Hi. My name is...Dave
Posted by DaveM49 11 years, 8 months ago to The Gulch: General
Shrugging since 1996. Definitely not a "moocher" or a looter, but to the world at large I am useless, until the day when those who want my skills are willing to pay a fair price for them.
Due to a technicality I never knew existed, one year after publication of the book, the government took every penny I had received in royalties and more besides. I quit.
I continue to write and constantly seek to improve my skills for the day when I will be able to sell my work and keep the proceeds. But if you want to know what I "do"....I do odd jobs which require only a little of my time and pay the rent handily, leaving me free to pursue my true profession(s) on my own terms. I live in plain sight....but the person I once was publicly is utterly invisible to the world at large. And will remain so, unless....
In 1985-86 I wrote a series of computer games which sold to a fair-sized publisher under a contract which promised to be quite lucrative. Another publisher made its own copies of the disk and sold them at fire sale prices, effectively destroying the legitimate market and taking some chunks out of my reputation along the way. My legitimate publisher had the resources for lawyers, who promptly settled for a pittance (the settlement was less than their fees). For six months of work, I received around $450 and was the subject of headlines in trade magazines which prevented me from ever finding another software publisher.
I've found one helpful addition to "hiding in plain site". I volunteer for a charity organization which operates a thrift store nearby. NOT A SACRIFICE, though I enjoy helping people and providing small lessons when possible. Being "at work" has virtually stopped questions about what I do for a living and I am perceived as "community-oriented". Despite the fact that I receive no salary, they feed me, provide me with other "freebies", and when a high-end item that can be resold comes into the store, I am the first to know about it and get at least a 50% discount as an "employee". I often rescue sellable items from the garbage after they have been tossed despite my objections. Of course, an item that has value on the international market may actually be worthless in a small town.