Words of encouragement are always welcome! I'm over 60, and believe me, when my kids were small I wished so desperately to work from home, but I didn't want to babysit or do someone's bookkeeping - ugh!! I didn't even have the internet available at my house until six or seven years ago. I used to take my van and park next to a store with internet, sit in the back, and download the classes I was taking to learn to be a freelance writer. I had my state retirement then, still was pinching pennies, but I made up the rest with writing. Then the internet came! Yay - my little rural spot got some sort of grant, probably because other kids had the internet at home and had a big advantage from our rural kids. Now, I have the internet and can stream shows and everything! And my social security plus state retirement, so I'm good for now with paying the bills. Which leads me to my point - I'm just starting out in this, although I've written fiction for years, and getting some notebooks, journals, etc., out there. Do I expect them to sell - not really. I'm not going to advertise a lined notebook. I consider it practice. I also had a couple things I really wanted to do like a horse word search, to get them out of my system. I have sold two of the horse word search books though, because I have a lot of horse people on FB I know and I put it out there. After Christmas I want to put novel writing back into my schedule, but for now I want to get more puzzle books out there, and I'm learning Affinity Designer so I can do more coloring books. I also want to write some younger type books for horse-crazy girls - although that isn't as big a thing as it used to be, but us horse girls are out there somewhere. So, I keep plugging away, learning more everyday, and realize that most of these books I'm putting out there are practice. It's like learning to ride and going to your first horse show. You aren't winning right off the bat, you need to keep working, keep practicing, and get better. I'm grateful that for now inflation isn't killing my ability to pay bills. Plus, I live on my little farm, and grow most of my own food. I freeze, can, dehydrate, etc. and I fix my own stuff too - plumbing, carpentry, etc., I do myself.
I have to add gratitude into another comment. Before going out to the barn every morning, I sit with my dogs and do the 'gratefuls' - I'm grateful for my dogs, all my animals, my land. Thank You Universe for hot and cold running water. The electricity is on. We are warm, dry, and well fed. I've lived with no furniture, no central heat, no hot water except what I heated up on the stove for dishes. I've had the water line between the house and the barn freeze for two weeks one memorable February when even in the daytime, the temp never went above 32-degrees. I had to carry water, and I was out of work with a wrist injury (caused by repetitive motion at work), so it was only one bucket at a time. I was on worker's comp another time (back injury), and the 'pay' I took home was HALF what I usually had. I had to pay the electric bill and the most basic of groceries with a credit card - for four months. That hurt and took a long time to recover. Also, two weeks into that, in December, my refrigerator died. The great outdoors was my 'refrigerator' until I got back on my feet. I'm thankful that I'm not in that position while I get my 'retirement' KDP money up and running!
Words of encouragement are always welcome! I'm over 60, and believe me, when my kids were small I wished so desperately to work from home, but I didn't want to babysit or do someone's bookkeeping - ugh!! I didn't even have the internet available at my house until six or seven years ago. I used to take my van and park next to a store with internet, sit in the back, and download the classes I was taking to learn to be a freelance writer. I had my state retirement then, still was pinching pennies, but I made up the rest with writing. Then the internet came! Yay - my little rural spot got some sort of grant, probably because other kids had the internet at home and had a big advantage from our rural kids.
Now, I have the internet and can stream shows and everything! And my social security plus state retirement, so I'm good for now with paying the bills. Which leads me to my point - I'm just starting out in this, although I've written fiction for years, and getting some notebooks, journals, etc., out there.
Do I expect them to sell - not really. I'm not going to advertise a lined notebook. I consider it practice. I also had a couple things I really wanted to do like a horse word search, to get them out of my system. I have sold two of the horse word search books though, because I have a lot of horse people on FB I know and I put it out there. After Christmas I want to put novel writing back into my schedule, but for now I want to get more puzzle books out there, and I'm learning Affinity Designer so I can do more coloring books. I also want to write some younger type books for horse-crazy girls - although that isn't as big a thing as it used to be, but us horse girls are out there somewhere.
So, I keep plugging away, learning more everyday, and realize that most of these books I'm putting out there are practice. It's like learning to ride and going to your first horse show. You aren't winning right off the bat, you need to keep working, keep practicing, and get better. I'm grateful that for now inflation isn't killing my ability to pay bills. Plus, I live on my little farm, and grow most of my own food. I freeze, can, dehydrate, etc. and I fix my own stuff too - plumbing, carpentry, etc., I do myself.
Good for you! I love this. Where is your farm?
I have to add gratitude into another comment. Before going out to the barn every morning, I sit with my dogs and do the 'gratefuls' - I'm grateful for my dogs, all my animals, my land. Thank You Universe for hot and cold running water. The electricity is on. We are warm, dry, and well fed. I've lived with no furniture, no central heat, no hot water except what I heated up on the stove for dishes. I've had the water line between the house and the barn freeze for two weeks one memorable February when even in the daytime, the temp never went above 32-degrees. I had to carry water, and I was out of work with a wrist injury (caused by repetitive motion at work), so it was only one bucket at a time. I was on worker's comp another time (back injury), and the 'pay' I took home was HALF what I usually had. I had to pay the electric bill and the most basic of groceries with a credit card - for four months. That hurt and took a long time to recover. Also, two weeks into that, in December, my refrigerator died. The great outdoors was my 'refrigerator' until I got back on my feet. I'm thankful that I'm not in that position while I get my 'retirement' KDP money up and running!
Doing hard things can change us! Thanks for sharing all of this.
@@JennyHansenLane Thanks for teaching us!