And So, I Return to the Life of Being an Editor! (Ulog No. 45)

As regular readers of these pages probably recall, I have been having some uncertainty about the future of what I am going to be doing for "a living."

Or a "profession," if you will.

It was my hope — well, our hope, because Mrs. Denmarkguy is part of the picture — that we be able to continue the path of self-employment. Problem was (to recap) that we had too many home businesses that were in a state of slow decline, meeting too many bills that were rising at a rate greater than "inflation," year over year.

View across the bay

I Used to Be a Book Editor...

... and now it appears that I am going to go back being an editor.

It's something I know how to do, and it is something I am really good at... but I am not sure how I feel about getting back into something that is — quite truthfully — yet another "shrinking" profession that is gradually being replaced by automation.

My guess is that there probably won't *be" much of a need for (human) book editors in another 10-15 years. Grammarly can already do pretty effective editing, and I'm only able to sustain (for the time being, anyway) because I am specialized in certain types of non-fiction that are still best handled by a real live person.

Late blooming thistles

"Learn to Code," My Arse!

I find it ironic that the old "slur" thrown at people complaining that they were being made obsolete by technology — "learn to code" — is quickly becoming an oxymoron.

More and more code is being written by artificial intelligence, making human coders more and more obsolete. Retraining yourself to do something that won't still be a job in another ten years seems like an exercise in futility... at least to me.

So I am glad I didn't go that route!

In the meantime, it seems that our world is still a long way from functionally figuring out how to help the millions being displaced by automation.

Simply saying "they should help THEMSELVES!" is really not that useful, because we live in a system that largely depends on people being able to "consume stuff" in order to sustain itself... and in order to consume stuff, you (at least at present) have to have money.

And that stuff doesn't grow on trees, last I checked!

Flowers in the pot...

Becoming More Self-sustaining: Grow Your Own Food!

One of the steps we had to take around here was to really dig down deep into just where our cost of living comes from.

Aside from being able to combine things like our phones and internet to a single provider in a "bundle," our greatest cost of living comes from food and consumable household expenses.

So we're back to the old-fashioned ways of growing more and more of our own food, as well as old-time standbys like using washable rags for cleaning rather than paper towels and such.

It's surprising how much money we "bleed," in tiny amounts at a time!

Alas, increasing income seems a lot harder than just cutting expenses. One of the things we've come to realize is that our little network of home businesses have as customers fellow people who also are struggling financially. So it's a case of "the penniless trying to support the penniless." But we're working to try to change that equation...

More fall foliage

Childhood Irony, Revisited...

When I was a teenager, we used to say (in a somewhat histrionic and dramatic way!) that we would become "that generation" who would end up being worse off — financially — than our parents.

Although it was a joke at the time (in the 1970s), that particular situation does seem to have come true. I don't say that as a point of self-pity, merely as an observation for the history books.

Anyway, it is time to move onward and forward!

I find myself grateful to have this "outlet" in which to blog about the experience! And I'm also feeling grateful that it is still possible to make at least a couple of dollars for writing a post here... because every penny counts!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you've all had a great weekend!

(Another #creativecoin creative non-fiction post)

Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for this platform.)
Created at 191028 00:18 PDT
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