What is something I think everyone should know?
There are so many things…how to read. That their parents love them. The companionship of an animal. I think I’ll go super dad-practical, though:
Everyone should know how to manage their money. Which I guess is a combination of how to budget, how to track income and expenses, how to use debt—which mostly means how to stay OUT of it these days, with credit cards especially…and I’d even extend that to how to find jobs that can give you additional financial freedom, like being an apartment manger, for example. How to SAVE. And then once you’ve saved money, what to do with it. These are skills I was taught somewhat, but I’ve learned sooooo much more about as I’ve gotten older. Liz and I, in our thirties, figured our money situation out. And neither of us has ever really made great money until just very recently, but despite that, because we figured out our finances together, it’s a major reason we own a house in LA. No small feat. There’s some good luck involved in there too, to be sure; historically low interest rates, for example. But it’s mostly hard work. We were only able to take advantage of that opportunity by saving what we had.
So, yeah. That’s my answer, I think, at the end of the day. I’ve been broke before. Like, so broke I literally couldn’t put gas in my car. I was driving out to Malibu for a catering gig with enough in my tank to get there, but not enough to get home unless I made tips. That was my only way home. I made tips that night, thank god—good ones, too, I think. Like, $100 for each of us, thank god, and I was able to buy gas to get home, but man…I remember the stress of that drive out there, and the stress throughout the shift trying to make everything perfect so that they’d be happy and tip us. And the relief, and then exhaustion when I did get enough to get home…and I knew something had to give. It wasn’t sustainable. That was…2011? Pretty sure it was 2011. Crazy.
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An even better day writing today. Whew. Starting to find a rhythm. I was able to roughly map out one character’s entire story. Moved onto the next, and getting some really fun, good ideas. The battle is going to be epic. Epic, epic, epic. Two entire books for one battle, essentially. That’s some military scifi! Let’s gooooooo.
Netflix work has been steady this week. Whew! And, guys, I took the most epic nap today after lunch. I was SO TIRED…snuggled into bed—oh, the benefits of working from home—it was sunny, but cold out, pulled up the soft comforter and bam, I was out like a light. I didn’t sleep for too long, but it was that dead-to-the-world sleep. A really good nap. Glorious.
Almost done, now, with Taming of the Shrew! Finally. I’ve found a rhythm with that, as well, and already it’s getting easier for me to read. Which is what I want. I want to read and study enough Shakespeare to actually be able to follow his scenes right from the page. Before, in theatre school, it really only ever started to make sense once I got it up on its feet, and even then, only from MY character’s point of view, really. This is a different way of reading shakespeare—I want the playwright’s perspective. Not the performer’s. Very satisfying to have found a rhythm with that work lately.
Whew.
So much going on, as per usual. The book, or series, really, continues to sell well this week as we run our promotions. I got my first few early-bird signups for our brand new mailing list. That was gratifying to see as well, that there are, in fact, people excited to read a free book and stay in touch regarding more releases from our series. I thought people would be down for it, but you never actually know until they start signing up, you know? Our free sale for book 1 ends on…Friday, I think. I need to email my old Starstuff list and let them know. I’ll probably get a bunch of bounce backs and/or unsubscribes because I haven’t used that list in five years…but still. At least the ones that stick around will be good to go.
Lots still to do.
Night night.