Cultivating Something New for Authors Who Want to Earn a Living Online

We moved a lot when I was a kid.

A lot.

No matter where we lived, it was always home, thanks to my mom who still has a gift for making any place feel that way.

Recently, Mom and I searched around on Google Maps for the Idaho farm where we lived for several years while I was young. The place which, when you ask me where I’m from, always comes to mind.

I was sure we'd be able to find it by the long dirt driveway that ran between the irrigation ditch & the horse pasture and up to our small house beside the giant elm tree in the yard where we often tethered our favorite goat.

It’s not as if I thought we’d be able to see the tire swing, or our goat, of course. But we did hope to find the tree. And maybe the house, and horse pasture. And surely the driveway.

But none of it was there. Even the ditch was gone (who moves a ditch?)

In its place is now an expanse of flat, green, industrial farmland.

We decided our little patch of home was most likely swallowed up by Simplot.

I mean the land is still there, sure. But the bits and parts that were once layered on top of it, the structures that made it livable and made it home are just… gone.

It’s not an unusual story, I realize, and it's not like we were pushed out; we were gone long before industry moved in. Still, it kinda wrecked me a little. I was pretty out of sorts for awhile after discovering that my “happy place” in the world had been bulldozed and flattened, and turned into rows of industrial crops. That the garden we worked hard to turn and cultivate is probably now turning out french fries for McDonald’s.

I'm mostly over it, but for a while I felt like a piece of my past was plowed under without my permission. I realized it wasn't really about land, but identity.

Even now, there are times when I’m pulling weeds from my tiny garden, and the heft of a dirt clod in my hand takes me back to that hard, miserable patch of ground our family worked into a productive vegetable garden… eventually.

And once in a while, I swear I can still hear my grandma laughing at herself for forcing our tangled goat to jump through and around, and back through a swinging tire, instead of simply undoing the tether.

This morning while doing the breakfast dishes, I thought about those mornings on Lower Pleasant Ridge Road when my Mom would keep watch out the kitchen window, across the farm behind us, for when the school bus would turn onto Upper Pleasant Ridge Road; our cue to head out the back door in time to catch the bus at the end of our driveway.

The driveway which is no more, according to Google Maps.

In my mind, that long dusty strip of land is still there, lined with gooseberries and morning glory, waiting for us to all come home again.

Of course things change, and we grow and change too, if we're wise. We can always carry those good moments in the pockets of our memory, small as gooseberry seeds though they may be.

Perhaps Google Maps can't take me there anymore, but I do go back for a moment or two quite often thanks to dirt clods and the smell of dill, and the sight of towering hops.

My personality and my skills were molded by the realities of my always-itinerant sometimes-agrarian childhood. Our lifestyle taught me a lot, including how to adapt, flex with the circumstances, be resourceful, and always be ready for something new.

And I've recognized that in order for me to feel happy and productive, I need to always be cultivating something.

Sometimes gardening. Other times cultivating new ideas. Most of the time, both.

This summer, I spent a lot of time with my laptop among the marigolds, and raspberries, and dahlias, and hops, and dill, and grapes cultivating something that's been in the back of my mind for a couple years: a consultancy and supportive community for published authors who want to earn a living with their non-book content.

I've been doing this kind of work in the background with several of my clients for the past couple years, and I know there are all kinds of authors who want to break into monetizing online content in some manner—but who don't know where to start. Whether it's creating material for online courses, teaching via webinars, learning how to write valuable emails to build a subscription list, breaking into podcasting, starting a blog, or writing effective copy for an online shop, helping authors get their content "out there" is what we're about.

If you're a published author and are interested in a free 10 minute consultation to discuss which platform would be the best choice for you to get started to earn income, email us at [email protected] with CONSULTATION PLEASE in the subject line, and we will be in touch with you to schedule a consult.

These free sessions are limited to 24; published authors only, please.

Sandra is a literary agent who represents an established list of clients at Transatlantic Literary Agency. She is also the founder and CEO of BEYOND THE BOOK DEAL, a professional consultancy and supportive community for published authors who want to earn a living online.

[BEYOND THE BOOK DEAL is scheduled to open its virtual doors in late September].