I have honestly thought about trying to make money this way. Maybe I’m just good at talking myself out of trying, but I found one good reason to think it’d be harder than it seems.

People say the book can even be bad, and they’re half right. It’s genre fiction, and those have a very specific style and convention unique to each genre. It’s not just allowed to be bad, it’s supposed to be - and in a very specific way. You need to be familiar with that to write to the audience’s expectations. Being too unique and creative is not a good thing.

In other words, if you want to have any success writing gay minotaur smut, you have to first read enough gay minotaur smut to understand it. I couldn’t force myself to read it, not because I’m judging, but I’m just not into it. It bored me too much and felt like a huge slog. But if you can read it you can write it, and the process of familiarizing yourself with that market should also help you figure out how to get discovered for that genre.

I’ve always felt like an outlier, but yes. I can go an astoundingly long time without human contact and be totally fine. I was shaking my head during the pandemic when people were getting antsy after only a week. Well before that I once realized I literally hadn’t spoken to anybody for over a month and it didn’t even register as odd.

Psychedelics are pretty unique drugs marred by lots of misinformation and media bias. The relevant bit for this though is that you aren’t on them all the time. Habitual users may use them up to once a week, and even that is pushing it over the long term. Many users treat them with deep respect and have a more ritualized usage. For example, instead of getting high every weekend they try to make time once every month or two and it’s a very intentional experience with music or nature or both, or whatever else works for them.

So you might be high for 8 hours every month or two. That’s a pretty realistic estimate. Yet despite that tiny amount of time spent actually on the drug, people do say it changes their life for the better. It’s still not for everybody though. They can be mentally challenging in ways that are difficult to describe, but it’s a lot to get into and trying to summarize would not be helpful.

Psychedelics seem amazing. Shrooms have changed my life and I’d love to explore some others if I ever get the opportunity. It’s a crime against humanity that they’ve been so vilified.