Whether that's illustration or comics or knitting or sculpture or short stories or screenplays or or or....
All these things start from a place of "OMG! I love this so much that I want to do it too!" So we write or draw or knit or whatever because it makes us happy. (Even when it makes us sad, too.)
But, at some point we realize that we can either do this thing we love a little bit less or we can try and make money at this thing we do. (Because, let's be honest, we all have bills and life and things that can't be paid off with sheer creativity. And the Bohemian ideal of living in abject poverty while devoting oneself to the arts is not as cool as the musical versions make it seem.)
For me, personally, I write because I love it, but I try and sell my work because I also need to eat. And pay the electric bill. And the water bill. And the internet bill.
It's a fine line to walk - writing the things you love, and then finding an audience who is willing to give you cash money for said things. (Especially hard if you don't fit neatly into a genre or category.)
I am extremely grateful to the fans who have bought my self-published novelettes and novellas. To the folks who have bought the Touch trilogy and waited eagerly for the finale. But the last of the Southern Gothic novellas comes out in a week, and the self-published books sell best at conventions.
So, in the quest to continue doing the thing I love (writing) while still being able to pay for the things I must have (electricity, water, internet, etc), I have started a Patreon.
I've been considering the idea for quite some time, but given the realities of being a mother and primary guardian of the homefront, and all the work that entails, I was uncertain about committing to new content every month. However, I have a lot of content that is already written and ready to be shared. Including, The Steampunk Novel.
This is a book I spent a lot of time on. Years, even. I learned how to write a novel by writing this book and it is the start of the most ambitious story-world I have come up with. And now, thanks to the magic of Patreon, you can have it in serial format for just $1 a month.
It's always... challenging, asking folks to help you keep doing something that can seem so very ephemeral. But this is a novel I love. It's a novel I think you will love. And, with your help, I can not only let you read it, but I can continue to write other things that I love as well.
Check it out, the first two chapters are posted for free.
https://www.patreon.com/AggyCarpenter
