I Signed a Book Contract…That Got Cancelled Due to COVID-19

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In the words of every SNL host ever: What a week it’s been.

This week I was planning on posting some really Good News…that’s since turned into Bad News.

The Good News is that two months ago I got an email from one the small presses I’d sent MFA Thesis Novel (my novel about grad school life) to.  The email said they enjoyed my book and wanted to publish it.  The email was really short, so at first I wasn’t sure if I’d understood it correctly—but when I realized they were serious, I fell into a state of cautious ecstasy for the next few days.  The email came in the middle of some other life shit I was dealing with that month, so the uncertainty of those first few emails added a lot of extra stress to an already difficult time.

Eventually the press sent me a publishing contract, Continue reading »

Support Creators and Small Businesses You Care About During the COVID-19 Crisis

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I live in rural Toyama, Japan, where as of this writing there still haven’t been any confirmed cases of Coronavirus.  All the stores, restaurants, and other businesses are open as usual, with the exception of special events and large gatherings.  The rest of the world, though, doesn’t have it so lucky.

Back in the States, as I’m sure you’re aware, a lot of stuff is closed, and is expected to stay closed for a while.  And while the government’s approved a $2.2 trillion dollar economic package to help out just about every sector of the economy, a fair amount of that money is actually going to huge multibillion dollar corporations.  Even with the extra help, small businesses and independent contractors are still going to have a rough time.

The Great Recession that happened after 2008 was a rough time for a lot of people, including me—I needed a full-time job when I got back from Japan and had a lot of trouble finding one.  Then, when I finally got one, the pay was pretty mediocre, and it was hard for me to Continue reading »

Three-Quarters of the Way There: An Interview with Andrew Marshall

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Andrew Marshall works as a photographer, painter, videographer, writer, and podcaster, the combination of which make up his entire income.  Much of his work focuses on outdoor exploration: his writing’s been featured in Upventur and Backpacking Light (for whom he also produces a podcast), and he’s photographed landscapes from Scotland  to Yosemite Valley.  I called him via Skype to talk about self-employment, balancing promotion with creativity, and what it’s like to leave your Day Job.

 

I. I’ve Sought Out More Hands-On Work

 

But I Also Have a Day Job: So, going back a ways, why did you choose art school?

Andrew Marshall: I wanted to make movies.  I was a film major at SCAD [Savannah College of Art and Design] and I had wanted to be a filmmaker since I saw Jurassic Park when that came out in 1994.  It took a while, but I think what I eventually realized is that I wanted a job that was exciting, and I wanted a job that would take me around the world and that felt like an adventure, and filmmaking was a way to do that. Continue reading »

Don’t Try to Hide Your Economic Privilege

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I’ve been thinking a lot about this article in The Guardian I read a few days ago, where novelist Lynn Steger Strong talks about the financial difficulties of making it as a writer.  We all know that paying your bills through any kind of creative work is a daunting challenge, but Strong’s article shines some light on whether we talk about our financial situations honestly, or with a lot of smoke and mirrors.

Quick note—this post will probably make a lot more sense if you read Strong’s article first.  If you’re in a hurry or otherwise don’t want to, though, no sweat—you should still be able to get something out of this post! Continue reading »

Once in a While I Get Really Depressed, and That’s OK

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I went through a pretty rough patch a few weeks ago—like, stay in bed until four o’clock on a Sunday rough, stomach’s so upset you can’t finish your lunch rough, harboring doubts about your entire life’s direction rough.  The worst of this miserable cesspool overcame me for two and a half days (about 54 hours by my count), but its effects lingered for the next two weeks as smaller problems that wouldn’t normally bother me started hitting me hard—and that was all kinds of not fun.

I’d rather not share the specifics of what set off this depressive episode, though in retrospect I’ve realized that it was caused by a lot of different factors, including Day Job problems, personal issues, Coronavirus risks, the fact that it’s fucking cold and murky during the Toyama winter, and Continue reading »

How Concert Merch Tables Taught Me About Self-Promotion

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I was sixteen when I went to my first concert.  It was a four-person jam band called Uncle Sammy whose two albums I’d been listening to nonstop on CD, and I jumped at the chance to see them live.  The show was at Milly’s bar in Manchester, New Hampshire, and my friend had to email the owner asking special permission to get in because we weren’t 21 yet.  We had to make a bunch of promises not to drink, but we did get some good nachos.

Uncle Sammy was a local band out of Massachusetts who played at bars and smaller shows around New England and at the time had put out two live albums on indie labels.  To us, though, they may as well have been a huge platinum-selling group. Continue reading »

Using Your Day Job as a Cover Story

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Think about the last time you were at a social gathering with people you didn’t know.  Think about the last time one of them approached you, or you approached them—and whether the person was older or younger than you, whether they were more established, whether they were an imposing authority figure like a boss, or whether they were a cute guy/girl you were interested in.

Now think about the things you talked about: where you were from, your hobbies, some observation about the gathering.  There’s a lot you might have talked about, but there’s one imposing question that comes up over and over in this situation, and it’s one that’s caused an insane amount of stress for me as well as for other creative people:

What do you do? Continue reading »

Every Job is a Real Job as Long as It Pays Real Money

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I hate it when people use the term “real job” to describe a certain type of employment.  Like, what do people even mean when they say this?  If some jobs are “real jobs,” are the rest of the jobs out there “fake jobs?”  How about “unreal jobs?”  “Pretend jobs?”

I’ve sometimes asked people to describe what they meant by “real job” and each time, without exception, the person found themselves at a loss for words.  Being full-time seemed to have something to do with it, but not all full-time jobs were “real jobs.”  Paying out a lot of money also seemed to make certain kinds of jobs “real,” but that wasn’t the whole story.  Was a “real job” one where you took your responsibilities seriously?  Not really, since I know a lot of people who don’t take their so-called “real jobs” seriously at all.  Or was it a job that leads to a bigger career?  That description falls short too, Continue reading »

Recap: I Gave a Book Talk and It Went Super Well!

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I just flew back to Japan, and boy are my arms tired *drum fill*

For those of you just joining me, last Sunday I gave a presentation and reading at MainStreet BookEnds, the independent bookstore in my hometown of Warner, New Hampshire, about what it’s like to live and work in Japan.  The owner had agreed to stock my Japan chapbook, Eikaiwa Bums, back in March, and offered to let me do a reading when I was back in the States.  I’d planned to come back for a three-week August vacation anyway, so doing a reading while I was back seemed like a great idea.

In the interest of showing you how the sausage was made, here’s a rundown of the entire event from start to finish: Continue reading »

Can You Trust Your Coworkers With Your Creative Goals?

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Last week I wrote about how, during a night out with my Japanese coworkers while mildly under the influence, I revealed to one of my superiors that I wanted to be a novelist.  In addition to helping me reflect on my personal goals, the episode got me thinking about the question in the title: when is it OK to talk with your coworkers about your creative goals?

I’ve written at length about how and why I’ve kept my creative goals a secret at my different Day Jobs, but there have also been times when I’ve felt comfortable telling coworkers, and even bosses, that my real goal was to be a writer.  This was usually because I’d developed comfortable relationships with them, so revealing more of who I really was felt natural, and helped strengthen those relationships significantly.

There’s a few things to consider when debating whether to tell your coworkers about your creative goals, so here’s a quick list: Continue reading »

A Kind of Sappy Post About Why You Should Keep Your Space Clean

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This is my Japanese-style shower.

It’s a separate room from both the sink and the toilet, with stone walls, a stone floor, and a sliding plastic door.  The bathtub is deep enough so you can sit with your knees hugging your chest with the water up to your neck, and it’s surprisingly comfortable.  The shower head detaches and can be held in your hand, fastened up high (my preferred style), or clipped at waist-height so you can wash yourself while sitting down.  Because the walls, door, and window are all watertight you can spray water anywhere you want, and it all runs down that big drain in the lower left-hand corner.

I’m showing you this because 1) It’s a pretty cool way to take a shower, and 2) It’s a bitch to clean. Continue reading »

Don’t Just Say “I’m Too Busy”

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I’ll try to keep this one brief, since I’ve got stuff to do today.

I don’t like saying “I’m too busy” when someone invites me to something or asks me for a favor.  It feels like a copout—because in a lot of ways, it is.

If have a chance to pick up a new editing job or write something or even just go out for drinks with friends, I try to think about the other things I’m currently juggling in comparison to this new opportunity.  Do I really want to do this new thing, or would I rather focus on what I’m already working on? Continue reading »