I often look at the aspect of nature and nurture and how it affects our lives. I am fairly certain that I have discussed this before in this blog how my mom was a smoker and my dad is a drinker, yet I am neither. Okay, the latter is because I have the bladder of a woman that is nine-months pregnant. I am not against drinking. It is just that my body cannot handle it anymore. Smoking is a completely different story.
My dad took jobs all his life that took him where the money was. New Jersey. California. Oklahoma. Indiana. North Carolina. And then back to Oklahoma. I often wonder if subconsciously I did not like moving around and this is why I have pretty much cemented myself in Oklahoma. I really like Oklahoma. It could just be that I really found my right area. However, long before I had kids and it was just me, people told me to move to La Jolla, California (home of Wildstorm) or Manhattan (home of Marvel Comics) to try to get a job with a comic company but being on-site an making face-to-face inquiries.
Thankfully, my career path is one interwoven with the Internet and I can email my comic scripts to my publishers. Which means I can live in the comparatively low cost of living state of Oklahoma and do more than just survive on meager comic book writer pay.
Still, debt has crippled my family. I have often said, “Imagine how far your paycheck would go if you didn’t owe anything to anyone.” Granted, that lifestyle is impossible to live. You are going to owe the water company and your cell phone bill. But sometimes life shoves you in directions that you don’t want and all you can do is hang on for dear life as you plunge down the rapids, knowing that tranquil streams are just past the whitewater.
Amy and I are plunging through the rapids right now. She is working nights for an agency and often I am leaving for my 9-to-5 when she is heading home from work. During the 4th of July holiday, it seemed like we only saw each other for an hour or two a day. I sleep when she is at work and vice versa. It takes a little getting used to.
But I have to stay focused on that end goal. That goal is to be out from underneath the credits cards and hopefully have my car paid off. If we can do that, then our only bill is Amy’s car payment. Now, suddenly, Amy is making more money than we ever have had and I am rolling along doing comic book scripts where I get paid infrequently but when I do get paid it is a fat check. And the ultimate kicker… we don’t owe anyone.
Yeah. Imagine. We are making the most money ever (for us) and we owe so little that we can actually start saving money. We can have a savings account! And we can start planning to build our first home.
It is important to have goals, kids. You have to set a goal. It gives you a finish line. It gives you something to look forward to and work towards. And when you reach that goal… it’s a pretty cool thing.
My dad took jobs all his life that took him where the money was. New Jersey. California. Oklahoma. Indiana. North Carolina. And then back to Oklahoma. I often wonder if subconsciously I did not like moving around and this is why I have pretty much cemented myself in Oklahoma. I really like Oklahoma. It could just be that I really found my right area. However, long before I had kids and it was just me, people told me to move to La Jolla, California (home of Wildstorm) or Manhattan (home of Marvel Comics) to try to get a job with a comic company but being on-site an making face-to-face inquiries.
Thankfully, my career path is one interwoven with the Internet and I can email my comic scripts to my publishers. Which means I can live in the comparatively low cost of living state of Oklahoma and do more than just survive on meager comic book writer pay.
Still, debt has crippled my family. I have often said, “Imagine how far your paycheck would go if you didn’t owe anything to anyone.” Granted, that lifestyle is impossible to live. You are going to owe the water company and your cell phone bill. But sometimes life shoves you in directions that you don’t want and all you can do is hang on for dear life as you plunge down the rapids, knowing that tranquil streams are just past the whitewater.
Amy and I are plunging through the rapids right now. She is working nights for an agency and often I am leaving for my 9-to-5 when she is heading home from work. During the 4th of July holiday, it seemed like we only saw each other for an hour or two a day. I sleep when she is at work and vice versa. It takes a little getting used to.
But I have to stay focused on that end goal. That goal is to be out from underneath the credits cards and hopefully have my car paid off. If we can do that, then our only bill is Amy’s car payment. Now, suddenly, Amy is making more money than we ever have had and I am rolling along doing comic book scripts where I get paid infrequently but when I do get paid it is a fat check. And the ultimate kicker… we don’t owe anyone.
Yeah. Imagine. We are making the most money ever (for us) and we owe so little that we can actually start saving money. We can have a savings account! And we can start planning to build our first home.
It is important to have goals, kids. You have to set a goal. It gives you a finish line. It gives you something to look forward to and work towards. And when you reach that goal… it’s a pretty cool thing.
