One of my aunts called me last week, just to catch up. She asked me about my academic status (I went AWOL), and as I tried to explain my fluid situation to her, she replied:

“What are you exactly? I mean, what do I call you? What do you call what you do?”

I don’t blame her for finding it confusing to label me. After all, I was a film student for two years, then I was a painting major for three more years. To support myself, I mostly work as a writer, although I’ve accepted the occasional video work and sold a couple of paintings. Both my work and educational life are a stark contrast to what she’s experienced with her generation. After high school, they went to college, and the major they chose defined their careers.

It’s not that black and white anymore, at least not for me.

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For several years, I worked on a comic strip called Gay Balls of Fire (GBoF). I had a blast doing it, and it was project that allowed me to explore drawing comics for the first time.

But in 2005 I went back to college. Being both a full-time student and a part-time freelancer didn’t give me the freedom to work on GBoF as often, so the updates grew less and less frequent, until they stopped altogether in 2007.

Even when I stopped working on the comic, readers would still send me email. “When’s the next update?”, they’d ask. I’d always reply, “Soon.” Two years later, the next update is still waiting.

I promised to change all that this year. This year, I’ll work on GBoF, resdesign the web site, and upload a new strip each week.

The truth is, I did draw a new strip, but I couldn’t get the last panel right. I kept procrastinating, and five months later, I still haven’t drawn the last panel.

Obviously, it was time to face the facts.

If I really wanted to do it, it would already be done.

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I’m going to work on my fiction.

That sentence summarizes one of my major writing-related goals this year. The goals, if you want to get into details, are to publish (not just write) 3 short stories and participate in this year’s NaNoWriMo, or at least just spend a month or two writing the first draft of a novel.

Small goals to the seasoned fictionist - but the last time I wrote fiction was five years ago. “I need to devote long stretches of time to this,” I thought. “I’m out of practice, so I need to devote, say, around 2 months of my life just doing this.”

But if I were to spend a couple of months working on my fiction, where would I get my income? I’d have to find a way to make money passively while I write.

That’s it! I’m going to work on a passive income stream, then when that gets rolling I can really work on my fiction.

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