Although I lived in the "English" part of the world for a while, most of my memories of December 26th come from my years in retail where the day after Christmas typically was a day of returns-- a day where we prayed that we wouldn't end up "upside down" for the day.
But these are memories.
As I look at the past year in review, I increasingly have become aware that writing has pretty much become a "guilty pleasure" for me. 2015 will mark the 4th consecutive year where writing earned me less than the year before... and I am reaching the point where even considering my writing to be "a business" of any sort of pretty much a joke. Sadly, that's not a trend I see reversing anytime soon... unless I'm willing to return to technical writing, which I am not.
As I observe life on a macro level, it seems that "pure" writers are gradually becoming a part of history, and that writing (if you're trying to make a living) is increasingly reduced to being an adjunct to offering workshops, lectures, retreats and teaching.
As smartphones and mobile devices become the mainstay of Internet access and more and more people use ad blockers on all their devices, the "advertising based model" is becoming obsolete, so the idea of getting rewarded for your own content is falling by the wayside. This year, I watched several revenue sharing web sites shut down, a couple start and fail, and none start and stay strong. So that's no longer part of the mix.
Meanwhile, the old standards for independent writers-- Amazon Associates and Google's Adsense-- also seem to be taking it in the shorts. In a sense, we seem to be returning to the original Internet, which was all about free information-- not about products or selling.
These days, I also find myself contemplating the idea of writing books... and what it means to write books in the digital age,
Writing a book takes a huge investment of time and effort for which you absolutely do NOT get compensated, and then it's pretty chancy whether you'll eventually get a small reward, post publication. I remember a good friend's commentary from earlier in 2015 when he finally published his long-awaited book... in the first week after it was released, he sold a couple of copies and had several dozen requests for "free downloads." Kind of makes me wonder what the whole point is.
Of course, there are those of the persuasion that "writing for money" is a sort of "selling out."
Maybe that's true, and maybe I'd agree... IF I happened to be a "trust fund baby" or otherwise independently wealthy, but as it happens, I must allocate my time wisely because groceries and electricity cost money.
