# What is the ideal writer's lifestyle you're working towards?



## Guest (Oct 15, 2014)

I get the sense that for most of us, writing isn't just something we do--it's a major part of who we are and how we self-identify. If writing is such a major part of our lives, it stands to reason that it impacts our lifestyle choices as well. We're all striving to "live the dream" in one way or another. We tend to focus a lot on what the dream part of that equation means for each of us, but what about how we live it?

So what is the ideal lifestyle that you're striving toward? When you've achieved success in your writing (or now that you have achieved success), what do you want your life to look like? We all know what the dream looks like, but what does it look like to live it?

This question is on my mind right now because recently, I've been making some pretty big lifestyle changes of my own. In an effort to be more independent, I've started buying and storing dry food in bulk, such as oats, beans, and wheat. My parents sent me the old family wheat grinder, and I'm learning how to make bread on my own. I've also started an herb garden, switched to cast iron for cooking, and put together a first-aid kit in an old metal ammo box. When I'm no longer renting an apartment, I'll probably keep a couple of rabbits and a small flock of chickens. It's like I'm a prepper now, except instead of doing it to get ready for the apocalypse, I'm doing it to be more self-reliant in general. 

It's a lot of fun, actually, and I can see how that sort of lifestyle could be very good at supporting the dramatic ups and downs of being a writer. In fact, that's a large part of why I'm doing it! Even if I do make it big, I'll probably still live this way, with my food storage and a garden. But then again, that might just be a Mormon thing more than a writer thing.

I don't know. Maybe writing doesn't have as much of an impact on your life as much as other things, like family or religion. But if there is an ideal writing lifestyle that you're striving for, I'd like to hear about it!


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## ElHawk (Aug 13, 2012)

I just want to keep on keepin' on: keep paying my bills via writing, and putting away a little money each month.

Paul and I are going to start the process of buying a house next summer, so I guess at that point my ideal lifestyle will be to become a property owner and then to continue owning said property. 

I'd love it if I got super-rich, and I'll keep working away and trying to make my books as successful as possible. I am always looking for ways to attract new readers, and always striving to write a better book. If that work ethic ever means I get really wealthy -- cool. I won't complain. (Who would?)

But I'm enjoying my quality of life so much right now, with an average income for my zip code, not having to freak out about money like I was four years ago, and not having to work at a job I hate just to keep the bills paid. This is the dream for me, right here -- and I'm deliriously happy with where my life is right now. Being rich would be cool, but I can't imagine it would make me _happier_ than I am now.


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## Jj2011 (Oct 1, 2014)

Wake up at ten in my beach house spend 2-3 hrs doing nothing re: surfing web then write 5k words and go do something else that doesn't involve writing. Don't have that beach house quite yet...


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## Redacted1111 (Oct 26, 2013)

Better life for my kids, freedom, the fiances to build up more income in other areas like real estate and stock market investments. The ability to travel or live in another country part of the year. Pay off my student loans, pay for my kid's college education. Be able to dress like a normal person... I'd like to be wealthy, but first I'd like to not be poor.


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## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

The dream would be to do it like the bestseller authors, a book per year suffices.

But I'd also be happy just being paid enough to sustain myself while being able to decide how I organise my life, instead of having it organised by a day job.


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## BuddyGott (Feb 4, 2011)

My first book is coming out a little bit later this year, so I'm totally a beginner at all of this, but I'd love to be a full-time writer in the next year or so.

My wife-to-be (getting married 2 weeks from now!) also writes, so I'd love it if we can both be full-time writers. I don't care whether or not we become rich - I just want to have a comfortable life. Waking up and writing for a few hours together each day and then having free and fun time together afterwards would make for a wonderful life.


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## Amber Rose (Jul 25, 2014)

Live in Switzerland, as a full time writer with that as my only source of income. Be able to define "full time" the way I want to (the suggestion above of one book a year sounds good, although I would probably have to do two just to keep myself motivated to write every day.)

I don't need the mega millions, but if that type of success came knocking on my door I'd open it wide.


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## Lionel&#039;s Mom (Aug 22, 2013)

I'm actually working to stop self-identifying with my work, so it doesn't hurt so bad when people leave bad reviews. 
Also trying to get a better schedule going. Since I've been full time I've been living this 24 hour kind of schedule of sleep and work whenever I want and it's actually getting old. 

I'm ridiculously happy to be a full time writer, but things aren't always a bed of roses. I used to have better output when I had a 8-5 office job and I stress WAY more about money even though it got to the point where my office job salary was small beans, at least it was reliable beans. I save probably 80% of my money but I don't know if I'll ever feel secure.

So, basically I'm trying to find balance by volunteering more days, working out more, taking up old hobbies like knitting, and improving my writing while reminding myself that my job is not who I am, just what I do.


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## LBrent (Jul 1, 2013)

Kalypsō said:


> I'd like to be wealthy, but first I'd like to not be poor.


^^^^^THIS^^^^^


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## D. Zollicoffer (May 14, 2014)

Lionel's Mom said:


> I'm actually working to stop self-identifying with my work, so it doesn't hurt so bad when people leave bad reviews.
> Also trying to get a better schedule going. Since I've been full time I've been living this 24 hour kind of schedule of sleep and work whenever I want and it's actually getting old.
> 
> *I'm ridiculously happy to be a full time writer, but things aren't always a bed of roses. I used to have better output when I had a 8-5 office job and I stress WAY more about money even though it got to the point where my office job salary was small beans, at least it was reliable beans. I save probably 80% of my money but I don't know if I'll ever feel secure.
> ...


I'm going through this right now. I quit back in August, and now I write way less. It's weird, before quitting I thought I'd sit around all day and crank out a million novels. 

Right now my only goal is to make enough to where money no longer becomes an issue. I'm doing fine right now, but I'd like to get to at least $60,000 a year (I'm at around $40,000 right now). That doesn't sound like much, but it's great money for a single person (with no kids) living in Northeast Ohio.

I'm 100% positive that I'll get to this point next year. Then I'll start plotting world domination and dreaming of buying islands and private jets lol


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## Lionel&#039;s Mom (Aug 22, 2013)

D. Zollicoffer said:


> I'm going through this right now. I quit back in August, and now I write way less. It's weird, before quitting I thought I'd sit around all day and crank out a million novels.


Haha, those were the days, right? I've even considered getting a fun part time job in a Bath and Bodyworks or something to try and get my mojo back.  If you want to be writing buddies, just pm me.


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## going going gone (Jun 4, 2013)

I've been poor by choice for a decade now, living well under the poverty line, taking no handouts, living largely off the grid. (all this computer access these days is making me dizzy!). I like that life a lot. It's simple and calm and quiet and sustainable. I don't need many things at all to be happy. I don't have a TV so I don't get daily reminders of what products I "should" lust for. I'm there already, just hoping I stay healthy for a good long while.

Self-publishing was the icing on that cake for me.


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## Lehane (Apr 7, 2014)

I'm still in my early 20s and as such don't know a d*mn thing about what I want in life, buuuut now that I'm out of the fast-track world of college where everyone was anxious to be at the top of their industry...I kind of just want a gentle existence. If I were to make a full time living off of prose, my desire to work to the top of the TV industry would probably wane. I still get a thrill and joy out of the idea of being an executive producer or even showrunner, and taking a jab at that is still on the docket, but the novel writer's life is a slightly more manageable speed for my personality.

The writer's lifestyle offers so many things, but for me, it's the freedom to work ANYWHERE. I spent four years dreading the move to Los Angeles, which is practically required as a screenwriter, but a novelist can set up shop in any old place. My dream world is living less than two hours to a major city that I love, owning a bit of land, and having the means to buy and keep a number of horses. Not fancy horses, just rideable ones. I would never turn down oodles of cash, but as long as I'm making enough to not have to worry about covering reasonable payments on my mortgage and student loans, then fine by me! And, well, I want a steady schedule -- wake up, ease into the day, write, ride, eat, write, ride, eat, socialize, sleep. On the weekends I visit my ludicrously successful Hollywood buddies and ride their coat tails to the cool parties.

Simple, right? I would like it delivered to me immediately.


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## Z. Rider (Aug 15, 2014)

Congrats to you and your wife-to-be, Buddy. 

My ideal writer's lifestyle would be where I don't spend all week dying for Friday to get here, then Sunday evening down in the dumps because the weekend's over already. I want every day to be the weekend!  (I write seven days a week; it's the day job that drags five of those days down.) Other than that, as long as I can pay my bills, I'm happy for my writer's lifestyle to look a lot like my current one.


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## Carradee (Aug 21, 2010)

My _ideal_ would be paying bills and traveling the world with my cat on my writing income, with enough to both live in a big city and get some off-the-grid property. But first the bills would be nice. My super-long list of allergies + my unusually fast metabolism = larger-than-usual grocery bill.


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## Sever Bronny (May 13, 2013)

Great question 

My ideal lifestyle would be to own a piece of mountain-side property, with one heck of a view (especially as I write). I'd spend 5 days a week writing, with that split into 75% writing and 25% marketing. I'd exercise routinely (tennis, swimming, running, flying/being a pilot). I'd have friends and family over on the weekends sometimes, but live a quiet life all-in-all. Oh, and I'd figure out a way to sell and make my music at the same time ...


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## vrabinec (May 19, 2011)

I look forward to that post-apocalyptic day when the author kings rule. We will enslave the world and force it to use the Oxford comma.


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## Lady Runa (May 27, 2012)

Me, I've been a full-time freelance writer for the last 15 years and yes, I do have a dream! My dream is... to work on only one project at a time. So that I could do nothing but write a novel all day or a how-to ebook or a book of historical research (because I do all of these things) but not all at the same time on the same day, oh no! I'm SO fed up with juggling projects, I can't tell you 

If I can just work on one project at any given time, my writing bliss will be complete


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## ketosis (Apr 19, 2013)

To be able to do what I want when I want.  I'm lucky enough that writing is full time for me, and that I can live my dream.  I just turned 25, have no kids, no wife, no mortgage, no car payment, etc.  I only answer to myself, and I have fairly low bills, so it'd be hard for me, at this point in my life, not to be able to support myself writing.  

As for my ideal place to be or life, I'm not really sure.  I've never been partial to warm/hot weather (72-73 is the perfect temperature for me), so I guess either a place in Colorado, Washington/Oregon, or NYC, where I'm planning to go next year.  I know that sounds odd with the others, but I guess having a small apartment in Manhattan for a year while I write would be the ultimate dream, and with how things are going, I'll be there in nine months.


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## JV (Nov 12, 2013)

I'd say writing has more of an impact on my life than family or religion...probably because I'm not religious and my family isn't very close, save for my mom and a sister. Writing is pretty much my life. I do it full time as both a novelist and I do the occasional academic paper. Most importantly I work from home. I move from my bedroom to my laptop and I'm at work. 

Lifestyle wise, there isn't much that I aim to change anytime soon. I collect film...I've got an insanely large collection that I've started stacking because I've run out of storage space for it. I game...A LOT...I just reserved four PS4 titles releasing in November (oh...my WIP is going to suffer). I mean...that pretty much keeps me happy. I go to the gym. I see a friend or two here and there. Most importantly, I make my own schedule. I'd say I'm living the life I want. This is what it looks like.


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## Guest (Oct 15, 2014)

I want to live in Central America and have a live-in maid. My husband hasn't endorsed that idea yet. He wants to retire to Alaska. Brr. Either way, I want us to both be freed from corporate America and be able to have our own schedules. I'd love that to include the kids too, but it could be a while before we reach our goals. They might be out of the house by then.


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## Guest (Oct 15, 2014)

A lot of you guys seem pretty happy just being single, which is interesting. I definitely want to have a family at some point. I don't want to move entirely off the grid, but I want to be self-reliant enough that I could survive off the grid if I had to. Some day, I'd like to own a little house out in the mountains, with my own well, a flock of chickens, a garden that produces food 12 months out of the year, and maybe a woodburning stove.


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## Rin (Apr 25, 2011)

_Ideal_ would be making as much money (or a little more) as I do in my day job - enough to be comfortable without stretching.

_Fantastic_ would be able to travel and go to conventions elsewhere, stay in other cities and have a writing holiday there, etc.


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## Kathryn Meyer Griffith (May 6, 2013)

Ah, the writing life. It's so many things for so many writers. I have ALWAYS worked hard, written a lot and published many books since 1984.
But I've been at the actual writing now for over 43 years and have experienced (almost) every aspect of being a writer and what it means to my life and lifestyle. I've worked full-time out of the home as a graphic artist while being a mother and wife - and wrote in the evenings and weekends...in the early years. I went years and years (23) , still writing, but not making enough money to quit the hated day job. I grew older, middle-aged, finally left the day job behind and still kept writing, still making little money but my working husband supported me. Then 5 or 6 years ago my writing and the world changed. My books, still with a publisher, went for the first time ever into eBooks as well as print - again very little money- and then two years ago I begin to self-publish (6 old and new books) and the money rolled in (wish the eBook, self-publishing, ACX audio book, revolution would have come sooner but at least I caught the tail end of it); more than any of the 30 years before. Yet most of my books are yet with that publisher...for another 2 years. I am retired now and still writing. It's become a part of me. My husband will retire in 10 months. And in two more years I will own all my 21 novels again and will have them all self-published...THEN I HOPE TO FINALLY LIVE THE GOOD LIFE! Writing when I want, but spending more free time just enjoying life and traveling in the RV we plan on getting. So...it only took forty-three years for me to achieve the dream.


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## JV (Nov 12, 2013)

Joe Vasicek said:


> A lot of you guys seem pretty happy just being single, which is interesting. I definitely want to have a family at some point. I don't want to move entirely off the grid, but I want to be self-reliant enough that I could survive off the grid if I had to. Some day, I'd like to own a little house out in the mountains, with my own well, a flock of chickens, a garden that produces food 12 months out of the year, and maybe a woodburning stove.


It's always interesting how differently people envision the ideal life (I mean this in a good way).

For me, Fiber Internet, walking to Starbucks, and having three major malls in a five mile radius is a form of paradise. I'm also a vegetarian, so having to grow my own food would just be too time consuming, there's a store that sells organics down the road...that's keeping it simple to me, lol.


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## HappyToHelp (Sep 27, 2014)

I would live off-the-grid (funny that there are so many of us who want this lifestyle), on several acres on a lake.  I would love nothing more than to grow my own food and be creative and crafty all day--from writing to making furniture and home cooked meals to everything in between.  I think I could do this if I were to make around $75k a year...but first I need to shovel out of a lot of debt from a divorce.  Ugh.


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## Peter Spenser (Jan 26, 2012)

I have an eight-year project: I need to acquire $2,000,000 by November of 2022. Why that particular date is personal. The money: half a million to buy a particular house on Cayuga Lake near Ithaca, New York. Another half million for repairs and renovation and modernization. The last million to go into a perpetual trust for the yearly taxes and upkeep and maintenance of the house, the grounds, and the people who will live there, from then on, for generations.


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## Rue Hirsch (May 4, 2014)

Kit Tunstall said:


> I want to live in Central America and have a live-in maid. My husband hasn't endorsed that idea yet. He wants to retire to Alaska. Brr.


As an Alaskan, I do not recommend this. This climate and land are harsh on aging bodies. Tropical all the way, at least that's the way the rest of us up here do it. 

Riches are great, but I prefer the quiet life. Right now I'm working part time teaching yoga and waiting tables to make ends meet with my writing. Putting away money. My husband is very supportive and we talked about having me only do writing next year, but I want to keep the gigs for now. I want to make sure that my writing can contribute first.

As what I'd like to work towards? Oh, how about a piece of land the valley over from where I currently live? Deep in the woods, a nice log home with a decent sized study facing the sea and the pine swamps below since nature is a constant inspiration. I'd like to make a good amount of money per month that pays my share of the bills and also allows me to save for rainy days. Vacations once a year with the family, and enough money to send the kid to college. And of course, I'd like to also make enough to put away for retirement even though this is technically something that I can do until I'm old. Still though, just the comforts for a happy and humble life that supports my art and allows me to build a respectable career.


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## Drake (Apr 30, 2014)

I want to sit by the pool and write... Wait, I'm doing that!  Okay, even better would be to make enough to travel the world a bit more.  I'm getting there.


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## suspensefulCJ (Nov 8, 2013)

As of Aug. 31, I am living the goal I had worked for these past three years. That's the day my husband 'retired' from Corporate America to work for my publishing business.

But it was a long road to get here...

Three years ago our daughter was diagnosed with severe, life threatening allergies and multiple less-serious but still worrisome environmental allergies. We made the decision of no daycare and no public school for her. The health risks weren't something we wanted for her. (What kid would want to spend 3 out of 5 days each week home sick from the kid next to her's laundry detergent?)

So I quit my part-time job in the hotel industry, and started freelancing non-fiction articles, while working on the fiction in my 'spare' time.

Then in Oct. 2011 I self-published my first paranormal novella and it went permafree less than a month later. By that point I had two other titles out in the same series, and was working on the first romantic suspense.

Each year since my royalties doubled, and I was able to release at a very steady rate.

Starting around January of 2013 I was making a significant income from the books. That income--and my number of titles--has grown. In June of this year I told the husband I either needed in-home child care for a few hours each day, a maid (man, I really wanted a maid!), and an author assistant for at least 20 hours each week. OR...I needed him to quit his job as soon as possible and take over the promo, social media, and half the household chores. (I'll never forget his face when I dropped the 'you have to quit the job you really don't like and come home' bomb. It was ALMOST as memorable as the expression when I told him I was pregnant!)

His choice wasn't easy--he'd never been a position to work for himself, and was very dependent on the idea of having a steady paycheck since this business can be so up and down--but the draw of no more 55 hour work weeks was pretty nice, too.

My goal from the moment our daughter was diagnosed was to get my husband HOME so he could enjoy our daughter's childhood, too, and to make enough money for us to buy a larger home. We haven't managed the last (yet!) but by summer of 2016 we should. We did buy a neighbor's home as a rental property in June, as well.

We want to move out of the urban environment we're currently in to a rural area with some acreage and room for a small farm and fruit orchard. And I want a BIG greenhouse, too.

We homeschool, so with the husband home we are free to do whatever we want whenever we want. For us that was one of the greatest outcomes of this whole writing thing. Not to mention that I had been working on becoming a writer since I was nine years old!

I'm doing what I've always wanted, on MY schedule, watching my child grow and learn, and have the two people in the world I love most _with_ me.

That's pretty much what the writer's lifestyle looks like to me!


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## kyokominamino (Jan 23, 2014)

Richard Castle.


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## MJWare (Jun 25, 2010)

I hope someday to write full-time. Would be great if that's sooner than later. However, I'm tracking towards being able to retire early because I can use my semi-meager commission checks to supplement my (also somewhat meager) investment income. 
That's looking a good 10 years out, though.


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## Sheluvspink (May 14, 2014)

Being able to quit my day job which I'd have to be making double what I make a month now. (Which isn't that much since it's a job and not a career.) I'm a single mom and would love to be able to take my son to school and pick up  him, go on field trips without the hassle of hoping the day's open for me to take off.


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

People ask why I stay at my day job even though I make so much more writing (I often ask myself that, too, when I'm as tired as I am today) -- and this plays in to my answer to that question. In two summers (a little less than two years) my writing should pay for my dream house. Outright. We're talking a four-bedroom colonial with finished basement, bar, inground pool, hardwood floors, the whole enchilada (and in a great area). All of the money I make from my books (after paying taxes) goes into the bank. I live on what I make at my day job. I pay for all my book stuff, covers, editors, promos, etc. from my day job. I have a dream for down the road -- and it's within grasp. Part of me does want to be laid off. And, as a reporter, it's a real possibility. Part of me thinks it might take longer to save up for my dream house if I do -- but the other part of me thinks I could actually be further ahead if I lost my job because I'd have all that other time to write. Instead of working 65-hour weeks, I could work 40-hour weeks and accomplish more than I'm accomplishing now. Either way, once I get my house, I'm out of here (although I honestly don't think I'll last that long. We're owned by a hedge fund, there are constant cuts here and our contract is up in April and they're out to break the union). I have these romantic ideas of getting up, making a cup of tea with my Keurig, and sitting down to write in the afternoons. Then I can get something accomplished outside of the home later in the night. As it is now, I work -- and work -- and then I come home from work and work some more. I have a goal, though, and if I have to continue this for two years -- I think it will be worth it.


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## B.A. Spangler (Jan 25, 2012)

_Ideal_ would be supporting my family.


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## kjbryen (Jul 3, 2014)

Ideally, I'd like write full time and make 40-50k a year... like, twice what I make now, so my husband and I can live more comfortably.

In a dream world?

Become a bestseller. Move me, my friends and family all to beach houses (would prefer Hawaii, but I'll settle for California or Florida). Have a huge breakout novel that will set me for life, then sit around sipping on cocktails all day while writing in my free time. 
..... I emphasize, *dream world*.


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## Wayne Stinnett (Feb 5, 2014)

A very good question, Joe. My wife and I have been doing a lot of dreaming lately. Not really dreaming anymore, though. It's more like planning. My books are doing quite well and we're saving first towards a new vehicle for me and a new house on the coast next year. I'll have my new (to me) vehicle in two weeks. It will be either a red, blue, or black Ford F-250 4x4 long bed crew cab. I'm just a little particular after driving $1,000 vehicles for twenty years.

I found the home already and hope that it will still be available in August. A three story, five bedroom, five bath home on a deep water canal less than half a mile from the ocean. That necessitates a boat (or two). The house has a converted attic bedroom that would be perfect as an office, overlooking the tidal creek and the ocean just beyond it. With that view, I could write all day, but mornings would be for fishing offshore.

Dream big. Plan bigger.


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## 69959 (May 14, 2013)

My first goal is to replace the income of my current business. Then I can _focus_ on writing and homeschooling the kiddos.

Beyond that, it would be awesome to have a big, beautiful house with a view, a cleaning lady, and a cook. Then I'd like to travel the world, spending a my mornings practicing yoga on a warm, colorful beach. A private jet would be nice too.


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## Heather Hamilton-Senter (May 25, 2013)

Oh yes, my ideal would be to be Richard Castle!! 

A little more realistically, what I'm working for is for us to be debt free and for me to be making enough so my husband can drop some of his clients and focus on teaching and one particular cash cow client. Then I want a regular cleaning lady and trips for the family to places I want to write about.


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## unkownwriter (Jun 22, 2011)

Joe, we have a lot of interests in common. Except for the marriage thing. Been there, done that, got the divorce. Not interested in a relationship, either. Been there, done that, had the messy breakup. Religion isn't a part of my life (I'm a lapsed pagan). My family is close, and important, although my kids are grown and I have no grandchildren in sight.

I want to be self-sufficient as well. I want to be able to take care of my family if there's a storm, or the economy fails, or some eejit sets off a nuke. I'm working on building the food storage, can and do cook from scratch, recycle, compost, we do home and car repairs ourselves. I've got chickens (five hens and a rooster), put in a garden this year, though the weather is weird here lately, so it didn't do all that well. I want to be off-grid (there _are_ an awful lot of us, aren't there?).

I'd like to make double what I made at my best job, which would be around $50K a year. I could pay the bills, keep up the house and yard, and get better cars. Play with my hobbies more. Maybe even travel a little before I get too old to be out and about.

But my secret fantasy is to make enough money to have a large piece of land -- hundreds of acres -- with a small lake (or a really big pond, which would be about the same thing), a big farmhouse, a barn, gardens, animals. I could have a studio for writing, and room to have my collectibles/hobby stuff out, a sewing room...

Someday. Someday.


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## MyraScott (Jul 18, 2014)

I hope to be a hermit one day.


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## Small Town Writer (Jun 11, 2014)

Peter Spenser said:


> The money: half a million to buy a particular house on Cayuga Lake near Ithaca, New York.


Hey! I don't live far from you! I live near Buffalo!

My ideal life would be to write full time. But in order to do that I need to make enough to finally pay off my student loans (I say finally, even though it's only been a few months, but the vast amount is certainly daunting...), get some extra money in the savings account so that I don't freak out if I have a weak month. I'm pretty low-maintenance right now, though I'm sure that will change as I eventually buy a house and have a family, but until then I'm just looking to be able to live comfortably without having to worry too much about money. Someday I'd like to be able to buy a house outright and be able to make donations to charity and that, but I need to take care of myself first.

As far as day-to-day life, I'd love to be able to be my own boss, work when I want to work and not have it be an issue if I decide to go to lunch in the middle of the day or go on vacation for a week. That'd be nice.


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## jamielakenovels (Jan 14, 2014)

To me, it's about doing what I love for a living (emphasis on for a living). I'm living very comfortably now, but I'd like to be able to travel every 1-2 months without worry about bills waiting for me upon my return, pay off all my debts and put away enough cash to do my ultimate goal which is: to make low-budget, high quality films.

I also would love to build my pen name into a brand name for its genre.  

I've learned not to become a bank for my family or relatives and to be selective about the charities I contribute my time and resources to when I was making less and I'm grateful for those lessons.

And the great thing is, all of this is very achievable. With the help of Amazon, I'm well on my way to making my dreams come true step-by-step.


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## skyle (Oct 13, 2014)

I'm working towards a lifestyle free of debt and with savings in the bank.

It isn't just paying off the credit cards (though that is a priority!) but it would be wonderful to have no mortgage one day.

And as soon as I've paid off the credit cards, I really want to get a few thousand into savings, just a bit of a rainy day cushion for us.

And after that, it would be so nice to have a holiday once or twice a year.

Hopefully my new plan of churning out a truck load of erotica will get me there. Even if it only pays off my credit card then I will be thrilled


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## EmmaS (Jul 15, 2014)

Day-to-day, an ideal writer's life means I can:
+ Dress however I want and never wear shoes
+ Sleep in accordance with my body's preferred rhythms
+ Run errands in the middle of the day when everyone's at work
+ Spend time really babying my garden and home
+ Earn enough to write full-time, while still getting my husband through school, investing a little, and giving my husband the freedom to work or not as he pleases (we're debt-free, which makes that a little easier)

Longer-term plans, after the jump to full-time:
+ RV full-time, see the country, work from the road, and focus on a lifestyle that's about slowing down and living according to basic human instincts about food and sleep and love and the smell of pine trees
+ Buy a piece of land near the ocean, build a natural house with my own two hands, set it up to live off the grid (while still being wired in, for convenience) and tend a large garden, milking goat, and flock of hens. Self-sufficiency appeals to me, and I'd like to get to the point where I'm producing most of my own food.
+ And in all cases, make enough so I can spend money on indulgences, like Kickstarters and microloans and really good chocolate
+ And it would be a huge, huge bonus if I made enough to travel internationally, because I really want to go volunteer with rescued elephants

Long story short, I feel trapped in the work > earn > buy > work cycle sometimes. I want to be in something that feels more like write > cook > clean > snuggle > crochet > nap > eat > write > play with cat > paint > marketing > write > have sex > photograph > write > garden > edit > snuggle > write.



> I look forward to that post-apocalyptic day when the author kings rule. We will enslave the world and force it to use the Oxford comma.


Hahaha... 

As a couple people have mentioned, there seems to be a strong trend toward self-sustainability here... Perhaps it comes from being mostly introverted creative types (at least judging by the Myers-Briggs threads)? I know I need a lot of down time and creative control over my environment, and a piece of land somewhere quiet would satisfy that nicely. And the thought of having physical labor to do every day sounds wonderful. Writing is such a cerebral thing (as is my day job) and sometimes my body wants to just get up and remember it's a body.


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## Chinese Writer (Mar 25, 2014)

Ideally I would like to only have to work 2-3 days a week with 2 days for writing, a paid off home, and savings in the bank. I would like to continue working because I'll miss the daily interactions with my friends at work. But then, once I start living my ideal life, I wonder if it would change my relationships at work (especially if people know you don't have to work). Would they be envious? Of course, I also believe that everyone has the same opportunity to change their life if they are willing to work hard at it.


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## Kessie Carroll (Jan 15, 2014)

I'd like to eventually make as much per month on books as my husband makes at his job. If I could simply double our income, whatever it happens to be, that would be a pretty comfortable life. I just need to crank out about 50 more books in popular genres.


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## o.gasim (Oct 5, 2014)

Right now I am trying to hit Stephen King's writer's mantra, "If you can pay a bill with what you write, you're a writer". After that, I'd like to accelerate paying down our debt so my wife and I can more aggressively save for retirement and out 3 daughters (4, 2, and 10 months) education.


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## Sophrosyne (Mar 27, 2011)

Ideally, I would like to make enough to buy a house, take care of my mom so she doesn't have to worry about money, repair and remodel my daughter's father's house before it falls apart, pay my bills every month and still have money left over, pay off my student loans, and be able to afford to take a vacation every now and then, or fly the kids and grandkids here so I can spend time with them.

At the minimum, though, I would like to make enough money to be able to have a retirement account and an investment portfolio, and an 8 month emergency fund, and a college fund for the kids, after all the bills are paid, and take care of home repairs and replace the worn out furniture.

Once I get the basics taken care of, then I'll try dreaming for awhile!


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## CaraS. (Jul 18, 2014)

Comfortably retired widow here. There was a time I'd have enjoyed self-publishing/indie more than I currently do. Most of my novels were written in the 80s/90s and could never find a publisher. I was a reporter/copy editor/Lifestyle Editor/pagination designer most of my life, but left that nine years ago when I lost my husband. 

Honestly I'm not really trying to earn a lot, since basically it will be a tax and med. ins. problem right now. That's why I only ask .99 for my novels. However, I do like having readers but waited a good long while trying to decide if I wanted to do the work (formatting, editing, covers, etc) in order to publish those novels. For now, I'm satisfied. But best of all, I am writing fiction again! I'd lost all inspiration to write, or maybe was just burnt out after writing both fiction and non-fiction for so many years. The newspaper work made a financial living for me, added to my husband's career. Still, as I stated, I'd have loved marketing my fiction back when first created.

My days have been fulfilling for at least the last five years. I live a very quiet, peaceful life, some family and a few friends, but I cherish the solitude of living alone now (except for my 3 dogs!). Have time to pursue creative writing if I wish, but I refuse to "push" myself now. Still love writing, and have always identified as a writer/journalist.

Interesting thread!


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## taiweiland (Oct 16, 2014)

Ideally, I'll be lounging at a Balinese villa with someone doing my nails and a robot typing my stories. But hey, I'm going to settle for being able to write some stories and get money to write some more.

I did angst about the whole "Damn I need to make money cos I need to get out of my day job because I'm close to lacing my boss's coffee with laxatives" thing for a while but realised that I couldn't write under that kind of pressure and mind[beep]. So now I concentrate on having fun as much as I can and if the money rolls in - awesome! Time to buy me a vibrating waterbed with matching lava lamps!

But really, I don't think I can do this thing full time. I need variety. People. And the occasional projectile - organic and non-organic - thrown at me by patients. Keeps me alive.


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## britnidanielle (Oct 13, 2013)

My ideal life? Complete financial freedom and the ability to travel wherever and whenever I want.

I went to South Africa and London a few weeks ago (for a conference, but I charged it). My trip was *AWESOME*, but I was only gone for a week, waaaaay too short.

I want the kind of writer life that allows me to pick up and live in another country for a month at a time--any country, no matter the exchange rate--and enjoy the city, its people, and the food (my God, the food!). And then sit down and write.

THAT'S my idea life.


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## Daniel Kenney (Sep 18, 2014)

I want to be able to walk into a crowded bar, tell the bartender drinks are on me and not piss my pants.

Not really.

I want my wife to work less. I want to spend most of my day writing. Put out 4-6 quality works per year. Have extra money at the end of each month. Take a trip each year with my wife. Help the kids a little with college. Just not have to worry about money quite so much.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

My fiancee and I are pretty simple, we don't care a lot about being rich. As long as we can live comfortably and have enough money to afford a few extras like books, games, and Netflix, we're pretty happy. I'd like to get to the point where I can teach one or two classes a week and divide the rest of the time working from home, writing prose fiction, comic book scripts, articles, and doing the occasional formatting job.


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## David Peterson (Feb 8, 2014)

I would like to write wherever I feel like writing. I'd like to rent an apartment in Beijing for a month and write there soaking up the city on my off time and once I am sick of that, I'd like to find a place in Fargo, South Dakota or wherever. The dream is to make enough to write fulltime and afford to write my way around the world.


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

MyraScott said:


> I hope to be a hermit one day.


I remember when I was very little telling my dad I wanted to be a hermit when I grew up. I'll never forget his response. "You only feel that way, now, because you have brothers. You'll outgrow it." I never did. I start getting a little annoyed when people hang around my house too long. By _too long_ I mean anything over about two hours. The only exception being my daughter. I can't get enough of having her around.

I've always enjoyed being by myself. Usually when I mention that, people respond with with that pathetic sounding, "Oh, that's so sad ..." My response is always the same. "Not if you like it."


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## Morgan Jameson (Sep 16, 2014)

cadle-sparks said:


> I've been poor by choice for a decade now, living well under the poverty line, taking no handouts, living largely off the grid. (all this computer access these days is making me dizzy!). I like that life a lot. It's simple and calm and quiet and sustainable. I don't need many things at all to be happy. I don't have a TV so I don't get daily reminders of what products I "should" lust for. I'm there already, just hoping I stay healthy for a good long while.
> 
> Self-publishing was the icing on that cake for me.


Well said. I bought a vintage 'tiny home' before they were cool, and my needs are few. I need a new truck, but would rather restore an old one. If I can make a decent living, say in the $52K area, I would be quite happy. In fact, by world standards technically I'm already rich.


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## Todd Gunn (Sep 16, 2014)

Ideal for me...
Be able to write whenever I feel the urge.
Have some people read my books.
Have some people buy my books
Make some more good writer friends.
Able to partly fund lifestyle through writing
Live in a different country each year for 3+ months


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## allazar (Apr 2, 2014)

For me, the ideal writing life would be paying off my student loans and mortgage, 3x my current salary in the bank (I make about 50,000 in the day job, which I love), and the ability to travel and write from there.


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## Alain Gomez (Nov 12, 2010)

Honestly, if my writing income ever became substantial it would just mean being able to travel more.  But not much more.  I'm still a homebody at heart.  *sips tea*


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## kathrynoh (Oct 17, 2012)

I'm pretty close to my ideal lifestyle. I have no debts and a cheap cost of living. I pretty much have everything I need and get to travel a few times a year. I would like to earn a bit more so I could put away some more in savings. 

I have to admire people who try to be self-sufficient. I get anxious if the pizza delivery is 5 minutes late!


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## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

britnidanielle said:


> My ideal life? Complete financial freedom and the ability to travel wherever and whenever I want.
> 
> I went to South Africa and London a few weeks ago (for a conference, but I charged it). My trip was *AWESOME*, but I was only gone for a week, waaaaay too short.
> 
> ...


I love London. I would love a "vacation" flat there.


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

I'm stealing Myra's dream:



MyraScott said:


> I hope to be a hermit one day.


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## sarahdalton (Mar 15, 2011)

I would like to slow down the speed at which I write, so that I can do a book a year, instead of two or three books and several stories/novellas. I'd love to be able to revise, revise, revise, and slow down and really think. I think I could really improve my books by slowing down. Unfortunately, writing a series puts quite a bit of pressure on me to publish as fast as I can, and when I've not had a release for a while I see my sales dropping steadily down. 

If I did slow down my releases, I would spend more time plotting, thinking, developing characters. I'd spend more time building a fanbase, and maybe be brave and go out to a few conventions. I'd also think about taking a few modules on an MA writing course, not so much for the qualification but so I can improve on the parts of my writing I'm not happy with. 

I'd try to get out of the house more - take up a hobby that requires going out and meeting people. I've lost touch with loads of school friends/uni friends, not to mention the friends who flaked out when I was juggling a writing career and a full time job, and the others who flaked out when I was earning a pittance and couldn't go out much. Also, there are some allotments near me. It would be cool to get into gardening, although I'm not sure I'm much of a natural! I'd also love a couple of chickens in the back garden. My parents have chickens, and the fresh eggs are lovely. Plus it's relaxing to watch them happy and content, knowing they're safely away from some awful battery farm. The only thing that worries me is foxes. They were a real pain, and waking up to find your chickens slaughtered is not much fun. That and the smell!


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## Jana DeLeon (Jan 20, 2011)

So all of you wanting to live off grid are planning on doing no social media to market your books? Because satellite Internet is expensive and crappy, according to everyone I know who's forced to use it. Heck, I'm still complaining that my new neighborhood only has AT&T because I gave up FIOS when I moved. 

I'm living my ideal life now. I write full time. My husband quit his job last year to assist me with my business. We moved into our dream house this year and had the money to do it right. I do get to wear shorts, yoga pants, whatever, and the hours are flexible, BUT I work a TON of hours to accomplish what I do. I just finished two weeks of 17 hours days, every single day. My regular day is 14 hours, and that's with my husband full time, lawn crew, housekeeper, etc. IMHO The hours you work is directly proportionate to your level of success. I don't know any authors making strong six figure incomes that work low hours. Now, that being said, I don't mind it in the least. I spent 20+ years working OT for Corporate America for free (salaried).


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## Guest (Oct 17, 2014)

Jana DeLeon said:


> So all of you wanting to live off grid are planning on doing no social media to market your books? Because satellite Internet is expensive and crappy, according to everyone I know who's forced to use it. Heck, I'm still complaining that my new neighborhood only has AT&T because I gave up FIOS when I moved.


It isn't necessary to be on social media every day to sell books. Mine started to take off when I was living quite literally off the grid in the Caucasus mountains (we had intermittent electricity, but that was it). I had internet maybe three times a week when I took the marshrutka into town for a few hours, and I hardly posted anything to Facebook or Twitter at all. Suddenly, I was selling hundreds of books each month, and giving away thousands. Made me realize that social media is a bit overrated.


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## MyraScott (Jul 18, 2014)

I said hermit, not digitally cut off! 

In my ideal world, people go to Cons dressed up as my characters. They write horrible fanfic in my worlds, matching the most unsuitable characters up in passionate relationships. Some of the phrases I wrote make it into popular culture.  The movies are a hit.  My stories move from cult favories to popular sellouts to classics for the ages. 

While I make the obligatory appearances at major openings, I generally live in my fabulous cob cottage built into the side of a hill overlooking a medium-sized city.  The door is hidden, the approach road is private and littered with DO NOT TRESPASS signs.  I have rounded windows and half walls, the whole place is quirky and adorable and wired with every modern convenience. 

I choose when and where to interact with the outside world. I observe it over the Internet, venture out places where I can blend in with the crowds.  Totally low profile.  

I don't want fame.  I'll take the fortune.  But mostly, I want to transport people into a different world, make them believe they are really there and have them mourn when they have to leave, always wanting more.


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## vrabinec (May 19, 2011)

Yeah, I'd love to be a hermit as long as I had the internet, pizza delivery, a good store down the street that had cheap meat, a good liquor store down the street, a neighbor I could count on if I needed to jump start my car, and a good place in the vicinity where I could go to anonymously people-watch, oh, and someplace to entertain my friends and family, if they came to town.


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## ElHawk (Aug 13, 2012)

Joe Vasicek said:


> A lot of you guys seem pretty happy just being single, which is interesting. I definitely want to have a family at some point. I don't want to move entirely off the grid, but I want to be self-reliant enough that I could survive off the grid if I had to. Some day, I'd like to own a little house out in the mountains, with my own well, a flock of chickens, a garden that produces food 12 months out of the year, and maybe a woodburning stove.


That's pretty much how my sister lives with her family, Joe!  She loves the lifestyle. I think it's not for everybody (raising your own food is a LOT of work) but she can't get enough of "homesteading."

Property prices here in Seattle are now so high that it now actually costs less to own property in the San Juan Islands. So that's were Paul and I will be looking next year. We should be able to afford a few acres and a decent house, which most people around here buy as vacation homes -- but since I can work anywhere as a writer, we figured we might as well live there year-round. Since we'll probably end up with plenty of space for a good garden, I'm going to have my Sis show me how to plan one and get it started. I already know how to can and preserve, so that helps!

The other thing we're considering is getting a place near Jackson Hole, but Paul is still with the Coast Guard for nine more years, so he'd have an annoying commute every month for duty if we lived way out there. But we still might do it anyway. Wherever we end up buying a home, we'll get a small get-away spot in the other place a few years later, since we both love the San Juans and the Tetons equally and can't decide where we want to live year-round. That's one of the nice things about not having kids -- we can pick up and go to our alternate location whenever we feel like it, without having to worry about taking kids out of school!


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## beccaprice (Oct 1, 2011)

My sights are set much lower.

I'd first like to break even - I used a small inheritance to help me get started, and I'd like to make that money back. I'd like to be able to regularly contribute to paying some of the small bills, and maybe take my family out to a fancy dinner every once in awhile.

I'd like to be able to write faster, to have a reliable writer's group that I can use to brainstorm plot lines, because I tend to think in scenarios, not plots. Sometimes the plots come easily, but often, I merely have the setup and maybe the end, and no idea how to get from one place to another.


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

My needs are simple. I want to make enough so that when I retire from my day job, I can spend my time writing and golfing. I want to supplement my retirement income with enough that I don't have to choose between paying the light bill and having food. 

I want enough that, should I become unable to care for myself, I don't become a burden to my daughter. I want to be able to pay someone to help me if I need it, so that my daughter can continue to be my daughter and not have to become my caregiver.


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## Spinneyhead (Nov 4, 2010)

I may have thought about this a bit much, because I have a bunch of levels/targets and an idea of how they'll affect my writing life.

Level 1. Triple figure earnings each month. More of the routine I've only just managed to get into (after far too many years) in the last month and a bit. Monday and Friday I'm not at work, so I walk into the city centre and spend two or three hours writing in one of Manchester's historic buildings. Then I go and have a coffee somewhere and maybe write some more. If I was getting over £100 a month, I might start heading in earlier, getting lunch in town and staying out writing longer. (I can write in the flat, and often get a few hundred words out on workdays and weekends, but it's also easier to get distracted by DVDs/books/internet when I'm there.)

Level 2. Minimum wage (£800-£1000 a month). Quite the day job (it's going nowhere and driving me a little loopy) and do the writer about town routine at least five days a week.

Level 3. Average wage (£25,000 a year, give or take). As Level 2, but with more time in the pub buying beers for my friends who kept getting them in for me, gigs, travel for fun and research, books, films and all the stuff I've been too poor for the last few years.

Level 4. Dizzying heights. It's said that £50,000 is the perfect annual income as far as happiness goes, anything above that and you're into diminishing returns. But I'll take it. On another thread some folks mentioned titheing, and I like the idea of setting aside some of my income to make the world a better place. I'm an atheist, so it wouldn't be going to any religious organisation. I'd find a few key charities and give to them, buy from more local shops and manufacturers and invest in local and ethical businesses. I'd also give money to the Green Party, because they're the only ones in the UK who have a clue how to solve our problems properly.

I'd buy a house, possibly in Salford before prices start shootinng up the way they have across the river in Manchester, and make it as near to net-zero carbon as possible, using local materials and workers as far as possible. It would have to have a garage big enough for a workshop so I could build bikes and do other projects. Running against my green ideals a little, I'd want to have at least one car, partly because I'd really likea classic car and partly because I'd like to be able to visit my mother wothout her having to do an hour and a half round trip to pick me up from the railway station. If I did move out of the city, I'd run to the hills rather than to the beach with the rest of you. Climate change, folks. If I move to the right elevation, the beach is going to come to me.

I couldn't be a hermit. I've spent a lot of time with just my own company, for various reasons, and I know I need to get out and meet people. It's not something I'm good at, but it's something I need.

A family would be nice, but, no matter what those emails from Russia keep telling me, you can't buy one of those. I'll just have to rely on my charm and chat up lines (I'm doomed ).

Like I said, I've thought about this a lot.


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## nellgoddin (Jul 23, 2014)

britnidanielle said:


> My ideal life? Complete financial freedom and the ability to travel wherever and whenever I want.
> 
> I went to South Africa and London a few weeks ago (for a conference, but I charged it). My trip was *AWESOME*, but I was only gone for a week, waaaaay too short.
> 
> ...


Exact same here. I'd like to based in France, and then travel around eating and writing......


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## Morgan Jameson (Sep 16, 2014)

ElHawk said:


> The other thing we're considering is getting a place near Jackson Hole,


I lived there for 4 years. The billionaires have now run the millionaires out, and if you think the cost of property in Seattle is bad, you're in for a rude awakening. Jes' sayin'. If you are making enough from writing to afford to buy there, right on! (Not being negative - just letting you know...)


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## Redacted1111 (Oct 26, 2013)

I went camping at the beginning of the month in a cabin with no internet. Being away from all the buzz made it easier to think. That's when I wrote my first erotica short, and decided to commit to making money in the genre. If I'd been online at the time, I'm not sure I could have been so focused or clear about my decision making.  I'm on track to double my income from last month. Sooo. Actually, I love the internet, but it also kind of sucks your life. Like right now for example. I should be writing. LOL. Or cleaning my house or exercising or ANYTHING actually meaningful and productive. Living in the city, I honestly doubt I'd ever give it up. But out in the country, it would be easy to go from having full time access to maybe having access a few times a week. Heck, maybe even with access living away from the city would make life seem more clear. I grew up in very rural situations in the days long before the internet. I'd like to have that again, but I also want to travel, have a place in the city right downtown, (I also half way grew up in a very urban setting, long story, hence, I hate the suburbs passionately). And I'd like to travel. I don't think writing income will get me to the financial status I'd like to have, but I invested in real estate in my early twenties. I remember watching Carlton Sheets infomercials on TV and thinking, "I can do that." I never bought the program, but I did do it. I had two properties by the time I was 27, and I'd really like to get back into investing in rentals. Those renovation shows on cable get me off so hard. LOL. I believe real estate is a pretty stable investment, even though the bottom dropped out of the mortgage industry recently. If you don't get stupid loans and invest in historically stable areas rather than McMansion subdivisions, that shouldn't happen. Using writing income to get back into real estate so that I can finance whatever kind of life I want and live a chilled out life where I can write whenever and whatever I want, is pretty much what I'm shooting for. Honestly, I can see smut writing realistically getting me to that point.


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## allazar (Apr 2, 2014)

MyraScott said:


> In my ideal world, people go to Cons dressed up as my characters. They write horrible fanfic in my worlds, matching the most unsuitable characters up in passionate relationships.


...oh, and this above... definitely this!!


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## Carradee (Aug 21, 2010)

Jana DeLeon said:


> So all of you wanting to live off grid are planning on doing no social media to market your books? Because satellite Internet is expensive and crappy, according to everyone I know who's forced to use it. Heck, I'm still complaining that my new neighborhood only has AT&T because I gave up FIOS when I moved.


I can't speak for anyone else, but I figure that by the time I look seriously into living off the grid, the technology will be much improved.


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## MyraScott (Jul 18, 2014)

vlmain said:


> I've always enjoyed being by myself. Usually when I mention that, people respond with with that pathetic sounding, "Oh, that's so sad ..." My response is always the same. "Not if you like it."


I usually ask, "What makes it sad?"

"Well, don't you get lonely?"

"Almost never. Lonely is what happens when you need other people to entertain you."

They usually look confused at that point.


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## Writerly Writer (Jul 19, 2012)

I'm 2/5ths of the way to living my writer dream which is to pay for my publishing expenses plus make a part-time income on top of that. Four months ago, I was 1/10th of the way.


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## Guest (Oct 18, 2014)

For those of you interested in self-sufficiency and living off the grid, I just read an awesome book on the subject. It's titled _The Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency used by the Mormon Pioneers_ and is a sort of primer for unconventional / old-fashioned ways to grow food in a home garden year-round. Yes, you can grow food even in winter--there are varieties of lettuce and kale that will grow even with snow on them! It also has tips for making jelly from home-grown grapes, baking bread from wild/natural yeast, maintaining a backyard chicken flock, growing your own seeds from open-pollinated plants, and all sorts of other crazy stuff. I thoroughly enjoyed it!


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## Writerly Writer (Jul 19, 2012)

Joe Vasicek said:


> For those of you interested in self-sufficiency and living off the grid, I just read an awesome book on the subject. It's titled _The Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency used by the Mormon Pioneers_ and is a sort of primer for unconventional / old-fashioned ways to grow food in a home garden year-round. Yes, you can grow food even in winter--there are varieties of lettuce and kale that will grow even with snow on them! It also has tips for making jelly from home-grown grapes, baking bread from wild/natural yeast, maintaining a backyard chicken flock, growing your own seeds from open-pollinated plants, and all sorts of other crazy stuff. I thoroughly enjoyed it!


...or... you can buy your groceries and add more time for writing.  

Sounds fun though


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## britnidanielle (Oct 13, 2013)

romance me said:


> _I'm_ stealing YodaRead's dream.
> 
> I even know where - South Bank, overlooking the river. *Sigh*
> 
> ...


I would probably live in Camden or Islington (I stayed in Highbury once and it was quite lovely). Some place residential with easy Tube access. The South Bank is BEAUTIFUL, but I'm not sure I'd like there with so many tourists (ha!) around.


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## ricola (Mar 3, 2014)

Joe Vasicek said:


> It isn't necessary to be on social media every day to sell books. Mine started to take off when I was living quite literally off the grid in the Caucasus mountains (we had intermittent electricity, but that was it). I had internet maybe three times a week when I took the marshrutka into town for a few hours, and I hardly posted anything to Facebook or Twitter at all. Suddenly, I was selling hundreds of books each month, and giving away thousands. Made me realize that social media is a bit overrated.


Hundreds a day is what's needed to sustain where I want to be. I'd love to upgrade my star in another 6 months, in fact. So really...overrated for what?


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## Guest (Oct 18, 2014)

ᵹ⃝⃝⃝ᶓ said:


> ...or... you can buy your groceries and add more time for writing.
> 
> Sounds fun though


I have to say, though, there is nothing that compares with food that you grow in your own garden. The friend that I borrowed the book from has a year-round garden in his front yard, and when we get together for writing group he'll usually cook up something. Last month, he made us a salad from fresh lettuce, kale, and horseradish, and OMG THE FLAVOR. You have not tasted greens until you've eaten ones you've picked yourself.

Just this week, my parents sent me the old family wheat grinder. It's a Magic Mill III Plus, the kind that's older than I am and sounds like a jet engine whenever you run it.  Anyway, I made whole wheat bread from some hard white wheat that I ground myself, and it tasted AMAZING. I have to confess, I don't usually buy wheat bread (even whole wheat bread) in the store, because it tastes kind of gross compared to white bread. But when you make it yourself from wheat that you've ground just an hour or two before ... words cannot convey how delicious (and how SATISFYING) that stuff is.

And on top of all that, it's super super cheap! Wheat stores basically forever, and here in Utah you can buy 50 lb bags for less than $20. The other basic ingredients for bread are water, salt, yeast, sugar, and oil (which is actually optional, and can be substituted with any other kind of fat like lard, butter--even bacon grease). Brown sugar also lasts forever, and we happen to have a #10 can of it from a previous roommate, so I've basically got an unlimited supply of free homemade bread for the next few months (not counting time and labor, which doesn't really count since it's more like play than work, and I can always write while the dough rises).


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

Joe Vasicek said:


> I have to say, though, there is nothing that compares with food that you grow in your own garden. The friend that I borrowed the book from has a year-round garden in his front yard, and when we get together for writing group he'll usually cook up something. Last month, he made us a salad from fresh lettuce, kale, and horseradish, and OMG THE FLAVOR. You have not tasted greens until you've eaten ones you've picked yourself.


I grew up on a farm and I agree, wholeheartedly. Everything tastes better fresh, but even the foods we canned tasted better than the canned foods in the stores. We produced just about everything we ate except for dairy products, sugar, and flour. We had chickens so we harvested our own brown eggs and we even ate duck and goose eggs from the wild ducks and geese that lived on our property.

I wouldn't want a farm as big as the one I grew up on, but I'd love to have enough property to have a garden again and a few chickens.


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## ricola (Mar 3, 2014)

At this point, I have a housekeeper working more than halftime who also is a kid chauffeur, I'm getting a gardener, I'm no longer doing my own remodeling (after YEARS!!!), I get grocery delivery, and I'm ordering most of the stuff I normally run to Walmart to get from Amazon.

I'd like to have a new kitchen addition (mine is 50 years old and has never been remodeled) and a beautiful garden paradise.    I want to pay off the house and by the hubby a nice sedan/VERY modest luxury car.


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## LucyAslan (Apr 13, 2014)

At the moment, the goal is simply for life to be a little easier. It'd be nice to have our own washing machine, and perhaps rent somewhere a little quieter. (I've taken a gamble and invested our washing machine savings in editing--if it works, brilliant, if not it just means a wee bit longer using the laundromat) Long term the dream would be our own land, in the middle of nowhere, where we can raise a happy, healthy family. I desperately want to stay home with our children and full-time writing would allow me to do that.


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## Bec (Aug 24, 2012)

Not writing essays on topics I'm not remotely interested in... the importance of Year 7's learning about how modality is achieved through discriminating choices in modal verbs, adverbs, adjectives and nouns, anyone? Anyone want to write a quick, easy 1400 on that for me?

Writing what I want to write about, and only that would be my dream. I spent a few years working as a technical writer, writing hundreds of thousands of words about computer programs, and now I'm back at uni writing essays. Some topics I'm interested in, others not so much... anyway, it would be nice to be paid for my writing again, instead of paying the university to grade my writing...


Making a liveable wage
Garden where I can grow most of my own fruit and veggies and have a little flock of chooks
Time to tend said garden and chooks... 
Not be forced to put this teaching degree to use for anything more than a day or two a week


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

First I want to have this:








in a house like this:









And then get one of these:








and these:









So I can do this again:


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## vrabinec (May 19, 2011)

That bathtub looks awesome!. The house would have to come with a bunch of servants though, because it looks like it would be a pain to keep clean.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

vrabinec said:


> The house would have to come with a bunch of servants though, because it looks like it would be a pain to keep clean.


I lived in a house about a quarter of the size of the one in that picture (maybe even smaller) before I moved into my current apartment and it was far more trouble than it was worth. Also drove home the fact that I really don't have a lot of stuff since there was one room that remained completely empty during the eight months I lived there.


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

I'd have a cleaning person and a landscaping person (or two). Geez.

I need at least 4 rooms just for my books 

Maybe I would need this instead, hmm...


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## kathrynoh (Oct 17, 2012)

Yeah we have an empty bedroom and I hate it. There is something really creepy about empty rooms. 

We used to have housemates but they were even creepier.


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

kathrynoh said:


> Yeah we have an empty bedroom and I hate it. There is something really creepy about empty rooms.


At first I was excited because that extra room was supposed to be a home office where I could lock myself away. Except it was way too hot in the summer and way too cold in the winter-the wonder of Japanese homes and their complete lack of insulation.


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## kathrynoh (Oct 17, 2012)

Yeah, I lived in a traditional Japanese house in Tokyo. It was an amazing house -- in Spring and Autumn 

We have an extra living area that's the writing room. It's pretty difficult to get anything in the Australian suburbs that isn't too big. The inner suburbs are too expensive and anything smaller, like a townhouse is too hard when you have a dog. We do keep thinking up wacky things for the spare room though, like yoga room or dance studio!


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## S. Elliot Brandis (Dec 9, 2013)

I do alright at the moment. I'm an engineer in my day-job, so I'm okay for money. If my writing career took of, though, I'd love to move away from the city---somewhere with cheaper rent and lower costs. I'm Australian, so probably somewhere on the central cost or over in New Zealand. I would love a quiet writing life.


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## MyraScott (Jul 18, 2014)

SO, this is my future hermit hut: 









Here's the inside:









Here's the bathroom:


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

I have deleted this post as I do not consent to the new Terms of Service that Vertical Scope are attempting to retrospectively apply to our content.  I am forced to manually replace my content as, at time of editing, their representative has instructed moderators not to delete posts or accounts when users request it, and Vertical Scope have implied that they will deal with account deletion requests by anonymising accounts, which would leave personally identifying information in my posts.

I joined under the previous ownership and have posted over the years under different Terms of Service.  I do not consent to my name, content, or intellectual properties being used by Vertical Scope or any other entity that they sell or licence my data to.


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## von19 (Feb 20, 2013)

Ideally i would be making 1,000+ dollars a month and i could stay home answering fan mail and relaxing all day.


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## briasbooks (Sep 11, 2013)

To live without financial worries, travel at will, and escape the cold, dreary winters in the midwest would be wonderful. I'd buy a house in central Florida, I already have the town picked out. I'd write 3-4 books a year because I enjoy writing and my characters make me laugh. Just to know my writing can sustain me financially and give me the ability to feel free would be pretty darn sweet.


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## skyle (Oct 13, 2014)

I can't believe the number of you that want to live in London. I'm assuming none of you are English?

I lived in London for a year in my early twenties and I loathed it even then. As a "grown up" it's a hell hole of congestion, tubes, tourists, pollution, crime etc etc.

I live an hour or two away in the West Country, it's heaven by comparison. Small cities with great cosmopolitan vibes but far less of the above to ruin it.

I'm not a great traveller, but a place in France for long holidays would certainly be on my wish list. I'm passionate about the food and the French markets. My mouth is watering just thinking about it


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## JaredRinaldi (Oct 18, 2014)

This is my first post on KBoards and I think it's a good one to start with.

Ah, the ideal writing lifestyle...

I'd love to be making at least $3,000 a month from my writing alone, which would free me up from my day/night job and allow me to focus more time on my other pursuits. I'd love to get a small beach house in southern California, start each day with an hour or two of running and working out (which is part of my lifestyle now), and then audition or work on film projects during the morning and afternoon. Then my later afternoon and evening would be spent writing.

One of the greatest things about the writing lifestyle is you can do it anywhere at all. I'd love to be able to travel more and maybe spend a month or two out of the year living some place abroad.


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## psychotick (Jan 26, 2012)

Hi,

My goal is simple. I just want to be able to put down on that line on the tax form where it asks for your occupation - "Idle rich"!!!

Cheers, Greg.


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## T.P. Grish (Oct 21, 2012)

I'd like to make around $40k  a year from my writing, leaving me free to spend my full-time working hours on it, and be financially independent with it.


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## ElleT (Feb 2, 2014)

For me, the truly IDEAL lifestyle would be to make enough money to fund a place where kids in bad circumstances can have a chance at something better. Short of that, enough money to sustain a decent life. And that definition could vary from day to day.


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

MyraScott said:


> SO, this is my future hermit hut:


Yes! I'd be totally comfortable there. Or here:


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## KelliWolfe (Oct 14, 2014)

I don't ask for much. I'd just like to see a few of my little dreams come true. I always wanted to buy Denmark and be richer than the Queen.

But I suppose I'd settle for losing the EDJ and moving to a few quiet acres where I can hear the birds and throw a rock without hitting a busybody neighbor.


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## ConnerKressley (Feb 23, 2014)

My goal is to make enough money to quit my job. My fiancé loves her work so much that I doubt she'll want to quit when we have kids. Though that's a bit away, I'd like to financially solvent enough to be able to stay at home with them and do my writing


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## jillb (Oct 4, 2014)

I would like to make a simple living off passive income. Not much, if I can pull in $2K a month I'd be happy. Once I sell my mountain home in CO and move to OR country, I think we can do it. The new home will be fully paid for and we can grow our own food in OR. Then the money will just be for the car, insurance, some extra food and fun stuff. Writing maybe 2 hrs on average per day to make that would be great. I'm just starting out. I just published my first NF  book 3 days ago. One $0.99 book sold so far!!   I'm almost done with my next 2 books about selling on eBay, which I have done full time for the last 16 years. I'm hoping that will pull in more $$ than my little chicken-keeping book!   More to come!!


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## P.A. Woodburn (May 22, 2010)

Interesting post. I'm seeing a lot of similarities in what everyone wants. Nearly all of us want to be a bit removed from other people. Me too. Writing takes a lot of peace and reflection. Many of you want to grow veggies. Many want to travel a bit, some more than a bit. I'm almost there, regretfully not through my writing. Just want to sell this house and buy next one outright then I'd have more time to write. We writers must have a lot of likenesses in our life habits. 

It really is a joy to be able to select where one will live rather than being tied to being close enough to a job to commute. The only thing we need close by is the internet and some are prepared to let that go. It sounds like a writer's life can be a great life. 
Just stay close enough to people so that we can study them for our stories!

Maybe when we all get settled we can swap houses for a few months a year to help with travelling expenses!


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## tiffanycherney (Feb 18, 2014)

My current writing lifestyle goal is to simply be able to pay bills and live comfortably. Right now I'm in a good place where I can concentrate on writing along with grad school (which is my plan/back up to writing) and being a stay at home mom. My ideal lifestyle would be this and maybe finally help my hubby and I get a home that's somewhat secluded but probably close enough for whatever job he might hold at the time. A large enough place for him to turn the whole yard into a decent sized garden with room to spare (likely with some sort of water feature like a pond at least) and me to sit and be able to grab inspiration from the surroundings. I'm kinda fine among people, but after living so many years with a yard the size of a postage stamp I want some room for me and my husband, our son and dogs to roam.


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## John Ellsworth (Jun 1, 2014)

We live mostly in the Midwest. We have a very small house (1100 SF) and I have re-done the basement for my office. Big screen, elliptical, recumbent, desk-treadmill. Seven guinea pigs to keep me company--all rescues. Wife spends most days upstairs with the two dogs. She reads and does church (ugh). I write and play my guitar (Alhambra, ala Naudo) and would someday like to play a noon hour gig at some sandwich shop. The writing pays all the bills already. Doing great there and I've only been published eight months. But I've put out five full length novels and will have number 6 out before Xmas. Next year I plan to slow down. I'm coming off retirement from forty years of hell as a professional. I wrote through all of it but didn't have the right degrees, contacts, whatever, for NY to take an interest. Thank God for Zon or I'd still be a law slave. PT for back problems, want to get that straightened away so I can get back to exercise. Large backyard, totally fenced, four elevated planter gardens (lettuce, carrots, parsley, tomatoes--it's the Midwest, drop a seed and something grows). Maybe I'd like a place with an acre or two for chickens. I've done the horses, the porsches, the airplanes, the boats, and the drama of trying to figure out which ignition keys went with what. Done all that, not interested. Not much interest in travel until I get my back working right. Maybe then. I'm pretty happy just being left alone, after 40 years of people crying to me about their problems. Enough with that, already. Just leave me the eff alone. Thank God for Amazon (did I say that already?). I'm in Select, KU, full buy-in. Right now it works. If something changes I'll adjust. Adjustment is easy. Accepting the adjustment is what's always hard.


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

What? I don't want to be removed from other people. I just want a house without walls next to humans. But I want that house in the city. I like things like buses and being able to walk to the store. I grew up on a farm. Farming isn't quaint or fun. It's a ton of work and it never finishes and you can't really walk away from it if you want to travel for any length of time (not without having lots of money to pay something very reliable to come do all the work and take care of animals while you are gone).

So yeah, if you enjoy hanging out with friends for dinner and then realizing that while they are going to linger and chat, you are going to leave by 7:30pm because the goats/chickens/whatever need to be fed, farming might be for you. If you enjoy getting up at 5am and working until it gets too sunny to bother on things like weeding and mowing and fence repair, perhaps farming is for you. If you like picking up branches after every storm, cutting back the blackberries that grow into your fields and garden with preternatural speed, farming might be for you. If you enjoy losing power every winter, sometimes for days at a time, even in a mild climate like Oregon, farming might be for you.  If you enjoy having to spend tons of time in the car for things like groceries and going to movies, farming could be for you.  If you love pulling rotten potatoes from the ground, dealing with slugs eating all your vegetables, trying to build crazier and crazier fencing to keep the deer out of your gardens, farming might be for you.  If you love being dirty, having your house dirty, knowing that no matter how many showers you take, you're going to find more dirt, and don't mind having fingernails that look like you've been tunneling out of a prison for the last decade, farming might be for you.  If you enjoy figuring out how to bury dead animals, dealing with crazy vet bills because some animal did something stupid (and they will...), farming might be for you.


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## antares (Feb 13, 2011)

vrabinec said:


> I look forward to that post-apocalyptic day when the author kings rule. We will enslave the world and force it to use the Oxford comma.


Amen, brother.


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## Todd Gunn (Sep 16, 2014)

ㅈㅈ said:


> What? I don't want to be removed from other people. I just want a house without walls next to humans. But I want that house in the city. I like things like buses and being able to walk to the store. I grew up on a farm. Farming isn't quaint or fun. It's a ton of work and it never finishes and you can't really walk away from it if you want to travel for any length of time (not without having lots of money to pay something very reliable to come do all the work and take care of animals while you are gone).
> 
> So yeah, if you enjoy hanging out with friends for dinner and then realizing that while they are going to linger and chat, you are going to leave by 7:30pm because the goats/chickens/whatever need to be fed, farming might be for you. If you enjoy getting up at 5am and working until it gets too sunny to bother on things like weeding and mowing and fence repair, perhaps farming is for you. If you like picking up branches after every storm, cutting back the blackberries that grow into your fields and garden with preternatural speed, farming might be for you. If you enjoy losing power every winter, sometimes for days at a time, even in a mild climate like Oregon, farming might be for you. If you enjoy having to spend tons of time in the car for things like groceries and going to movies, farming could be for you. If you love pulling rotten potatoes from the ground, dealing with slugs eating all your vegetables, trying to build crazier and crazier fencing to keep the deer out of your gardens, farming might be for you. If you love being dirty, having your house dirty, knowing that no matter how many showers you take, you're going to find more dirt, and don't mind having fingernails that look like you've been tunneling out of a prison for the last decade, farming might be for you. If you enjoy figuring out how to bury dead animals, dealing with crazy vet bills because some animal did something stupid (and they will...), farming might be for you.


Excellent rant


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## Miss Tarheel (Jul 18, 2014)

My dream with writing is a two part dream. 1) I want to either build or own my own home on at least 5 acres of land. 2) I want to stay home and write full time so I can be a stay at home mom in the future and have the freedom to run my life how I want to. At the rate I'm going, I see both of those things happening in the next two years.


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## Darryl Donaghue (Oct 9, 2014)

For me, it's about being able to live wherever I want and have a flexible schedule. Freedom of location and time. It's a long way away, but given that the means of production and distribution for our art now fits in an over the shoulder satchel rather than within the walls of printing presses, it's easier now than ever.


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## alawston (Jun 3, 2012)

I have nothing to add to this:

http://youtu.be/XB82q-9f2Nk


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## Zelah Meyer (Jun 15, 2011)

ㅈㅈ said:


> So yeah, if you enjoy hanging out with friends for dinner and then realizing that while they are going to linger and chat, you are going to leave by 7:30pm because the goats/chickens/whatever need to be fed, farming might be for you.


Yep - this is why, having grown up with goats and chickens in the back garden, I have no desire to go that route myself! Plus, the 'goat shed' at the bottom of our garden had a goat shaped hole in the door for decades after we got rid of the goats. Maybe it was just the temperament of that one particular goat (the other one who was a different breed was a bit calmer) - but she was pretty vicious!


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## Spinneyhead (Nov 4, 2010)

Zelah Meyer said:


> Yep - this is why, having grown up with goats and chickens in the back garden, I have no desire to go that route myself! Plus, the 'goat shed' at the bottom of our garden had a goat shaped hole in the door for decades after we got rid of the goats. Maybe it was just the temperament of that one particular goat (the other one who was a different breed was a bit calmer) - but she was pretty vicious!


We had goats, chickens and ducks at various points when I was growing up. I remember punching a billy on the nose when it tried to intimidate me one day. It was a wonderful way to grow up, but I wouldn't want to keep animals myself.

We also had a large garden, but it was my sister who inherited the green fingers. I kill house plants. I guess I could go and do some digging and suchlike on her allotment in exchange for fresh veg.


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## Jana DeLeon (Jan 20, 2011)

I grew up "in the country." I have no desire to do it again. I have a nice house in a nice suburb that is only two miles from a Best Buy. My neighbors don't bother me. The house is well constructed so I don't hear them. I am a quarter mile from a grocery store, so no need to grow vegetables. And yes, the animal keeping thing is a PITA if you ever want to travel. Due to attrition (old age) we are down to two dogs and one cat. My parents will be here next week to housesit while we're at conference. In the past, we have paid more to board animals than the conference cost for us.


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## MyraScott (Jul 18, 2014)

No animals for me.  Maybe a tiny dog.  I do like to garden but it wouldn't be food, it would be flowers. And they'd probably die by midsummer, as they tend to do when I forget to water. So add an automatic watering system to my hermit hut.

Ideally, my cottage would overlook a medium-sized city with plays and concerts and decent restaurants.  Cooking and food preparation is not on my list of fun- going out to eat lets me interact with the human world and listen to their conversations.  We all need some people watching. 

Beyond a minimum, the money doesn't mean much to me. It brings drama and obligations and conflict.  I want a little peacefulness. 

Mostly, I want people to immerse themselves in my books. I want them to get emotional.  I want them to dread the words THE END.  I want them to dream about my worlds because that's where their mind still is. 

The "famous author lifestyle" seems to have more negatives than positives for me.  Luckily, I probably won't ever have to experience that!


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## Lehane (Apr 7, 2014)

Jana DeLeon said:


> I grew up "in the country." I have no desire to do it again. I have a nice house in a nice suburb that is only two miles from a Best Buy. My neighbors don't bother me. The house is well constructed so I don't hear them. I am a quarter mile from a grocery store, so no need to grow vegetables. And yes, the animal keeping thing is a PITA if you ever want to travel. Due to attrition (old age) we are down to two dogs and one cat. My parents will be here next week to housesit while we're at conference. In the past, we have paid more to board animals than the conference cost for us.


I grew up/currently live in "the country." I love it, but being a 20 minute drive from civilization (30 if you need to go to the other side of town) is rough. Makes trips to the grocery store on the weekend an event. The commute isn't so bad work-wise, kind of nice to unwind to NPR on the drive, but yeah. Plus, our satellite internet kicks out at any sign of too much cloud cover -- thank the powers that be that they laid fiberoptic for us out here and we can finally switch! -- and we're the last people they tend to when it snows or ices over on the roads. We had chickens. Then the raccoons got 'em. Then we got more chickens, with even better run-out fencing and a raccoon trap at night. The raccoons still got 'em. Not exactly fun. We're on ten acres and my dad has never, really, been able to be on top of it. We can't afford landwork. That'd be something I'd happily pay for if I had the income as a writer.

I wouldn't mind living on land again, in fact I would prefer it, but being only ten minutes from a grocery store wouldn't be so bad.  I also want horses, and have no interest in showing and thus wouldn't need to maintain pristine show animals, so I would really prefer they stay pastured 24/7. Somewhat more self-sufficient animals, if they're sturdy enough to live outside with a runout. Pretty easy to feed for a newbie, too. I wouldn't get big animals unless I had the money to pay for a barn worker or two, though. Or at least support a working student.


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## britnidanielle (Oct 13, 2013)

I am struck by how profoundly small some of y'alls "ideal lives" are.

Good luck to everyone, though!


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

britnidanielle said:


> I am struck by how profoundly small some of y'all "ideal lives" are.
> 
> Good luck to everyone, though!


I wouldn't call them small. Some people just happen to find happiness in the simpler things in life. No dream is bigger or smaller than another. They're just different.


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## Redacted1111 (Oct 26, 2013)

Has anyone mentioned sleep? I'd like some of that. No. A lot of that.


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## britnidanielle (Oct 13, 2013)

vlmain said:


> I wouldn't call them small. Some people just happen to find happiness in the simpler things in life. No dream is bigger or smaller than another. They're just different.


There's simple (as in nothing extravagant), and then there's small (as in just wanting to get by).

But you're right. Everybody's different.

When I hear the word IDEAL it makes me think of my biggest, most amazing goals. But I suppose that's just me.

I'm not judging, btw. I just found it interesting.


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## Morgan Jameson (Sep 16, 2014)

Don't get me wrong - I'd love a black 1961 Corvette, but just the ability to pay the bills by writing alone thrills me no end. The book is being formatted, should be out by end of next week!


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## katrina46 (May 23, 2014)

I've never been the type to have stars in my eyes. I want to earn enough to go full time and invest in real estate so that I can flip modest houses for more cash. I want to wake up, walk over to my computer and be at work. That's the most I ask for. It's hard enough to obtain without dreaming of mansions and limos.


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## katrina46 (May 23, 2014)

britnidanielle said:


> There's simple (as in nothing extravagant), and then there's small (as in just wanting to get by).
> 
> But you're right. Everybody's different.
> 
> ...


I think for most writers Ideal is doing what they love for a living. I wouldn't want to live like a celebrity. I've seen enough reality shows now to know many of them act like idiots.


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## vlmain (Aug 10, 2011)

katrina46 said:


> I think for most writers Ideal is doing what they love for a living. I wouldn't want to live like a celebrity. I've seen enough reality shows now to know many of them act like idiots.


Ain't that the truth!

I'd also add that what we consider our ideal life changes over time, depending on where we are in our life journey. My ideal today is much different than my ideal was when I was twenty or thirty.


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## katrina46 (May 23, 2014)

vlmain said:


> Ain't that the truth!
> 
> I'd also add that what we consider our ideal life changes over time, depending on where we are in our life journey. My ideal today is much different than my ideal was when I was twenty or thirty.


That's true. When I was younger I thought I'd die without the latest 100 dollar pair of jeans. Now my day job would allow me to buy those, but I stick with 20 dollar Levi's. The status just isn't worth the money to me the way it once was. Not that there is anything wrong with buying high end fashion. Whatever makes an individual happy.


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## Christa Wick (Nov 1, 2012)

I hesitate to say I am a full-time writer because I am seldom bottom-in-chair-fingers-on-keyboard, but I make a FT living with my writing and do not have other employment. So I am a FT writer in that sense. 

In terms of ideal writer's life, I want a lot of space both in and out of the house. So 20+ acres, preferably 100+ acres, rural. I want to get beyond writing as my only income-generating expression. so I want a pretty huge creative room that is filled with art and plenty of print resources. My husband's workshop needs to be far enough away from the house that I won't have to hear the saws and lathes and so on. I would love a big body of water to look upon, as well, but I don't expect that to be within my price range ever, so I'll just wait for winter and sprinkle Kool-aid or some other environmentally safe dye all over the snow.


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## VictoriaScribens (Sep 11, 2014)

I've been thinking about this a lot since the other thread about what people's Plan Bs are. I have no Plan B. I am going to keep doing what I'm doing until I get to where I want to be. Right now, that means making enough money from writing that I don't need to get full-time work doing anything else (I am writing about 3/4 time, but alas not making the income--yet--the new projects will hopefully get me there). Like someone up thread said, I have levels.

Level 1: Basic minimum-wage income, say $1500/month. This lets me get the house in the country, courtesy of family willingness to act as the bank. I'm one of the would-be smallholders. In my case, yes, I do like all the hard work! Though I also want to do it in such a way I'm not doing *that* full time as well as writing full time.

Level 2: Closer to $4000/month, which is a good income for what I want.

The true ideal?

I want a small holding in the country, with a house renovated or built to my dream specifications--which includes some nice bathroom fixtures and a proper library, a beautiful glasshouse, and enough money to run it all--though I will be as energy-efficient etc. as possible. I want the money to be able to have people to watch over the dogs/cow/ducks etc. when I want to go travelling--and to go travelling on occasion, probably in February when nothing in Canada is very nice. (Yes: I'd like to spend every February somewhere else. Practically anywhere else. Seeing the northern lights in the Arctic again? Yes please. The Australian summer? Awesome. Europe in February? Of course! It'll be better than slush and -20 and the dread that spring will never come again.)

And then? Enough money to buy whatever books I want, including rare and beautiful ones. Enough time to read them. Plenty of room for my friends to come and visit, and, like characters in PG Wodehouse or a Jane Austen novel, stay as long as they want (and can, from their jobs). Money to buy art and locally crafted things. Time and money to take courses in things I am interested in--languages and crafts and so forth. Money to be able to commission fantastic artists to do the covers for my novels. Enough money to invest so that I have increasing income streams. Enough money to give a lot back to the people, institutions, and places that have helped me get where I am, and others that I learn about. People who love my books and write me fan mail. A certain type of hardcover illustrations for the series of books I will write one day, which I can visualize very clearly.

And pipe-dream ideal? Enough surplus money that I can give a huge, huge bequest to Robarts Library at the University of Toronto, with the requirement that they paint the library (which is a Brutalist building that looks like a turkey) to look like a peacock.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robarts_Library#mediaviewer/File:Robarts_Library.JPG


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## katrina46 (May 23, 2014)

VictoriaScribens said:


> I've been thinking about this a lot since the other thread about what people's Plan Bs are. I have no Plan B. I am going to keep doing what I'm doing until I get to where I want to be. Right now, that means making enough money from writing that I don't need to get full-time work doing anything else (I am writing about 3/4 time, but alas not making the income--yet--the new projects will hopefully get me there). Like someone up thread said, I have levels.
> 
> Level 1: Basic minimum-wage income, say $1500/month. This lets me get the house in the country, courtesy of family willingness to act as the bank. I'm one of the would-be smallholders. In my case, yes, I do like all the hard work! Though I also want to do it in such a way I'm not doing *that* full time as well as writing full time.
> 
> ...


I like these levels.I hope you get the library painted. Nobody wants to go to a turkey library.


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## kathrynoh (Oct 17, 2012)

> I'd like a little more land because right now we could spit outside the window and hit our neighbor's barking dog. They keep it penned up just outside our bedroom windows.


OMG, you have my sympathy. We have the same thing. And when the neighbour is home, he hollers. Like, you know how in writing, people say only to use "he said" for speech attributions, well if you wrote this guy as a character you'd have to write "he hollered"!

I'd love peace and quiet but definitely don't want to live in the country. We thought we had a snake in the house last night and it was absolutely terrifying and that's living in the 'burbs.


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## VictoriaScribens (Sep 11, 2014)

katrina46 said:


> I like these levels.I hope you get the library painted. Nobody wants to go to a turkey library.


I've got a story in mind, so I will get to have painted fictionally, at least, one day. 

Edited to make it make sense, as I was missing a couple key words (including a verb) earlier ...


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## Kristine McKinley (Aug 26, 2012)

The start of my work day would be with a decision. Do I write in the main house in my gorgeous two story library that has all the books I love and all the books I want to read? Or do I instead work in my quaint little cottage in the woods that was built solely as a writing retreat? Or maybe I will choose to write in my pimped out Airstream that I bought just because I could.

Once that decision is made I will be able to work for as long as I need because I will know that the nanny is taking care of my daughter, that the housekeeper is taking care of the mess I made in the house, and the gardener is taking care of the weeds that sprouted overnight.

While I'm working on a project I will commission multiple covers from several different cover artists. 

When I finish a project I will immediately contact my favorite editor and if possible pay extra to have my work rushed because why not? When she's done I might just pay to have another editor do a pass through because two heads are better than one. 

I won't pay to format because so far I've only had one issue with that and it was because I was using Open Office.

I will pay someone to maintain and design my website.

I will buy whatever ads I want whenever I want. I will keep track of my sales and how all my ads are affecting them.

And that is the lifestyle I'm working toward.


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## NoCat (Aug 5, 2010)

Who is thinking small?   That crytal bathtub I posted is 790k. Yeah. 790k. Which means even earning 20k+ a month like I do, I'll never be able to afford it. I need to climb to Sylvia Day levels to even think about it. That ain't small thinking.


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## Emma Waltz (Oct 4, 2014)

Location independence, which would mean travelling around SEA and Europe indefinitely with enough money to eat well, have fun with friends, and not worry about buying plane tickets. After a few years I would start a small, fun business in my favorite country, get a work visa, and make it my "home base." From there I would be happy writing, practicing yoga, and pursuing other hobbies


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## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

vlmain said:


> I wouldn't call them small. Some people just happen to find happiness in the simpler things in life. No dream is bigger or smaller than another. They're just different.


Well said. I don't need a big house or a fancy car or anything like that. Give me enough money to cover my expenses, pay for movies and books, and have enough to go out to dinner once in a while and that's all I really need.


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## Guest (Oct 20, 2014)

ㅈㅈ said:


> Who is thinking small?  That crytal bathtub I posted is 790k. Yeah. 790k. Which means even earning 20k+ a month like I do, I'll never be able to afford it. I need to climb to Sylvia Day levels to even think about it. That ain't small thinking.


Sure you can! Just live like a miser and save your money for 3-5 years.


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## ricola (Mar 3, 2014)

I was friend with Sylvia years ago. I got talked out of her career path by my agent at the time. 

Yeah. 

Soooooo I'm taking a page out of her book now. And if I stay on track, I'll make as much next month as I would in a decent year of trad pub before. Including translations.


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## ricola (Mar 3, 2014)

Anyhow, that's my way of saying that I feel robbed by the system and I want to get everything that I missed out on.  Three of my friends from back in the day are HUGE bestsellers now that any romance reader knows.  I just started out-earning one of them.    Sylvia Day?  She's not the biggest.  I'm not jealous of her.  Just pissed at the terrible advice, the awful forced editing, and the terrible publisher support I got that killed a career that debuted with a bestseller.  And I want it ALL BACK.


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## DanaG (Feb 13, 2011)

Ideal lifestyle: a paid off house, a few hundred thousand in savings, my kids' college tuition totally paid off, and the ability to leave Florida in June and come back in, say, October. Enjoy fall somewhere else and then come back as soon as its not boiling hot.

Also, debt free, all three cars paid off - mine and both kids - plus a new car for my mother.

If I could achieve that, I literally wouldn't have to worry about anything, even the writing income drying up. It would buy me time to find another job. With a paid off house and that much in savings, it wouldn't have to be a job that paid a ton of money.


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## egcamby (Aug 20, 2014)

John Ellsworth said:


> Thank God for Zon or I'd still be a law slave.


My ideal lifestyle is to escape that like you've done. Congrats!


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## Rae Scott Studio (Jan 26, 2014)

I just want my writing to be something I can do from home and that can provide a good life for me and my family. I want it to be able to provide for the ability to travel, pay my bills, buy a home and car.  Basically I want to make an actual living at it. Not a survival living but a living living..


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## marie trace (Mar 18, 2014)

For me its to be able to earn a living. To be financially independent again.Currently going through a divorce and living with my mum. Can't afford to live on my own. To be able to afford a car, build my dream home a small 2 bedroom place but must have an office. Have savings and investments and most importantly to be able to  send my daughter to a decent school a.k.a. private school just 20 mins away. Lol currently the tuition is about half my salary for grade 1 and a quarter for grade r kindergarden is affordable but if I can  get to a steady income of $500-$1000 usd a month I can achieve it. And of course be writing full time. Writing is my joy and passion even when its a difficult book to write. If I don't write I become very depressed and can't fully cope with everything life throws at me.


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## Redacted1111 (Oct 26, 2013)

Crystal bathtubs or bust.


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## Michael Buckley (Jun 24, 2013)

I am a full time writer,I dream the day I can eat something besides peanut butter on a good week or noodles on a bad week.


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## 77071 (May 15, 2014)

Making a living.


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## LeahEmmaRose (Mar 16, 2014)

My short term ideal is to make enough to switch my son to a private school, contribute a decent amount to our retirement savings each month, and pay for someone to take care of our yard because I hate to see my husband out there in the heat every weekend after he's had a stressful week at work.

Long term ideal would include all of the above, plus having enough so my husband can quit his job. Then we can spend summers and school vacations traveling the world. And a new house would be nice. We'd like more closets and quieter neighbors. Ours are a few feet away and let their dog out every morning at 6am. He barks at anything that moves (leaves, blades of grass, etc.) We can forget about ever sleeping in.


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## Redacted1111 (Oct 26, 2013)

I'm honestly looking at paying off all my credit card debts in the next three months and then moving to a three bedroom townhouse in a good neighborhood by the beginning of next year. It isn't crystal bathtubs, but it's pretty darn life changing.


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## Shaun Dowdall (Mar 8, 2013)

Matching my main income would be an awesome achievement  That might be a way off yet  But then, If I do, waking up a little later than I do, potter around the house, workout then do some serious writing for a few hours. Then chill out and maybe some gaming, reading or any other hobbies, followed by another writing session then feast!

The crystal bathtubs sound interesting as mentioned above, but how slippery would they be? Might be a short lived career!


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