In a post on Patreon last June, I wrote about my current career as “Three Careers in a Trench coat.” I had non-fiction writing, teaching, and creating as the three stacked raccoons or muppets or whatever silly little guys were going to stuff themselves into a trench coat for me.
This week, I’ve realized that it’s time to update that image. First because there are more than three careers in this mix now. Second, I think my careers now move more smoothly in a single direction. My forward momentum is more graceful. They can each function individually, but together they are bigger and more powerful. I’m entering my Voltron era.
If you aren’t a Gen X-er, the Transformers “combiner” super-robots may be more familiar than the Voltron super robot. But as a kid, I had the chance to play with the toy robot lions that became the giant super robot when they worked together. And there’s something about robot lions specifically that speaks to me in this image.
Maybe it’s the lion from the Strength card – that slow, diligent control that overcomes the lion. I think that diligence and showing up every day is a huge part of what I’m doing right now.
Maybe the Voltron image speaks to me because there are five of those smaller robots? I think the move from three raccoons to five robots is a significant one.
My Five Lion Robots Now
- Books and Publishing
- Teaching Classes
- Coaching
- Platform Maintenance & Marketing
- Experiments and Failing Forward
Books & Publishing
As of this moment, I have two self-published titles out (one launched TODAY!), and two trad-pub non-fiction books coming out next year. Books have been a major area of focus and effort for me this year. The trad-pub books are labor intensive, and have had a long series of deadlines that I feel like I’m constantly bonking up against.
In addition to those books, I’ve also got 3 more that I want to get out there in the near term (one more self-pub title this year, and 2 things I want to start querying for trad pub.) Plus I have an ongoing goal to keep submitting short stories to publications and anthologies each month, which requires ongoing creation of new things!
Long-term, and big-picture, I think the books and publishing will be my primary “job.” “Author” was the job I’ve wanted since I was a kid that has never gone away. If I have a sense of vocation, it’s centered here. Everything else exists to support this work. This one is the head and torso of the super robot.
Instructing Classes
Classes, I think, end up being one of the legs of the super-robot. As a source of income, they help me “stand” while I’m working on other things. Right now, I have several live zoom classes scheduled on Morbid Anatomy, as well as a number of on-demand online classes that are available.
I’ve got some areas of growth here. I’m playing with putting classes together on my own, rather than via a platform. I’m also experimenting with price points, exploring other platforms, and creating more on-demand options.
New class creation also helps me to research and refine my understanding of topics. Sometimes classes feed into other projects or writings, and sometimes they can inform areas of interest. These support my writing (I’ve had at least one book come out of classes I’ve taught), and they support my growth academically. Classes also help me grow and build my reach and platform. So they are a vital foundational piece of the larger whole.
Coaching
While coaching isn’t something I’m super-actively marketing right now, it is still an important part of the whole. I’m thinking this might be the non-dominant hand and arm. Long-term, I think it’s an area for potential growth and improvement.
I’ve conceptualized retreats and other sorts of workshops and services that I might offer here. Right now, it’s the right size for me. When I get past some publishing deadlines, then I will probably refocus on growing this area. Long-term I’ll want my robot to be ambidextrous.
Platform Growth and Maintenance
I think the content creation, marketing, and overall platform growth make up the second leg of the super robot. This category includes my YouTube channel (someday it will be monetized), my Patreon (always growing!), quarterly e-newsletters, as well as interesting things like podcast guest spots.
Some of this supports the other elements because I’m able to get the word out about books, classes, and coaching if I have an active and engaged platform. Patreon is its own income stream as it is, in addition to being another way to let people know what I’m doing. I constantly work on the tiers and offerings there so that each level feels like you’re getting great value-adds and rewards per subscription level. (I think the $12 tier is the best value in terms of free books and free classes.)
The level of work and effort that goes into this channel is slowing down bit by bit, as I learn how to reuse and capitalize on content that was created for use elsewhere. But it’s also a major part of the work that I do each day and each week.
Experimentation & Failing Forward
The dominant hand and arm of my super-robot is what I’m categorizing as experimentation and failing forward. I test, prototype, and sandbox a LOT of ideas. I’m working on creating an oracle deck. I’m playing with the idea of a podcast of my own. I keep copious notes about lessons learned when I self-publish books or try new class ideas. I experiment with pricing, with diversifying, and with new concepts constantly.
Originally, I thought that this was simply a part of how I do all of the other things, but I’ve come to realize that it’s a standalone portion of the whole. It is both a way of life and what I’m doing. It’s a huge chunk of time that I spend every day.
Failing fast and failing forward is a great way to keep learning and growing. I also learn what pays off and connects with others, and what doesn’t. My patrons get to be the test subjects and guinea pigs quite often for these ideas.
Where the Super Robot Might be Headed
The reason I like the Voltron super-robot the most is that it is more graceful and effective than the trench coat concept. It is how the robot – lions come together, cooperate and support one another in a battle. Rather than a wobbly, wonky, silly “person,” the super-robot is better because of the cooperation.
As I consider how each portion feeds into the whole, and how my through-line of the healing potential of storytelling works with the whole, I begin to see the horizon and the destination of this robot over time.
Most career authors will tell you that you need to have 5-10 books on your backlist to make a steady, reliable living as an author. If the “author” robot is the final form of this machine, then I need to both grow my platform (to sell books) and to grow my backlist. I need to keep figuring out the next book (and the next one). To keep my creative fires lit, and keep growing and learning intellectually.
I really like this reframing. It feels powerful and tangible to me.