Comparative Advantage is a Harsh Mistress

I'm extremely hard up for money right now, in the way that I sometimes am depending on how much work I've gotten in the months previous. (When I get paid, I get a lot per hour. But these times are sometimes far apart.) It's particularly annoying this time because I was hit by some costs I hadn't budgeted for, which put me closer to the edge than I like to be. It's not panic worthy because Ciro has just received a financial aid disbursement, but taken together, it means that we have about three months before empty bank accounts, which is enough time that it's plausible I'll get offered loads of gigs and sell tons of stuff, particularly since these are things people and organizations with money are already talking about, and those sorts of things are already in the works. (Let it be noted how much better it is to be an artist with patrons than an artist without patrons.)

However, when you are someone like me, who is neither salaried nor paycheck to paycheck (as I do not receive regular paychecks), three months worth of savings is not nearly enough to feel comfortable. I don't begin to feel safe until I know that I can get by for five months without doing any paid work at all. (That's about enough to account for medical emergencies, catastrophic damage to my car, computer loss, and still being able to eat.) Because honestly, I don't know how to sell out. I don't know how to say "okay, we're out of money, and I have to get a real job." I don't know how to get a real job. Every job I've ever had has been specially created for me by someone who is impressed by the kinds of things I can do. All of my training and all of my value is in a set of specialized fields, and/or as a teacher in those fields.

So I wind up thinking along the lines that most writers think, which is: I bet I could dash off a romance novel for some quick cash. This is in many ways a silly thing to think. Romance has its rules just like any genre, and they are not always easy for an outsider to glean. And even though the publishing houses accept un-agented manuscripts, they still only accept around 4% of what they get, and it has to be edited and printed before any money comes out of it.

However, it's also not a stupid thing to think, because 4% acceptance is unusually high for a pro market, and because as someone who has worked as a slush reader, I have a pretty good sense of what I'd be up against, and beating 96% of the erotica submissions I've read sets the bar pretty low - commas in the right places, characters that aren't blatantly offensive, dialog that lasts longer than the detailed dimensional description of the woman's breasts, and I'm set.

Anyway, I have this time when I'm not making money anyway, while I wait for things that may make me money. So Chad and I have been batting around concepts throughout the day, and most of the winners seem to be sci-fi set. I try to think of historical stuff, but I run into the problem that I write a really interesting female character, but then run up against History. And either the guy who loves her is either really insane or unusual or a time traveler, and probably not financially successful. And would have to pursue her because her pursuing him would not work at all socially, unless I want to write about George Sand and Chopin, and why would she say no unless he is crazy and unusual which has mostly been proven by him loving her, and that seems self hating. What I am saying is that Darcy would never go after Elizabeth, and it doesn't work at all, only Jane Austen is very clever at fooling us.

It's really much easier if I can make the characters lesbians and then let them enjoy their love in secret and/or can end the story before they are discovered and abused.