301k in debt and morbidly obese - things aren't great!

chevalier

Congrats on Mrs B's promotion. And hmm about the pandora's box. What style did you write before? I wonder if I have read you? Being a bit of a bookaholic it is certainly possible. I wonder too about how much the digital rights are worth.
chev

Northern_Lassy

Please get writing Mr B, but keep away from the cider...down that path lies ruin and sleeping in bus shelters, in my experience (not personally , I should add!) :eek:
Seriously though, I can very much identify with the tone of your posts and would much rather choose your out-pourings over the dozens of shelves of crappy chick-lit polluting the book shops at the mo...

Ooops, just had a thought, I hope it isn't chick-lit that you write is it Mr B, with your special pen?

Igamogam

Ooops, just had a thought, I hope it isn't chick-lit that you write is it Mr B, with your special pen?

:rotfl::rotfl:that would be chick lit worth reading!!

Karmacat

You're a great writer! And you certainly have the nous for the business side of it - so do the sums, and see which is better for you financially. Then listen to your gut about what you want from your life (actually, you said up there, in your long post - its your family). Writing from home obviously gives you more family time in the long run - but there's a good chance that at first, you'd have to run the two careers in tandem, and that would probably give you less time with them.

OTOH - a friend of mine wrote his autobiography on the commute from Brighton to London, and it was published by the publisher acquaintance who requested to see it, and its now on Amazon - so it might not take any extra time at all.

One thing that worries me in your big post is this "I am under the cosh at work where I now feel that its game over" - why do you feel that? I know you were mentioning that you think other people have been working harder than you ... but agree with posters since then who say about the way other people put themselves forward by almost *pretending* to work. Or is it a question of background reading /training you haven't been doing?

No need to answer on here, of course, but have a think - its a really exciting opportunity :j:j:j

Dorastar

Get all the facts then write the long list of pros and cons (take a few days to do it and get Mrs B to write some of her thoughts on it too) you will probably have a leaning one way or the other but this will help focus which is coming out on top. You didn't say if there was a time limit so you have plenty of time to consider it and it can sit around while you contemplate it without hassle. Also doesn't mean that it has to be job or writing atm, maybe it's carry on job, cash in on e-books, pay off some debts, lessen work or start thinking about work/write balance for future, and continue to pay off debts and keep running so you look ace for future book signings!

MrBloater

Mr Bloater's Stats Blast Month 2 (22nd September - 22 October)

Total debt
Was: £299.8k
Is: £297.3k

Credit Card debt
Was: £48.5k
Is: £48.1k

Loan debt
Was: £26.9k
Is: £25.4k

Overdraft
Was: 3.5k
Is: 3.5k

Mortgage
Was: £220.8k
Is: £220.3k

Weight
Was: 22.10 stone / BMI 38.71
Is: 22.07 stone / BMI 38.34 (This could have been so different, at one point I was down to 22.02 stone but it was the month from hell, and the fall scuppered my running so I'm pleased for this modest drop)

Major fear about this diary
Was: The Matrix ladies putting the hex on me cos this thread is looking likely to overtake theirs on the amount of page views in the next couple of weeks.
Is: Not overtaking the Matrix matriarchs on page viewing figures in the next couple of weeks...

Plenty of food for thought this month, the ebay listings are boiling up slowly before the final day, plus I have some pondering about writing - I should have made it a bit clearer however, I am not being offered money for the digital rights, just an oppurtunity from my former publishers to put them out in e-book format and then I'd get some royalties - but their business model is not the wisest and I'd rather do things myself on kindle where I can set the price nice and low - they want to charge $9.99 for an ebook which is quite frankly ludicrous. If I had a kindle I wouldn't pay anything over a quid for something I hadn't heard of. I'm thinking that I'm going to collate all the good stuff from the published books and put it all into one which I can then release online but it'll never replace the day job and I wouldn't want it to. DS is experimenting with gravity at the moment and is getting dangerously close to the pumpkins. This could be messy.

LianneH

i think your heart is in writing Mr B and this diary, as you say, proves you are a wonder with the words! I think you should open the Pandoras box.. you never know what other opportunities it might bring! Well done on the stats update!

Firewalker

MrB, many people have spoken. I thought to join them.

There comes a time in one's life when they have to decide what they really want to do and go for it - fully and without holding anything back. If writing is what you really want to do then I think you should go for it. It may be wise to do the following before you jump:

1) Talk to MrsB. Creative people need champions and she is your natural champion - she is the one who will have to shoulder the (let's hope temporary) loss of income; the loss of you (I am talking about what I call 'the smelly stage' where you become so into the writing that even simple things like washing don't get done); etc. She is also the one who will have to believe in you absolutely nevermind what set backs may be there.
2) Make sure that you want it and this is the one thing that you want. Developing this animal focus on things makes you see opportunities where there were none and act on these.
3) Write the worse case scenarion if you give up your job and wirte full time. Then write ways ion which you will offset this so 'your children don't starve and live on the street' (don't know about you but this is my biggest fear). Do this and write it all down - not to have a plan but to loose your fear.
4) Writing is a difficult and lonely process. One major difficulty is the very high level of uncertainty (I can never predict what will be read; my favourite pieces are not the ones that people like reading). Writers write for their readers. There are two ways to cope with this uncertainty - one, ask the reader (co-create using technology) and two, find and join a group of creators.

You may choose to disregard this but I still had to say it. I hope you will choose to write - it took me 15 years to make this decision and to be able to say 'I am a writer' (not I publish academic crap people cite but don;t read). I just realised this is something I would regret not doing when I am on my death bed and I have promised myself to live so that if I have regrets these are about the things I have done; not about things I have not done.

Firewalker

Igamogam

Great stats Mr B

Thanks for the explanation about the ebook thing.....I wouldnt pay $9.99 or even £9.99 if that less for any ebook. But then I wouldnt buy a kindle either............. on principle;)

I have a childrens book in my heart. Character's name and everything. Tough market to break into. I can even see the illustrations but sadly cant draw a stick man with a ruler so it will probably stay on back burner and caramalise there.

MrBloater

Now have 43 items on ebay. First auctions close tomorrow - so far it's looking like I'm going to make £27! At a swanky party in Canary Wharf tonight where I'm the designated driver and so hence will have plenty of time to ponder this writing thing.