Me? Mostly I’ve been working out that I can’t really afford my lifestyle as well as I’d thought I could. Part of that has to do with changes in finances since Dad moved back to Pine, and part of that has to do with my not really … tracking my spending exactly. I’ve sortof been vaguely tracking my spending.
Turns out that’s not such a sound financial course of action.
But then today a couple more things came up that further alter my financial outlook.
My living expenses just went up, and a job I was thinking of applying for in the company which would have been a good-sized pay increase got filled before I had the chance. Neither of these was unexpected, but you know me – I like having hopes.
The net effect of this is that instead of investing in a stock I expect to grow by 2000%-2800% in the next nine months, I am going to have to pay off one of my loans so that I can use the money I had earmarked for that loan’s payment every month for car insurance going forward. Because on my current income I was just barely getting by, and the car insurance would wipe out 90% of my “entertainment” spending every month on its own (ie: nearly every movie, plus Netflix & DVD purchases, plus coffee – which I’d been drinking out of my movie money, lately, since I’ve been having to buy gasoline with my coffee budget)… Anyway, I take the money I had set aside to invest in this stock and I pay off one of my loans and instead of using “stacking” properly and using the monthly payment I had been making to that loan to pay off another debt faster, I get to start paying for car insurance with the first half of it and only “stack” the second half.
All totally reasonable. I am the only person driving the car around these days. Dad is going to stay up in Pine with his parents and “develop” the property so that it’s making money again. Since it isn’t yet, he’s trying to remove all the “subsidies” he has been extending to his children, which for me right now means car insurance – but I have been trying to figure out how to pay the car insurance for a few weeks, so when dad first brought it up yesterday, it wasn’t a surprize. As long as he doesn’t also spring “rent” on me, I should be “okay” for a while.
At my current rate of income and outgo – without the car insurance figured in – I won’t have my credit card debt paid off in less than 4 years. Actually, with the car insurance and occasional extra spending, and not trying to account for potential writing income, it’ll probably be six or seven years. With that job it could have been as little as less than two years. I think I’ll just tell the boss I’m interested in it when it comes open again; I’m not going anywhere, and I’m real patient, and jobs turn over eventually.
I’m trying to figure out my money situation and how to better track things and how to better plan for things… I’m sure it’ll all work out. It’s just … in flux right now. Low moods and emotional spending haven’t helped, financially, though I’m not hurting any worse than I was six months ago. Not any better off, either, I think. So maybe that’s something I should be working on.
Why not look for jobs at other companies?
I know what it’s like to not plan out finances …I am not used to not buying something when I want it, or at least waiting on purchases, which causes, uh, trouble.
Jeez…how much is your insurance, if you don’t mind me asking??
Why not look for jobs at other companies?
I know what it’s like to not plan out finances …I am not used to not buying something when I want it, or at least waiting on purchases, which causes, uh, trouble.
Jeez…how much is your insurance, if you don’t mind me asking??
It isn’t that the insurance is much. It’s that I have no money.
For example, the monthly payment on my car insurance is less than the cheapest price I can find on that Loop Courtney bag you just bought, and around half the price of it in some places.
I am half-thinking about considering to look for jobs at other companies.
But I like a slow burn, so … here’s where I’ll probably end up at the end of my thinking and considering: I need the time I would otherwise spend job-searching to finish at least three of the books I’m in the midst of creating right now, and then I should at least send out a few queries to agents to see what sort of response I can get, and if I get an agent then getting another job isn’t as urgent because that’s what my agent will be trying to do for me – get me a “job” as a “published” author, and if I stay to “plan” I’ll have queried quite a few agents before the end of summer (perhaps dozens, depending upon responses), and then if I haven’t at least got an agent, then perhaps I shall look for another, higher paying job. But this one at this company may have re-opened by then, so it would be moot.
But that’s just the intuitive thought I had Monday afternoon. It’ll take me at least a couple of weeks to think about it rationally and come to a conclusion.
It isn’t that the insurance is much. It’s that I have no money.
For example, the monthly payment on my car insurance is less than the cheapest price I can find on that Loop Courtney bag you just bought, and around half the price of it in some places.
I am half-thinking about considering to look for jobs at other companies.
But I like a slow burn, so … here’s where I’ll probably end up at the end of my thinking and considering: I need the time I would otherwise spend job-searching to finish at least three of the books I’m in the midst of creating right now, and then I should at least send out a few queries to agents to see what sort of response I can get, and if I get an agent then getting another job isn’t as urgent because that’s what my agent will be trying to do for me – get me a “job” as a “published” author, and if I stay to “plan” I’ll have queried quite a few agents before the end of summer (perhaps dozens, depending upon responses), and then if I haven’t at least got an agent, then perhaps I shall look for another, higher paying job. But this one at this company may have re-opened by then, so it would be moot.
But that’s just the intuitive thought I had Monday afternoon. It’ll take me at least a couple of weeks to think about it rationally and come to a conclusion.
Well that makes sense, but will job hunting really take that much time away from writing? I just emailed my resume with a 2-sentence cover letter, went in for a 30-minute interview a few days later, and that was that. And signed up for email alerts of new jobs at all the local colleges. That leaves plenty of time. You’ll probably want a higher paying job even when you have an agent, because don’t agents take time? My dad writes textbooks and I don’t know much about it but the process after the text is completed seems to take forever.
I don’t have any money either. 🙁 Stupid money.
Well that makes sense, but will job hunting really take that much time away from writing? I just emailed my resume with a 2-sentence cover letter, went in for a 30-minute interview a few days later, and that was that. And signed up for email alerts of new jobs at all the local colleges. That leaves plenty of time. You’ll probably want a higher paying job even when you have an agent, because don’t agents take time? My dad writes textbooks and I don’t know much about it but the process after the text is completed seems to take forever.
I don’t have any money either. 🙁 Stupid money.
First I’d have to decide what sorts of jobs I was interested in and/or willing to take, and what scales of pay I would consider for that/those job/s. Then I would have to re-write my resume, basically from scratch, to suit applying for that/those field/s of work. Then I would have to, yes, just set up automatic job alerts through sites like Monster and careerbuilder.com and jobing.com after inputting my updated resume information, and from there it could be pretty lazy, or I could also manually go through newspaper listings, or – and this is the most effective way to get a good job – begin the work of networking. Talk to my friends and friends of friends about my looking for a job, getting in touch with people they know in that/those fields (whatever I’ve selected) and getting my name out there while drawing in information about job openings and upcoming job openings and so on until something clicks. I have never been offered an interview for a job where I didn’t already know someone working for the company who referred me there, and I have only done one interview where I was not offered the job (that was after I got laid off a couple of years ago, a job at ASU where I would have been hired if the two guys with 80 years experience between them hadn’t also applied). Networking is what has worked the best for me, and it takes time and effort and work.
Oh, and that first part, where I decide what I want to do … that would probably take the longest. I’m pretty confident that I never want to work in a computer-tech-related job again unless it is on the Apple campus or directly for one of a few specific industry leaders and inovators (Joy, Gates, Wozniak)… and I’d prefer not to work directly with customers if I could avoid it (especially customer service, though for high enough commissions I might consider sales)…
Oh, and I don’t have a degree or much real put-down-on-a-resume experience in non-computers, non-call-center fields, which makes everything harder… in fact, that’s part of why I couldn’t get a job when I was laid off back in 2002: even though I had years of experience doing tech support, I don’t have a degree or any certifications, and other people in the market for the same jobs do. So… yeah. You, with a degree and no experience would get a job – almost any job in any field – before me, with experience (even in the field in question), motivation, intelligence, a good work ethic, and several positive references from former managers, but without a degree.
But here’s part of it: A lot of it has to do with psychological costs. If I’m thinking about what jobs I want, what jobs are available, the status of my applications and upcoming interviews and interviews I don’t get offered and on and on, the thinking about trying to get a job replaces thinking about writing. In fact, in the last few weeks the small bit of brain I’ve been using to think about whether I want to apply for this known job at all has nearly wiped out my ability to think creatively. If I got into a job search it would take up the vast majority of my free time/thought/energy until I had a new job I was satisfied with, and then for a while I would be learning and adjusting to the new job, and maybe three months or six months from then, or longer if the job is stressful or requires much of my brain to be active, I might be able to write again.
Also, yes, even with an agent, things can take time. It depends on a lot of factors. With fiction (which is what I write, as you know) as soon as a publisher accepts the book you typically get half of the advance, and once the finished manuscript is turned in, the other half. When international, paperback, and other rights are sold, you immediately get paid for each. And since we’re just talking about money here, the year or two that it takes the average publisher to get a book on store shelves is fairly irrelevant. Now, even with a good agent, a first-time, effectively unpublished author with non-genre work (ie: me) could take a long time to find a willing publisher. Years even. And with a mediocre or overworked agent, you may never be published with their help, and may need to find a new agent after you work that out.
But I’m patient.
My current rate, like I said, doesn’t get me to debt-free for four or five years, minimum, and if that’s how long it takes and publishing money never comes in and raises never arrive and I never get a new job, I’m okay with that. And if something comes up that speeds it up, I’m okay with that, too. I like to go with the flow.
Not against nudging the flow a little, so – like I said – the next time I get a chance to speak with my manager (she’s out of town) I’ll let her know that I’m interested in that position when it comes up again, and under what conditions I would consider other positions in the department that require me to talk on the phone (ie: how much money). And I’ll try to get an agent who will try to get a publishing deal that will hopefully pay enough supplemental income to get me out of debt sooner than I otherwise would.
I figure I’ll either live a few more decades or I won’t, and as long as I’m getting stuff done now that I like (ie: writing, painting, et cetera), it doesn’t much matter about the money. If I can get to a point where what I’m mostly doing is the stuff I like, all the better, but this is okay, too.
And now, for a brief post about a tire, and then sleep.
First I’d have to decide what sorts of jobs I was interested in and/or willing to take, and what scales of pay I would consider for that/those job/s. Then I would have to re-write my resume, basically from scratch, to suit applying for that/those field/s of work. Then I would have to, yes, just set up automatic job alerts through sites like Monster and careerbuilder.com and jobing.com after inputting my updated resume information, and from there it could be pretty lazy, or I could also manually go through newspaper listings, or – and this is the most effective way to get a good job – begin the work of networking. Talk to my friends and friends of friends about my looking for a job, getting in touch with people they know in that/those fields (whatever I’ve selected) and getting my name out there while drawing in information about job openings and upcoming job openings and so on until something clicks. I have never been offered an interview for a job where I didn’t already know someone working for the company who referred me there, and I have only done one interview where I was not offered the job (that was after I got laid off a couple of years ago, a job at ASU where I would have been hired if the two guys with 80 years experience between them hadn’t also applied). Networking is what has worked the best for me, and it takes time and effort and work.
Oh, and that first part, where I decide what I want to do … that would probably take the longest. I’m pretty confident that I never want to work in a computer-tech-related job again unless it is on the Apple campus or directly for one of a few specific industry leaders and inovators (Joy, Gates, Wozniak)… and I’d prefer not to work directly with customers if I could avoid it (especially customer service, though for high enough commissions I might consider sales)…
Oh, and I don’t have a degree or much real put-down-on-a-resume experience in non-computers, non-call-center fields, which makes everything harder… in fact, that’s part of why I couldn’t get a job when I was laid off back in 2002: even though I had years of experience doing tech support, I don’t have a degree or any certifications, and other people in the market for the same jobs do. So… yeah. You, with a degree and no experience would get a job – almost any job in any field – before me, with experience (even in the field in question), motivation, intelligence, a good work ethic, and several positive references from former managers, but without a degree.
But here’s part of it: A lot of it has to do with psychological costs. If I’m thinking about what jobs I want, what jobs are available, the status of my applications and upcoming interviews and interviews I don’t get offered and on and on, the thinking about trying to get a job replaces thinking about writing. In fact, in the last few weeks the small bit of brain I’ve been using to think about whether I want to apply for this known job at all has nearly wiped out my ability to think creatively. If I got into a job search it would take up the vast majority of my free time/thought/energy until I had a new job I was satisfied with, and then for a while I would be learning and adjusting to the new job, and maybe three months or six months from then, or longer if the job is stressful or requires much of my brain to be active, I might be able to write again.
Also, yes, even with an agent, things can take time. It depends on a lot of factors. With fiction (which is what I write, as you know) as soon as a publisher accepts the book you typically get half of the advance, and once the finished manuscript is turned in, the other half. When international, paperback, and other rights are sold, you immediately get paid for each. And since we’re just talking about money here, the year or two that it takes the average publisher to get a book on store shelves is fairly irrelevant. Now, even with a good agent, a first-time, effectively unpublished author with non-genre work (ie: me) could take a long time to find a willing publisher. Years even. And with a mediocre or overworked agent, you may never be published with their help, and may need to find a new agent after you work that out.
But I’m patient.
My current rate, like I said, doesn’t get me to debt-free for four or five years, minimum, and if that’s how long it takes and publishing money never comes in and raises never arrive and I never get a new job, I’m okay with that. And if something comes up that speeds it up, I’m okay with that, too. I like to go with the flow.
Not against nudging the flow a little, so – like I said – the next time I get a chance to speak with my manager (she’s out of town) I’ll let her know that I’m interested in that position when it comes up again, and under what conditions I would consider other positions in the department that require me to talk on the phone (ie: how much money). And I’ll try to get an agent who will try to get a publishing deal that will hopefully pay enough supplemental income to get me out of debt sooner than I otherwise would.
I figure I’ll either live a few more decades or I won’t, and as long as I’m getting stuff done now that I like (ie: writing, painting, et cetera), it doesn’t much matter about the money. If I can get to a point where what I’m mostly doing is the stuff I like, all the better, but this is okay, too.
And now, for a brief post about a tire, and then sleep.
I don’t get it.
Oh well.
Maybe you should apply at the Cartier store with your beard put into a ponytail, and see what they say.
I don’t get it.
Oh well.
Maybe you should apply at the Cartier store with your beard put into a ponytail, and see what they say.