Recently I’ve been working harder than ever before on awesome projects, Tune (a comic book) and s.k. (a novel). Every night when I get home from work, after sitting at a computer all day, I sit at a computer for hours more, pounding these projects out, panel by panel, line by line. I routinely work four weekdays a week on these things, and most of the weekend, too. Between work and projects I work seventy-hour weeks.

While working on these things I’ve skipped social engagements, time spent with friends, and other fun things that I’d like to do. Most of my friends are creative people, but I’ve realized that the reason I get stuff out the door and they never seem to finish, is because I’m at home working while they are out having fun. When I do go out with them and we end up talking about projects, the sentiments they always express are things like, “I just don’t have the time to work projects as much as I’d like to.”

Well, neither do I. But the difference between me and them is that I can say it with a straight face, because I work my goddamn ass off to ship.

I’ve always been a huge proponent of free content, because I feel like it enriches the world. And I’ve given tons of things away for free while I was learning and getting better. But I’ve always known in the back of my mind that this day would come. While working on Tune and s.k. I’ve realized that these are the best things I’ve ever created. And I just can’t give them away for free. I’m my own worst critic – some of the things I’ve written I gave away for free because I knew in the back of my mind that they weren’t good enough to ask people to pay for them. But Tune and s.k. are good – they approach professional caliber work. They are worth more than free. The long hours I spent on them are worth more than free.

Beyond that, there is one other reason that I can no longer afford to give away my stuff for free – student debt. I have tons of it, more than I’d like to admit. I made some dumb choices in college and now I’m paying for them. Student debt is the only debt I have – I own my car and have worked diligently in the past six months to pay off those blood-sucking parasites at the credit card company. But my student debt still hangs over my head like a guillotine. I need to get rid of it. And even though I doubt that I’ll make much from my work, all the time I spend working on projects needs to help release me from this sickness. And debt is a sickness, make no mistake.

I mentioned in a previous post that I thought people should give things away for free if they can afford it. I still believe that. However, as I look down the barrel at years of student debt, I’ve realized that I can no longer afford to give my work away for free. The projects I gave away for free took a long time, but the better I get at writing, the longer things take. It’s reaching for that last 10 percent that doubles the hours. From now on I’ll be charging my work.

Don’t worry – this new stuff is awesome. If I was a reader I would pay for it, and I can say that with a straight face.