Renewing My Commitment to Ancient Frontiers

Today, I’m doing something different.

For a long time now, I’ve thought that my highest priority was earning enough money to pay the bills. Then, I could work on my author career. This was wrongheaded. What it meant, practically, was that fiction writing became a hobby—something I do if I have the time. For many years, that worked fine. But there are always distractions and those distractions often become excuses.

Maybe I’m just hard wired for chasing shiny objects.

A Strict Focus On Income Can Kill a Dream

A classroom assignment at the age of ten sparked a lifelong curiosity and a dream. My first heroes were novelists, and I wanted to be one.

Over the years, I’ve dabbled in fiction writing. I got my first story published professionally in 1992. Since then, I’ve had other stories published. But I’ve earned the majority of my income in the last thirty years as a freelance writer or a working journalist.

Nothing wrong with that. I’ve enjoyed the work and I love the clients.

Still, at the back of my mind was the dream. Write the novel. Publish books. Knead the dough of imagination in the bakery of the mind.

Writing and publishing books is not the only way to make a living as a writer. Many writers capitalize on other channels—including newsletters. For me, it’s always boiled down to imagination and knowledge. These are the core skills in any writer’s toolbox, but I always end up using them to benefit others while my own products ride along as passengers.

This is not a complaint. It’s a confession.

Every morning, I wake up, have a cup of coffee with my wife, feed the dog and cat, and hit the income trail. Client or gig work. In the afternoon, I work on personal projects, which are not always writing projects. Earlier this year, I started playing with ChatGPT and Claude, which I quickly fell in love with. Since then, I’ve published a couple of artifacts, like this mileage log tracker. I’ve built a web app. And I’ve used Claude to critique my novel-in-progress and construct a worldbuilding bible from the second draft.

These side projects seem like timewasters (maybe they are), but they have produced some benefit. The worldbuilding bible would have taken hours to do on my own. Claude did it in a few minutes. The critique revealed several manuscript weaknesses I couldn’t see on my own—and I still need to make those revisions.

I’ve always set aside some time for experimenting, for playing with new tools; that has served me well as a freelance writer for tech-based businesses.

But when trying to increase one’s authorial footprint, it can be a huge distraction.

On top of all of that, I’m taking care of my elderly parents. That often requires taking a day, or a part of a day, off work to drive one of them to a doctor’s appointment, or fixing things when something breaks.

I have no regrets about any of this. But if I’m not writing, then I’m not authoring.

So, I started today with a Substack post instead of producing income. Does that make me a bad, bad boy?

It’s Time To Think Like I’m 20 Again

This year, I turned 60 years old. I asked myself, “What would you do if you were 20 again?”

Answer: I’d pursue my dream like I was dying tomorrow.

One never knows when the sand in one’s hour glass is about to run out. That’s why it’s so critical to identify your goals and make every moment count.

Last week, I spent three days selling books in Kroger. I always do well when I do that. Two years ago, I was in a Kroger four or five days a week. Every week. And I made a full-time income. I also spent a lot of money. After all, there are a ton of expenses in running an author business.

But I’ve earned far more money and spent far less as a freelancer just to keep the doors open. That’s why I pulled back a little to focus on the income. Well, and because my campervan quit running.

So, once again, I find myself pivoting. The client business isn’t going away, but I want to focus on building the author business, and Substack is a core part of that business. That’s why I’m prioritizing it. Not just Substack, but the book writing and publishing. I’m moving it to the front of the list.

I don’t know what that’s going to look like a year from now. But here’s a little glimpse of what I have in mind:

• Ancient Frontiers is getting its own domain. Soon, you’ll be able to read the posts on Substack or on the Ancient Frontiers website ( ancientfrontiers.com). I just bought the domain.
• There will be more content behind the paywall. Yes, I’ll continue posting free content and pushing that to my email subscribers. But some of the best content (short stories, flash fiction, Web3 instruction manuals, critiques of 21st-century Christianity, and more) will be reserved for paid subscribers. It won’t all be for everyone, but anyone interested in those three parts of my brain will find something deep to hide themselves in.
• Free e-book downloads and discounted deals for subscribers.
• Serialized fiction.
• And a very big surprise that I’m cooking up!

I reserve the right to add more benefits as I see fit.

This is a beginning, and a direction I’ve been toying with for a couple of years now. It’s time to stop dreaming about it and start implementing. I don’t know why I’ve waited so long other than procrastination, or fear of failure. But I’m putting my money (and my time) where my mouth is. If you’d like to help an old writer feel young again, or just feed the dream, I’d like to invite you along for a ride. It might get bumpy, but we’ll endure it together.

This post was first published at Substack. Lead image created by ChatGPT.