. Selling a couple of books really isn't that meaningful. I've known lots of people who sold one or two to commercial publishers and that was it.
Your community has avoided that issue.
I don't know if I'm deluded or not, or have the abilities to do what I'd like to have done, but writing (not publishing) has made me happier than anything else I've done. I also think I could have done other things and been as happy or happier. One of the guys I knew in Virginia is a judge with three novels out now. He won't give up his day job for writing either, but writing also is fun for him. I don't know if being a country judge or lawyer is less time consuming than being in Bay Area technical work, probably does give more time for other things.
At this point, my other job is collecting Social Security and figuring out where in the world I can live off what I made. Will be visiting Nicaragua soon to check that out.