forgive me

[mmegaera]

For I am slightly buzzed.

But would someone please like to explain to me why I had no trouble whatsoever shelling out three grand for my museum studies certification four years ago (which I do not regret doing for one moment, mind you) but can't talk myself into spending $300 apiece for a couple of classes on self-publishing (how to design covers, write teaser copy, design the interior of a paper book, etc.) that I suspect would help my writing income rather a lot?

Comments

[kk1raven]

Perhaps part of the reason is that you consider your museum work to be a "real" job while you haven't quite convinced yourself that writing is a "real" job for grownups? Society in general seems to have a problem with treating writing as real work. Having read your books, I definitely think that taking courses that would help you market them better is a justified expense.

[mmegaera]

Yeah, that, too [wry g]. And as I said to nishtalitha, it's also a matter of the classes being "official" and all, too, since they're through a private company (reputable as all heck, but still) rather than a university, and because they're online rather than in person.

Also, I've had this Thing (in the Kareenian sense) about the books having to make significant money before I spend money on them. Investing in something I might not make back the money on is scary (that excuse really isn't valid anymore, though, because I am starting to make enough sales to be noticeable -- grocery money, at least). Although I had no guarantee of making my museum cert. money back, either (I have, though, a few times over). I don't know -- gotta spend money to make money, I guess. It's just scary.

[aldersprig]

I was going to say much of what kk1raven said.

That being said, have you considered using your writing to fund the classes in a less conventional manner? Kickstart a class? Write a fund raiser? $300 is not a ridiculous amount to ask the interwebs for.

[mmegaera]

I'm not sure I've got enough people who consider themselves fans (who have extra money floating around) to actually pull off a Kickstarter yet.

There's another scary thought -- throwing that kind of party and discovering just how many fans I don't have [wry g].

I can manage the cash, I think, better than I could manage having no one donate.