New Venture

Those who are personal-Facebook-account-close might already know that I’m taking a fairly pricey writing course in the coming weeks.

When I saw the announcement for the course (three days prior to closing), my first thought was ‘How cool would that be? Oh well.’ This is a product of my existence. Like the majority, the notion of fee eliminates nearly everything very cool people in the world get to do.

This idea occurred the first time I sought a post-secondary education as well. I weighed the cost of journalism at a respectable university (that had accepted my application) versus a community college. I went to college. And guess what, there’s more than price separating the two.

But that’s a whole other story.

That lackluster education's debt loomed over me for about a decade, even with all the government price breaks given thanks to my tax bracket. Some of the debt got amalgamated in with other money, so maybe I haven’t even paid it all off yet.

Recognizing that the total cost for this pipedream, personal Graceland level course would be about $6K Canadian is usually enough to keep me forever saying no to myself.

My wife asked if I’d apply and I laughed at her. I stated the cost and the annoyance of a recently cleared credit card carrying big (for me, for my wife) numbers, but the sheer awesomeness kept on a tugging.

So I applied knowing if I got in it would take about a decade to pay off.

Then I reassured myself they wouldn’t take me, for a host of reasons.

Well shit, I got in and my head just about exploded with how cool it was going to be on one side and on the other side, I immediately got to brainstorming ways I could keep doing all the publishing stuff to the level I’ve been doing it (I’d earn significantly more for the hours spent if I worked at McDonald’s) and not feel under the debt for so long.

The easy answer seemed to be that I branch out on what I’d already been doing. And I suppose it’s a good sign that two people asked me about outside Unnerving editing help this week alone.

So, hopefully I’m not stepping on too many toes… I’ve opened an Etsy store featuring a bunch of pre-made book covers and I’ve opened my free time for editing services. The editing prices around the norm, less than the rates outside indie horror, as I know most horror folks are in a similar spot to where I am. With any luck, I can make up the education cost in five years rather than ten.

Should anyone need editing (from light to heavy) or art, shoot me an email unnervingmagazine@gmail.com or visit my Etsy Store.