Taking a (careful) leap of faith.

thAlaska is full of kick-ass women, and I was privileged to meet a bunch of them during my 17 years of working for the Anchorage Daily News. That’s because I wrote for the features section, which meant getting sent out to interview women who’d either suffered great losses or done something intriguing. Sometimes both.

I learned something from all of them, and was fortunate enough to get to know some of them better. When I met Dana Stabenow she was at the tail-end of a carefully chosen yet potentially disastrous decision: to quit her lucrative job, get a master’s degree in creative writing and become an author.

She went broke in the attempt, but that’s not the end of her story.

In the 33 years since making that choice Dana has published 30 books, won an Edgar Award and made The New York Times best-seller list more than once. Most of her works are mysteries but she’s also done a couple of science fiction titles and thrillers.

Recently she branched out into historical novels with her “Silk And Song trilogy” trilogy about Marco Polo’s granddaughter (two of the books, “Everything Under the Heavens” and “By the Shores of the Middle Sea,” are currently available).

Today Dana revealed that she’ll be the guest of honor at the 2017 Left Coast Crime mystery conference in Honolulu. Not bad for a kid raised on a fish tender.

During our ADN interview in 1994, what fascinated me about Dana (besides her general awesomeness) was the fact that she walked away. Back in 1982 she had the world by the butt, pulling in a cool $64,000 plus great benefits as a publicist for an oil company. It wasn’t unusual for her to get off the plane from the North Slope and get on a plane to Hawaii.

But she knew she wanted more. Or, rather, there was something she didn’t want: to hit retirement age and wonder whether she could have been a writer. So she went for it.

 

‘Willing to take the risk’

Alaska is the kind of place where you can get away with quitting a high-powered job to, say, run the Iditarod. Maybe that’s why no one questioned Dana’s decision.

Or maybe it was the methodical way she went about doing it. She bought a new car, sold her condo (right before a recession and corollary real-estate crash), and saved every dollar she could. Dana house-sat, rented a room in a friend’s house and even crashed with her dad for eight months.

She allotted $50 a week for everything, including food and gas. Dana saw one matinee per week but mostly she enjoyed free fun like reading and cross-country skiing.

Her savings account was all but empty when her first sci-fi novel, “Second Star,” was published. Now she has all those other books and a dedicated group of fans who call themselves the “Danamaniacs.” (You can be one too if you join the Facebook group and/or subscribe to her newsletter, The Roadhouse Report.)

Some would consider her choices brave. Dana disagrees.

“I don’t think I’m courageous,” she once told me. “I’m willing to take the risk in the hope it will pay off down the road. Being a risk-taker is my personality.”

Full disclosure: Back in 1994 I thought it was brave as hell to walk away from a job without a guaranteed one waiting. I could NEVER do that, I thought.

Of course, that’s what I wound up doing when I fled my abusive marriage in 2004, so maybe Dana’s example was in the back of my mind: You CAN do this. In fact, you MUST.

 

Look before you leap, though

Like Dana, I made some preparations. I had a place to go, at least temporarily, and a careful inventory of the things I’d need. Among them: half our marital savings, my computer, pertinent financial paperwork for the divorce, winter as well as summer clothing, my address book and a few items of sentimental value (I knew I’d never be going back – if I wanted to keep something, I had to carry it with me).

When I interviewed her once again for an MSN Money article, Dana had a few more tips for those who want to become entrepreneurs/authors/whatevers:

  • Zero out your debt. You’re cutting expenses to the bone, remember? A monthly payment should not be one of them.
  • Ditch most of your credit cards. Dana kept the American Express because knowing she had to pay it in full each month kept her from overspending. “I seldom used it. Couldn’t afford to.”
  • Inventory your frequent-flier miles. She had a lot of them and was able to visit four different cities where friends were willing to pick her up and host her.
  • Get real about being your own boss. Remember: No sick days, no vacation days, no benefits unless you buy them. Also, “you’ll never work harder for anyone than when you work for yourself. You can’t slack off a single day.”

I’d like to add a few tips of my own:

  • Build an emergency fund. Don’t jump without a cushion.
  • Stay away from the mall. Out of sight, out of mind.
  • Inventory all rewards programs. Cash in for holiday gifts, vacations or maybe things you need (e.g., prepaid debit cards, Amazon gift cards). Programs like Swagbucks and MyPoints plus cash-back shopping sites can also cut your personal expenses. (See the Social Commerce Links section for more info.)
  • Learn to cook. Or at least learn “speed scratch” techniques. Ratchet down any foodie urges, too, because you can’t afford truffles until your book/business/whatever really starts to perform.
  • Remember your goal. You aren’t being “deprived” – you’re making very specific choices for a very specific reason. Tracking your progress toward that goal can help you stay motivated.

 

Fearless decisions

Currently Dana lives in Homer, Alaska, in a beautiful house she had built on a semi-secluded spot with a heart-stopping view. She’s still creating book after book, but she has a new goal as well: establishing and endowing the Storyknife Writers’ Retreat, a place where women can go to focus on the wonderful, awful work of writing. I have no doubt that she’ll do it.

The more I think about it, the more I believe Dana was an influence on my decision to take back my life. A lot of Alaska women influenced me, directly or indirectly, through their fearless decisions.

Not that their choices were always the right ones, mind you. But even an idea that fizzled was treated not as a failure but as just one more life experience. Nobody can hit it out of the park every time.

Alaska women are a big part of the reason I wound up moving back here in 2012. They live out loud, knowing that life is short but that it can be as wide as we need it to be. Why settle for wishing and wondering, and the possibility of regret, when we can take action?

Sure, that action can take years to bear fruit and ultimately may not work out quite the way we’d planned. But I’ve decided to view this as a detour rather than a roadblock. In theory, straight paths are easier. But I’m enjoying the journey, however circuitous.

 

Related reading:

Please follow and like us:

23 thoughts on “Taking a (careful) leap of faith.”

  1. I have always been a frequent reader of your site so I regularly check it for your new articles. I would even re-read the old posts simply because they motivate me to keep my eyes on the prize: financial freedom. I first stumbled upon your writing when I was a frequent visitor of the MSN Money and its blogs and when you first wrote about having to live on $12,000 a year. I think this is the first time I am writing a comment here and I’m doing this because I can’t believe how many times you have done me a favor through your articles and I never once left a word to thank you. I always bring my lunch to work everyday, live on a budget (“save where I can so I could spend where I want”) and I never felt deprived because in the truest sense of the word, I am “living poor and loving it”. Please continue to write witty articles that not only make people chuckle but also make them go on. Thank you for inspiring me.

    Reply
    • Thank you, Denise. That means a lot to me. But remember to give yourself credit, too, because you’re the one doing the actual work.
      Hope you’ll keep reading and commenting.

      Reply
  2. Ha! I thought I recognized Dana’s name! Had one of her sf books, way back in the 80s or90s. I’m delighted to hear that she’s done well.

    I really appreciate the tips and hints, from both of you. For what it’s worth, I think both of you are very courageous women, and I’m in awe of what each of you has accomplished.

    I haven’t taken a leap of faith so much as I’ve been pushed. My disability keeps me from running out and taking a “survival” job in retail or fast food, so I almost have to focus my energies on my writing and making it pay. (Not that there aren’t other options, but that’s also where I feel my strongest talents lie, and I do love it.)

    Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to build a nest egg, and there’s not much safety net besides my husband’s freelance income. But we have a home and a car that are paid for, thanks to our previous efforts, and we’ve managed to whittle the debt down, though we haven’t escaped it entirely. We’re so used to living frugally, I don’t think we could not do it at this point.

    Great article, Donna, and great food for thought. You remain one of my inspirations.

    Reply
  3. I first met you, Donna, when I was searching the web for tips on economizing for my seniors who were going to college on a shoestring. You inspired me to leave my abusive marriage and go it alone. Up to that point I never had to budget or think about money, and believe me, I struggled. I used to wait for your posts about money and I followed other sites eagerly. I am now 65, own my house and car, and have a few bucks in the bank. I save $500 a month from my pension.
    A couple of points: who needs new clothes? or new furniture? Is it a need or a want? I dress and decorate to please me, not my visitors.
    It is no small matter to help so many people, Donna. Thanks for being my mentor all these years.

    Reply
  4. I love it when my worlds collide. I’ve been a Danamaniac for probably 10 years now and have been reading Dana’s Kate & Liam books since well before then. And Donna I’ve been reading your blog and writing in one form or another since I first started seeing your articles on MSN Money.

    So it was fun to open up my RSS feed and find one of my favorite bloggers writing about one of my favorite authors. 🙂

    Reply
  5. To paraphrase Harry Potter, all that stuff sounds a lot cooler in hindsight, after you’ve made it through and out the other end, and are, miraculously, still standing. And maybe even, um, thriving? Because simply surviving isn’t enough.

    And Donna, I am immensely flattered and pleased (and faintly astonished) if I helped in any way to inspire you to take your life back. Which, FYI everyone, she has done, in spades.

    Reply
    • Aw, you only say that ’cause it’s true…. 😉
      Seriously: You and Linda B. and all the other bawdy Alaska broads have made a profound impact on my life since I moved up here in 1984 (and left in 2001, and returned in 2012). And FYI, everyone, you should go buy Dana’s books.

      Reply
  6. I had the pleasure of working on the North Slope with Dana. I did not
    know she is living back in Homer. I am in Soldotna and will have to
    come down visit some time… I retired in 2001.

    Reply
  7. I became a widow in Aug 06 and moved to a new job at the same Navy base in Dec 06. My former boss had trouble with women and refused to promote me. He never believed what I said until a male coworker would back me up and say I was correct. It was rough to start over in the engineering division in my 40s. Everything about my job was new and different. People warned me to make no major changes within a year of a spouse’s death but I had to leave. I was promoted within a year.

    Reply
  8. Donna, this is such a great piece for me to read today. I just graduated with that engineering degree, and I’m less than 48 hours from moving. Some times all of this change is exhilarating, and some times it is terrifying.

    Anyway, I just wanted to say that your tag line – about life being short but also wide – is something I think about when the teeter-totter is set to terrifying.

    And, hey, don’t forget: you’re one of those kickass, inspirational Alaskan women too!

    Reply
  9. Thx, Donna, I just saw this article, very meaningful!
    I remember the good old days at the ADN – I was in the business office. So many friendships from those days.

    Reply

Leave a Comment