Last week we talked about feelings. This week, money.

Usually at the end of the year I send a breakdown of how much I made, and how I made it. I've written before about why I do this; previous editions include 2018, 2020, 2021, and 2022. In case you don't want to click on all of those links, they will tell you that in 2017 I made $41,000, and in 2018 it was up to $65,000. 2019 was a down year, $50,000, and in 2020 I was thrilled to reel in $55,000. 2021 was $49,000. Then, 2022, boom! $80,000. I was able to stay right around that number in 2023: $76,000.

What happened between 2021 and now? Oh, any number of things. I got a very lucrative gig writing for Descript's Creator HQ. I'm extra-lucky that's it's interesting, too, especially since they let me start my series of interviews with independent podcasters, which allows me to explore some of my eternal questions about how other people navigate the tangle of work, money, and creative practice. I also started writing for the podcast Scamfluencers, which has allowed me to do deep dives on figures as diverse as Lou Pearlman, JT LeRoy, and George Santos. I did all of that romance ghostwriting, and at some point this year, I will have semi-related news... that I can actually tell you about this time!

The flipside of all of that is that I do less freelance journalism. Almost none, now that basically all of my editors have been laid off, and most of those publications shuttered.

I thought I would miss it more than I do. It could be really interesting, but it was such a grind. Coming up with endless pitches, half of which got rejected; always being subject to the whims of my editors' schedules. Getting paid by the hundreds, instead of the thousands. Working on something for weeks, publishing it, and hoping it managed to generate interest and conversation for the space of... an afternoon?

I've also been able to port a lot of that kind of thinking over to the podcast that Sarah and I started in the fall. It was originally pretty narrowly focused on Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, and the media blitz surrounding their relationship, but as we get deeper into its grooves we're starting to see it as a way to talk about how sports and pop culture intersect and interact. It's very fun to make, but fairly time-consuming. It does not, as yet, make us any money.

Also not making me any money: this newsletter. In fact, it cost me $290 to get a year of ButtonDown. (My late lamented Tinyletter was free.)