Selling when things are shit
I won’t lie, two weeks ago, we wrapped up Ignite Denver a few days before social distancing was the order the day (we were about two days before the venue decided to close up). I thought, “You know this sucks, but things will continue like normal, more or less. It’ll just be inconvenient for a while.” I couldn’t have been more wrong. We’re now in week two of social isolation and self-quarantine. Everything is closed except grocery stores, pharmacies and (here in CO) dispensaries. 180,000 people in CO filed for unemployment last week. Things are shit. People (rightfully so, I mean tomorrow is scary, four months might as well be four years from now) aren’t thinking about conferences. They’re not buying tickets, not signing up to speak. Sponsors are waiting…
WIP Thursday 3/19 – Deep Thoughts
I have been, well lax would be generous, on WIP Thursday posts. Partly because it can be tough to pick a scene that doesn’t give anything away. BUT I wrote one last weekend that I liked and made me chuckle, so here we are. Cynthia steps out of the small refresher compartment in the quarters she and Wil share. He’s sitting on the edge of the bed. She adjusts her towel and sits next to him placing an arm around his shoulders, “You ok?” She looks at his grime covered body and removes her arm, “Touching after showers.” She mumbles examining the fine hairs on her arm to see if she needs another shower.Wil grins, “Just thinking.”When he doesn’t immediately continue Cynthia pushes, “About what?”Wil shrugs, “Well, Rey was palatines…
A Year and Decade in Review
Welp, we’ve passed the Winter Solstice, and in just a few hours we’ll be saying goodbye not just to 2019, but to the 2010’s. I’ve never been a resolution maker but I do like to look back on what I’ve done, what I wanted to do etc. So where are we (the royal we)? The 2010’s saw the birth of my professional writing career. Technically I’ve been paid for my writing for years, as a copy and tech writer, a resume writer, etc. But fiction, that’s new. Plus I stopped selling my non-fiction writing services years ago. If you’d asked me ten years ago if I thought I’d be a writer that makes money I’d have laughed. If you’d asked if I thought I could ever make a living as…
Merch
Apparently, I’m on a theme right now. Today’s post is about “stuff” aka “Merch” Two weeks ago I didn’t have any. I had my stickers, as part of my branding efforts and some shirts I’d quickly ordered for Nicole and me to wear to events, and that was it. Then I had a reader (Shoutout to Shawn Smith!) say he’d love stickers and a shirt. I threw a few of each sticker in the mail but had nothing to offer for shirts. I knew for sure I didn’t want to warehouse shirts at my house and fulfill orders. I mean in a perfect world I’d sell hundreds of shirts a month and it’d be a horrible money-making nightmare, but the reality is likely I’d sell a few and sit on…
