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Last modified June 12, 2018 at 8:54 PM EDT.

One of Non24.Com's main topics (besides sleep issues) is freedom, so this link to my personal blog is on topic:

Also, I still think one of the best possible careers for someone with sleep issues might be programming.

I am not yet an example of someone who has a thriving programming career despite severe sleep issues - but I have no doubt such people exist.

Programmers getting a lot done at bizarre hours is a well-known (and often true) stereotype.

So, I'm guessing many employers of programmers might be more accommodating of unconventional schedules than the average employer.

However, I can't speak from personal experience with that, because I never seriously tried to get a "normal" job with a typical software company, since I exclusively write free (as in freedom), libre, open source software.

From Sept. 2007 to April 2008, I tried selling closed source software in the virtual world game Second Life, which has a virtual currency which can be converted to real money.

But, after reading this great essay by Richard Stallman, I decided to release my product - the MagnaMural - into the public domain.

And at times from 2012 onward, I was tempted to write iPhone apps after a friend I briefly dated gave me an iPhone and MacBook after we parted. And I was tempted to write Roku apps at times ever since I got a Roku in maybe 2012, and tempted to write Android phone apps ever since a relative gave me a couple Android phones.

But, so far, I've resisted those temptations, with the result that I don't have any experience at all with those methods of earning a living via software. Just Second Life.

In all these years, due to fatigue, and procrastination, and focusing so much on my hobby projects (with the vague but not totally unfounded hope that maybe someday they'll help me earn enough money somehow) - I still haven't figured out what the best way to support myself might be.

Sometimes I think maybe I should try selling physical products produced via a site like Lulu or Zazzle, but I haven't done that yet either.

What I'd most like to do is just finish the renovated version of APSK (Apollia's Puppy Linux Setup Kit). I made huge progress with that in April and May, especially.

(See my blog post for links to the zip files containing my former GitHub repos.)

And I'd probably still be working on it now if Microsoft hadn't acquired GitHub. Once I found out about that, I couldn't bear to keep my code on GitHub anymore, and have been trying (with some success) to figure out how to set up a GitHub alternative on my own websites so I can continue easily publishing my own code.

I'm definitely not eager to lose even more of my programming momentum by letting my financial worries push me into looking for freelance jobs on a site like Upwork or something.

Or suddenly dropping everything just to create relatively frivolous knick-knacks on Zazzle or Lulu for people to buy.

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure I'm a structured procrastinator, a concept described in the wonderful self-help book The Art of Procrastination.

So, perhaps some random whims will strike me, and I'll suddenly feel actually inspired to create some relatively frivolous but sellable knick-knacks, or look for freelance jobs on Upwork, or get Second Life working on my computer, or check my email and see if anyone who wants to hire me might have contacted me in the past several years that I've been mostly putting off reading most of my email.

(Sorry for being so unreachable! But I'm actually probably going to continue to be mostly unreachable, since too often, dealing with email just seems like too much stress and/or distraction, for too little reward.)

In any case, I should probably not firmly declare any project to be my top priority, because doing that tends to make me start wanting to work on something else instead.

It seems like in general, non-coercive self-motivation works much better for me than trying to force myself to work on anything in particular.

You can read about non-coercive self-motivation in these great blog posts from SophiaGubb.com:

Anyway, I guess that's mostly all I feel inspired to say here for now. I hope it's helpful, provides some ideas for how people with severe sleep issues might be able to make a living, and also explains why I'm usually so quiet.

I welcome donations and microdonations, and maybe someday I'll really feel inspired to offer services, or to create and sell some sort of physical products.

I definitely don't want to sell exclusively digital products, because I'd prefer for my digital creations to reach and help as many people as possible, and any price at all above zero would stand in the way of that.

Digital creations such as software, blog posts, and large pages of free (as in freedom and as in price) technical documentation like this: Some Puppy Linux Basics. (Which needs updating because I've learned a lot since 2013.)

And maybe music if I get inspired and figure out the technicalities of creating music with GNU/Linux software. Or perhaps even art if I ever manage to make some good enough art. And maybe someday I'll get more interested than I currently am in photography.

I wish I knew what else to do with Non24.com and Non24.org.

I'm reluctant to reopen the spam-ridden forums because it can take a lot of work to maintain a good forum that isn't just a wrecknological waste of time and energy.

If you're trying to find an excellent sleep issue-related forum, try the Niteowl mailing list.

It's run by the wonderful Circadian Sleep Disorders Network, which I am not a paying member of, but would like to be someday when I can comfortably afford it. (I'm so worried about money that even $5 a year doesn't feel comfortable for me yet.)

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