Welcome back to another installment of Pieces of Peschel. Things calmed down last month but alas, calm never lasts.
Long-time readers might remember that my parents have been having health issues related to the indignities of old age. My father is sinking fast into Alzheimer’s disease and he has other medical problems besides being in his 80s. My mother’s recovered — mostly — from her broken wrist.
They were, until a few days ago, living in the home they’ve had for 50 years.
No more. We now get to navigate the wonderful world of elder care. I have no idea what this will entail, other than it will be complicated, expensive, fraught with peril, and each decision could have been made much, much better if only I’d done {fill in the blank}.
Will this affect our writing and publishing schedule? You need ask? But it has to be done. I am open to suggestions if any of you, dear readers, have useful advice and life experience to offer.
In the meantime, we will persevere.
Putting Nips and Tucks on the “Brown Suit”
At the same time, he’s working on line-edits for The Vanished Pearls of Orlov. I’m keeping up with his changes so we might have the book out by … January of 2022? Closely followed by Escape to HighTower? Maybe?
I dunno at this point. A few weeks will — I hope! — clarify the situation.
Planting A Sale on Flower Dictionary
Meanwhile, we’ll be running a special, long-planned promotion for A Dictionary of Flowers and Gems. Dear Daughter labored mightily over this beautiful, lavishly illustrated book and Bill labored even more to put art on every page. The eBook version will go on sale for 99 cents from Dec. 6 to Dec. 12. The eBook contains every definition and list in the trade, but it does not have all the art. One of our readers thought there was so much art that the book could be used for coloring. I don’t know about that, but colored pencils would really enhance the gorgeous pages and pages of borders, flower and gem imagery, and elaborate capital letters.
As always, we keep learning the same thing: life/work balance is a myth and a lie. Life makes its own demands. Work expands to fill every available moment if you let it. As indie writers, we have control over our schedule but if we don’t write and produce, we can’t make any money. It’s a challenge. If you write, it doesn’t matter what stage you are at. You are the producer; if you can’t produce, your business can suffer.
This is why when Bill and I do programs about the business of writing, we spend time talking about cash flow, money management, and the reality of freelance income. Indie writing is freelancing because you’re selling your creativity even if it’s a book at a time to hundreds or thousands of individuals rather than to a corporate account. Successful freelancers quickly learn to live on less, much less, than what their income would indicate because:
The income can suddenly stop!
Running out of money can happen to anyone, no matter how rich or successful they are. Why look! There’s Patricia Cornwell! She earned truckloads of cash from her writing but she still ended up in bankruptcy court. She outspent her earnings and her business managers cheated her when she didn’t keep an eye on the books. She’s not the only famous person who’s gone broke.
As a freelancer, you have to budget not just your time to ensure you write every day (even just fifty words) but your money. Then, when life happens, you’ve got enough structure built into your day to keep writing and some money in the bank to tide you over if you’re forced to stop writing and promoting. The less money you need to meet your monthly nut, the less money you must earn to avoid debt. If you earn more, you can grow your nest egg, your emergency fund, your cash cushion.
Having available money doesn’t make your problems go away but it sure does make them easier to cope with. This is the same reason you — freelancer or not — should always keep two weeks of groceries on hand, along with other necessities of daily life. If you can’t get to the store, you can still eat.
So, as best we can, Bill and I will continue to write, edit, and publish our books. We’ll keep up the Agatha Christie movie marathon for my book, Murder, She Watched. We should reach the halfway point in December. One hundred Agatha film adaptations watched and one hundred to go. I review as we watch and Bill publishes the review on the website. He’s also editing and formatting the reviews for the eventual book. That job, sadly, has been left to slide in the push to get other books finished.
And of course, life happens.
So that’s where we’re at. If you’ve got helpful advice about navigating the elder care system, I’d be grateful for your assistance. Email me at [email protected].
Thanks again for joining us. Writers need readers and we appreciate each and every one of you.