THE 1ST ANNUAL REPORT

J.A. Joerer in conversation with Mr. Fate, founder of Fates On Fire, a personal finance project focused on exploring the magic of financial independence. Dubbed, “The First Annual Report,” Fate discusses the successes and challenges of his first year of writing and what’s in store for the future.

A DATE WITH FATE

Should I call this piece, “A Date with Fate?”

“A Date with Fate?” Uh, okay? But it’s still “Fates On Fire’s 1^st Annual Report” too, right? Anyway, Hey J. I guess this is the part of the show where I field carefully curated, softball questions from the stakeholders on my first year of writing, yeah? However, I see that we’re the only two in attendance, thereby confirming my assumption that I am an object of great fascination to almost no one. (laughs)

It’s been a year since Fates On Fire launched. How do you think things are going? Do you consider it a success?

Great question. When I started, my only real goal was to write somewhat decent articles and publish them a couple of times a month. Period. I figured, if I only did that, I could then personally call it a success. So, in that regard, yes.

As it turned out, I was very fortunate to get featured by Steve Adcock in Think, Save, Retire and on Camp FIRE Finance right out of the gate with a cheeky article excoriating corporate life. That helped quite a bit and I remain deeply grateful to them for that initial shot in the arm of exposure.

I knew that when I started I’d, likely, be kind of marginal, that your average FIRE blog reader, whomever that may be, wasn’t necessarily going to immediately get my general intent and approach, hence my self-moniker that “Fates On Fire is the Nick Cave of the FIRE space.” Terms like, “FIRE Aethernaut” are a bit off the beaten path.

Nevertheless, as Peter Hook from Joy Division said, “You have to believe what you’re doing is great and then wait for the rest of the world to catch up.” And he’s right. And, for the most part, I’m still waiting. (laughs)

For better or worse, I approach Fates On Fire from a creative perspective, rather than a commercial one. I understand that such an approach can both alienate and inspire, but without it – without risk – you’re just pandering and writing to a YOST/Google algorithm at the expense of your heart. I’d definitely say that this is what truly differentiates Fates from other blogs in the space.

If what you’re doing is authentic, there are always people who will embrace it, you just have to trust. And I have. Overall, it’s been great. A slow, but steady increase of readers who understand and appreciate the project and my sometimes ridiculous view on things.

Describe your writing process.

Sure. It’s boring, lonely and makes my back hurt. Like Gaiman says, “I hate writing. I much prefer having written.” I totally agree with that statement by the way. I assume that what you’re actually wanting to get at is my writing process from ideation to publication?

Yes.

It’s interesting in that prior to launching Fates On Fire, I never wrote creatively on any sort of regular basis. Most of my writing was previously relegated to all manner of corporate nonsense like memos, PowerPoint decks, descriptions of data, and whatnot. So, I was intrigued as to how it would play out.

The first thing I realized is that to write creatively and well, I need complete silence in the actual physical environment. I guess that’s not uncommon as most all writers I’ve read about require the same thing. Secondly, I quickly found, I also need to have “clear head space” in that if I’m stressed, preoccupied or otherwise mentally distracted, I’m worthless.

Since last year was rife with so much shit, it was actually pretty challenging. On the rare moments when I had a bit of clarity, I’d dash off to the university library and write up a couple of articles in one sitting not knowing when the next chance would be. It proved to be a good strategy.

As for my ideas, I don’t write them all down in advance, but I generally have about 3 in my head at any given time. I walk 4 miles every morning and it’s on these walks that I begin to focus on one idea, outline it and then start to write it. So, from concept to rough draft is pretty much done in my head before I even sit down at the keyboard. After that it’s a matter of editing, proofing and then publishing. Sometimes it’s less than a week, sometimes a month – it’s just depends.

What’s surprised you the most?

Where do I even start? All of it has been such a wonderful surprise. I realized early on that I love to write. It’s always been a captivating idea, but I never had a chance to really engage in it until starting Fates On Fire. It’s immensely fun, challenging and mentally stimulating. I even branched out and plotted some fictions last year that I intend to turn into short stories once we get settled. Even just learning WordPress and the ins and outs of blogging has been a great ride.

Most of all, I really enjoy the social aspects. I totally regret that I didn’t have a lot of time to devote to finding and befriending other bloggers with a similar flair last year. I only recently started in earnest and it’s been awesome. Like I said, writing is a lonely business so it’s nice to connect with others, even if it’s only online.

As a blogger in the FIRE space, do you read other FIRE blogs?

Not particularly. The FIRE blogosphere is beyond hyper-saturated. There are literally thousands and thousands of them, nearly all of which are focused on the “how to” aspects. That statement is not intended to be an indictment by the way. People espousing the message of financial improvement and providing others with the tools to do so is, fundamentally, a good thing.

But the reality is that the FIRE blogosphere is perilously near the point of transmogrifying into caricature. For me, I’m just not interested in how to save a quarter-penny on a roll of toilet paper; currency arbitrage my credit cards to get a 2% discount on a plane flight; backdoor through a front door, down a hallway my ROTH IRA; yadda, yadda, gabba, gabba hey. That said, the more of that information is out there, the better since it’s beneficial to the vast majority of we humans.

What I am fascinated by are those bloggers that are doing something entirely different. Those that are creative and tend to operate more on the periphery, like Fates. Specifically, blogs like SavvyHistory who explores the nexus of creativity and business; Freddy Smidlap Let’s Off Some Steam, who’s also a former punk, takes a diverse view on topics and writes with a fun, frank style; Accidental Fire’s theme of outdoors and adventure is super-cool, plus his Turnip Fire category is some pretty genius satire; and My Quiet FI, who’s relatively new, but has a very unique backstory and uses it to leverage a truly compelling voice.

While I don’t read them much, there’s also bunch of people in their 20s with blogs dedicated to tracking their FIRE journeys. The simple fact that there are financially astute iGens and late Millennials who reject the prefab life script and strive to live on their own terms is really encouraging.

What is your favorite post?

Clearly, you interview a lot of musicians, so I’ll give you the stock answer you usually get: “They are all my children.” I do, actually, like them all in their own context. For example, “FIRE FUBAR” should be mandatory reading for anyone who aspires to early retirement. Not because I happened to write it, but because it demonstrates how unexpectedly screwed up your life and your financial plan can actually get during your first year of retirement. Your spouse becomes permanently disabled and then you get over $100K upside-down on your withdrawal plan. That was an incredibly painful, but very real experience. I can only hope that others might benefit from our misfortune and not be blinded by the Pollyannaism that seems to run a bit rampant.

I also love the “Total Blackout Project” & “My Month Without a Screen” articles because of the experiment they documented. I figured this was going to be the bees knees and I was going to make some big splash with all this. You know, the media would be dazzled by my exploits in this uncharted territory and all that.

Ms. Fate, who is the brains and reason of the operation, asked, “Why would the media cover your story when its whole purpose is totally anti-media? People like you and the message of your experiment fly in the face of their business model. No one will ever cover it.” Of course, she was right, but I’m still grateful I did it.

That leads to a good question. How do you reconcile promoting Fates On Fire with being a digital minimalist?

Well (long pause). I guess I don’t. Yes, I’m the guy running around telling others to kill their televisions and minimize or dump their SnapBook and InstaTwit accounts and spend more time offline. I personally learned a lot from the Total Blackout Project. After it ended, I canceled all my social media accounts (excepting Twitter for FOF), and totally stopped watching TV and pointless videos which, frankly, I already did very little of. I chose to spend as many hours as possible outside and to read as much as I could instead.

All the blog pendants argue that you need to be promoting incessantly on as many social and other mediums as possible. And that’s probably true. Like I said, Fates On Fire is a creative rather than a business endeavor and, honestly, I just can’t be arsed spending my hard-won freedom tethered to a keyboard promoting my articles. That feels like a job to me. I don’t know. If someone out there wants to be my unpaid intern to promote Fates On Fire, feel free to hit me up.

Are there any big plans for Fates On Fire in 2020?

I got really fired up by the “Rock N’ Roll Zero” thing and it got a great response, so I decided to spin the idea off into its own series. The focus is on documenting the exploits of my new music project as well as sharing some of the wild tales from my past as a professional rock n’ roller. In fact, the first one is coming in late February.

I’m also creating another series called, “The Country Squire Chronicles” that captures the experience of transitioning to the rural countryside in Washington. I fully expect this to be a veritable goldmine of hilarity, likely at my own expense.

Until then I’ll continue to run Fates On Fire in my own idiosyncratic way and wait for the rest of the world to catch up. I appreciate everyone that reads as well as the wonderful feedback. It really does mean a lot and makes it all worthwhile!

A NOTE FROM MR. FATE

The title of this interview is an homage to the legendary Throbbing Gristle. When I shared this with J.A., she immediately insisted that the photographic visual design should do the same by capturing the stark, industrial vibe of the UK in the late 70s. As you can see, she pulled this off magnificently. Be sure to check out all of her spectacular work here.