I'm assuming most of you, fine people, have other jobs?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Bukarella

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 9, 2009
Messages
264
Reaction score
30
I go through stages when it is nearly impossible for me to concentrate on anything other than the current writing project, and that's not very helpful when you owe 40 hours of your time elsewhere. As I'm driving to work, I get images and ideas, and "listen in" on my characters having an argument. By the time I get to work - I'm very ready to write, and sketch, and take notes. I can't quite do that, seeing that I have a job to do.

My brain is being torn in two opposite directions! :e2hammer:
 

lucidzfl

Back from the dead
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 13, 2009
Messages
2,757
Reaction score
517
I definitely have a job. I can steal about 1-2 hours every other day to write. Its my holy "me" time.

Otherwise, I'm moving/doing stuff from when I wake up at 6:30 to when I go to bed at 11.
 

lucidzfl

Back from the dead
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 13, 2009
Messages
2,757
Reaction score
517
Yeah, I have a day job. I'm in the enviable position that my dayjob (it's in the newsbiz) has been cut by 1/3 timewize. So I have time to write fiction. :)

I hope you're salaried!
 

EclipsesMuse

Questing
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 11, 2009
Messages
422
Reaction score
23
Yep I have job. I'm lucky though. My job has periods of downtime, so I can do things like write.
 

Maxinquaye

That cheeky buggerer
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
Messages
10,361
Reaction score
1,032
Location
In your mind
Website
maxoneverything.wordpress.com
Yup. But the incidentals have been cut, so I don't have as much editing, buying articles and stuff to do. My paycheck is the same, but the extra hours needed are gone.
 

Birol

Around and About
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
14,759
Reaction score
2,998
Location
That's a good question right now.
Invest in some type of recording device or use your lunch hour. You might also consider getting to work a little early, so you have time to make notes about whatever occurred to you on the commute to work.
 

Ms Hollands

Cow lover
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 15, 2008
Messages
1,151
Reaction score
135
Location
La Clusaz, France
Website
www.lefrancophoney.com
Almost four years ago, I scored a great job on a magazine that was seven days in a row, then seven days off! Lots of time to write! Then my boss got me involved with the annual converence as well as a redesign of his website. Damn my IT skills! So, now I work most days, even on my seven days off. I hope to spend more time on my novel in the coming months.
 

Clair Dickson

A dark core to every cloud
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 28, 2008
Messages
2,557
Reaction score
571
Location
SE Michigan
Website
www.bofexler.blogspot.com
Man, how I would love to work a mere 40 hour work week! ;-)

Time to get creative as far as how to take notes or keep track of what you want to write later. Birol suggested a recording device. I would take a notebook to work and if I had minute I'd jot things down-- or just wait until my breaktime, which is my time anyway.

When I can't write, I often end up working through the scene on and off all day and then write the first free minute I have. Breaks, lunches, and as soon as I get home (I tend to leave my computer on because I'm always on it anyway.)

Get creative with your methods for recording the writings. And know that you're not alone.
 

Alpha Echo

I should be writing.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 11, 2008
Messages
9,615
Reaction score
1,852
Location
East Coast
Yep I have job. I'm lucky though. My job has periods of downtime, so I can do things like write.

This. Office work goes through cycles, it seems. I'm either extremely busy (like this time of year) or extremely bored - during which time I write.

Once I'm home, I rarely write. I do love to write, I need to write, but my home life is the most important part of my life. So if I have time at work, which is most of the time, I write. Even if it's just a few words.
 

gothicangel

Toughen up.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 29, 2008
Messages
7,907
Reaction score
691
Location
North of the Wall
I'm an Undergrad student and normally I would have a job, but this damn recession has left me unemployed.

Normally I'm a chef/head waitress.
 

Xander J. Bahns

Registered
Joined
Jan 10, 2010
Messages
13
Reaction score
1
Indeed. The problem is I also enjoy my day job tremendously. I am okay writing only at nights or weekends as I get a lot of inspiration while I am away from the writing and the characters. If stuff pop in my head I write it down for later use and I get to see how people interact and react which I hope will make my character act and be more natural.
 

Pyrohawk

Aspiring author
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 23, 2009
Messages
230
Reaction score
35
Location
Columbus OH...grew up on a farm in Greenfield OH.
I am also an undergrad. So I have full time classes. I also work about 32 hours a week as a gas station/beer salesman guy.

I write late at night when I'm avoiding homework. Or on campus waiting for a class to start. I could maybe write at work on a boring day. But its just a pain.....I usually settle for reading a book during work.
 

Ruv Draba

Banned
Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
5,114
Reaction score
1,322
I have a job where I can work my own hours and still get paid reasonably well. However, my boss is a demanding curmudgeon who eats at our house most nights, he's always playing games on my computer, he wakes me up at three in the morning to tell me his grand ideas, and he sleeps with my wife. :(
 

Hedgetrimmer

What happened, just there?
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 23, 2006
Messages
1,491
Reaction score
308
Location
At the Point of No Return
I work at home as a medical transcriptionist. I've done it for 16 years and find it very tedious and boring, but it really is flexible when it comes to writing. It's production work, so the hours aren't as important as the number of lines/minutes/charts produced. I recently switched from working 3-10 to a split shift. I do 3-6, take the rest of the night off, then finish 4-8 in the morning. It's crazy, but so far it's working both for my productivity as well as freeing up time to write.
 

year90ninezero

following a secret path
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 19, 2009
Messages
143
Reaction score
10
Location
Milwaukee, WI
Yes, I have another job. Where I'm underpaid, overworked, and unappreciated. Full-time writing would be the ideal, end-of-times goal for me.
 

lucidzfl

Back from the dead
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 13, 2009
Messages
2,757
Reaction score
517
I have a job where I can work my own hours and still get paid reasonably well. However, my boss is a demanding curmudgeon who eats at our house most nights, he's always playing games on my computer, he wakes me up at three in the morning to tell me his grand ideas, and he sleeps with my wife. :(

I'm tired, so please tell me that this means you're self employed :D
 

CaroGirl

Living the dream
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 27, 2006
Messages
8,368
Reaction score
2,327
Location
Bookstores
I work a 40-hour week at a technical writing job (plus a 40-minute commute each way). The only good part is the work is deadline driven. There are stretches of time where I'm in wait-mode and have very little to do. During those times, I manage to get some writing in. Otherwise, I try to write at home. Winter evenings are soporific for me so I usually get the bulk of evening writing done when the days get a bit longer.
 

Andrhia

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 3, 2008
Messages
355
Reaction score
58
Location
Long Island, NY
Website
www.deusexmachinatio.com
I'm a freelance writer and game designer. When it rains it pours, and when it's dry, it's like the Sahara. I do my personal writing when I'm not too busy with paying work, and sometimes during the slower phases of a paying project, too.

I am fortunate to be married to an amazing, supportive guy with a nice, stable job, but budgeting is still an extreme sport for us. The liberty to focus on my own work sometimes does come with a definite cost attached.

I work from home, so I don't have the commute problem that you do, but I do sometimes get ideas for the wrong project in the shower, at the gym, lying awake in bed at night, whatever. I use Evernote to capture those ideas in rough form until I have the time and mental space to attend to them. Highly recommend it.
 

Terie

Writer is as Writer does
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 18, 2008
Messages
4,151
Reaction score
951
Location
Manchester, UK
Website
www.teriegarrison.com
Like CaroGirl, I'm a tech writer, too. Unlike CaroGirl, my job doesn't have downtime because we're severely, um, understaffed so I've been working at about 300% capacity for the past few years and am seriously burned out. This, effective today (my first day back to work in the new year), ends now. Actually, to ENSURE it ends, I'm going part-time in April.

I love tech writing. The only problem is that it means spending 8 hours a day sitting in front of a computer writing, then going home and spending more time sitting in front of a computer writing.

I'm trying (with varying degrees of success) to write for one hour in the mornings, one-half hour on my lunch break, and two hours at night. It ain't easy. Good thing I don't have family to worry about!
 

CaroGirl

Living the dream
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 27, 2006
Messages
8,368
Reaction score
2,327
Location
Bookstores
I love tech writing. The only problem is that it means spending 8 hours a day sitting in front of a computer writing, then going home and spending more time sitting in front of a computer writing.
Yes! This is a huge issue for me, in terms of writing outside work hours.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.