Crys Cain
In 2016, I moved from Costa Rica to the US for my husband to take a short term contract. I moved back to Costa Rica five weeks before my son was due to be born, but two weeks later (and three days before my husband returned to the country), I had an emergency C-section. Three months later I returned back to full-time work as a software developer, and three days after that, I lost my job. We went broke, moved back to the US and in with my parents with the last bit of our bank account, and in April 2016, I published my first book.
In retrospect, it was a terrible book. But for some reason, it was the right genre at the right time, and I made $20 the first day. If you’ve followed indie publishing at all, you know that’s crazy money. I threw myself into writing like a mad woman, and I haven’t had to wear business casual since.
I went from practically homeless to six-figures in under three years, but I hit burnout three times. I was writing in a genre I didn’t love (romance), in a niche that was ravenous, but small.
I launched Write Away as I made a hard left turn away from romance into my heart’s love, which is basically anything not romance where I get to make up things that don’t exist in real life. Magic, science, strange creatures—I’m there for it.
It’s terrifying, turning away from a sure money maker. But all I need is to cover my bills. Making more money is great, but I’m not motivated by that anymore. Freedom is what motivates me these days, and I think that’s a healthier path.
If that’s what motivates you as well, or you want to learn how to get there, give Write Away a subscribe and join me on the journey.
JP Rindfleisch
In 2019, I embarked on the metaphorically long journey from my home in Northern Illinois to Cleveland, Ohio to take part in an event called Rock Apoc, hosted by our friends J Thorn and Zach Bohannon. Little did I know how much I would learn on that journey, and the others that followed, that lit the fuse on my writing career.
Since then, I have had three short stories published and found myself a coauthor for a six-part series we plan to launch in 2021.
If I could do it all over, I would have kicked myself in the pants back in 2014, when I started binging writing podcasts hours on end and wildly flailing about trying to learn craft. Community was the piece I was missing, and something I have notably felt exponentially change the trajectory I had set for myself.
I still rely financially on the day job while I build my writing empire. However, I believe that my ideal future will not just be as an author, but incorporate all the many facets of my hobbies and experience that I can bring to the table.
I am a writer; but also an artist, scientist, and data nerd. So I am forging a path where I am no longer reliant on one source of income, but instead a well crafted web of interests that interplays with the many things I can offer.
I chose to be free of the binary mindset of one job and one source of income.
My side of the table might be a bit of a mess, and my ideals may be wild and untamed, but I hope to bring that ideology here on Write Away. Subscribe and join us on this exciting journey.