Can a day job be too demanding?

When I worked in an office away from home, I'd make it a point to get up an hour early just to write. And I'd write on the weekends. At that time, I wasn't able to write at night because I was too tired.

I had a demanding job then, and still do, but I'm self-employed now so I make my own hours. That doesn't help you with your question, but I'm just explaining the changes I've gone through to accommodate my writing habit. So I guess the adjustment I made along the way was to start working for myself. I'm a graphic artist and I charge quite a bit per hour for my services, so I'm actually having to work less now as I make about the same amount of money as I did when working for someone else. The best part is that now I have more time to write.

Yes. A day job can definitely be too demanding. Some can take too many hours of your time and zap your energy to the point where you're not able to think after a hard day's work. Would time management help with that? Sometimes. Depends. You could realize that you're not going to be able to write during the week and commit to time on weekends, but it's also about setting priorities. How important is your day job to you in comparison to your writing? What are your alternatives? Quit? Take a lesser paying job in a different company? Transfer to a less stressful position in the same company? How would those options make you feel? More or less secure? More or less fulfilled?

Also, be honest with yourself. Some jobs have season busy time periods that drain the most devoted employees. Is your company merely in one of those, so you should plan not to write during this time of year, or at least adjust your writing habits, knowing that this too shall pass?



because I suspect you may need that more than anything.

It was not because of writing, but I left my teaching position for similar reasons (way too demanding on my time and energy). I wasn't writing then, but there's absolutely no way that I could have. I was teaching composition and averaged 70-100 students per semester, so you can imagine what the reading/grading load was (not pretty!). Anyway, I left to be a secretary. 8-5 of mindless work means I get to spend my time the way I want. It's not career-type work, but I'm much happier being able to come home and do my own thing.

My only advice to you is to do what makes you happy (within your means, of course - I think we'd all rather live on the beach and write all day). Big hugs to you, and good luck.

Another angle is to look at what is demanding. Some jobs are only stressful because we let them be. I used to get worked up over the things that happened at work, and it would take me incredibly long to unwind from that. That wind-down time really, really cut into what could have been my writing time.

I have since learned other ways to deal with the work situations so that I can better use and enjoy the time I'm not there. (One of them is along the lines of: "Can I see this from my house? Nope. Can't see it from my house." A reminder that when I'm at home, to let the work problems go. =)

I don't know your particular situation, but just thought I'd throw it out there in case perhaps it could be of use to you or someone.

I don't have a career outside the house now, and when I did, I wrote strictly as a hobby, with no thought of publication whatsoever, so I didn't feel the need to make it a priority.

Now that I'm home with the kids...I'm still pretty zapped at the end of the day. The thing is, I do have my busy times of the year, and I've slowly discovered what Birol suggests...sometimes, it might be best to plan not to write. Summer is the worst time for me, creatively, since I am much busier than normal. I've decided to take the last two weeks of summer vacation off, because it's the craziest time of the year, and pushing myself to get the writing done all but guarantees a block. So, either way, no writing gets done, but at least this way, I don't feel guilty about it.

Sometimes, you just need a vacation. So, a planned break might be helpful, in addition to maybe juggling around your schedule to fit in time to write.

Aglaia said:

It was not because of writing, but I left my teaching position for similar reasons (way too demanding on my time and energy). I wasn't writing then, but there's absolutely no way that I could have. I was teaching composition and averaged 70-100 students per semester, so you can imagine what the reading/grading load was (not pretty!). Anyway, I left to be a secretary. 8-5 of mindless work means I get to spend my time the way I want. It's not career-type work, but I'm much happier being able to come home and do my own thing.

My only advice to you is to do what makes you happy (within your means, of course - I think we'd all rather live on the beach and write all day). Big hugs to you, and good luck.

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I quit teaching too. Now I am a part-time custodian. It was a very hard decision and I felt like a failure (still do sometimes), but I was completely drained. My teaching job had consumed my life for over 3,5 years. It wasn't worth it. Now I am happy because I have time to write and spend time with my husband and daughter! I just wish I could clean on a teacher salary!

Vincent Lam is an emergency physician who also does international air evacuation work and expedition medicine on Arctic and Antarctic ships. Emergency physicians work shifts of 12 to 16 hours, and are extremely busy. He managed to write a literary book that won the Giller prize, an extremely prestigious literary prize. It's also been optioned for a movie and has won international praise.

He didn't find his job too strenuous or too time-consuming. If you're too stressed out and too tired when you get home from work, get up earlier and write then.

Lots of people write under extremely strenuous circumstances. If your job leaves you so drained that you can't do anything else, it's not the job. It's how you are handling your job. If you do change jobs don't be surprised if you're still stressed out. Learn how to handle stress better. Believe me, I know all about not handling work stress, and yes, no matter where you go, you'll be stressed out.

MeowGirl said:

I've been thinking a lot lately about the relationship between my day job and my creative projects. Is it possible for a day job to be too demanding in terms of energy and/or time? Or is it simply a matter of improving your time management skills (is it possible to cram 2 liters of water into a 1.5 liter container)? What are some signs that the day job is hindering rather than helping your writing goals? What adjustments have you made along the way? Thanks for any input you have!

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My day job (new since Jan of this year) consumes a lot of my time, to the point that in order to get any meaningful work done, I'm thinking I have to cut back on sleep. I don't like doing that, I don't function well on reduced sleep, but like you said, cramming 1.5 liters of water into a 1-liter jug won't get 'er done. I keep telling my wife, "Something's got to give here." I guess I have to keep pumping $$$ into my 401K and hope I can make retirement work when I hit 59 1/2.

KTC said:

Yeah...I get up at 4:30 every morning. I write for an hour or two before most people are awake. I'm not one for finding excuses not to write. I value it enough to drag myself out of bed before the sun is on. I put writing first...if I get dragged out later in the day, the writing is already done.

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I do agree that if you want to be a writer- writing must be a priority. I'm also big on getting up in the wee hours when normal folks sleep.

But-I only work part-time. And I don't have children. When I hear about some of you who have full-time jobs and children to take care of, plus you manage time to write- I'm truly amazed. My hats off to you, seriously! Even if you can't spend as much time writing as you'd like- you should be proud of making the time that you do.

MeowGirl said:

I've been thinking a lot lately about the relationship between my day job and my creative projects. Is it possible for a day job to be too demanding in terms of energy and/or time? Or is it simply a matter of improving your time management skills (is it possible to cram 2 liters of water into a 1.5 liter container)? What are some signs that the day job is hindering rather than helping your writing goals? What adjustments have you made along the way? Thanks for any input you have!

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Yes, a day job can be too demanding. I was a conveyancing paralegal for quite a few years. During that time I would write in the morning before the rest of the family got up, again on my lunch hour and then in the evening. But when the job was hectic - months of 7 day weeks, working until 10:00 pm - I didn't write a thing. I had no energy left for anything else. So, it CAN happen. Generally, though, most of us find ways to fit in time to write. It just takes determination and an ability to get by on little sleep.
Linnea

nevada said:

Vincent Lam is an emergency physician who also does international air evacuation work and expedition medicine on Arctic and Antarctic ships. Emergency physicians work shifts of 12 to 16 hours, and are extremely busy. He managed to write a literary book that won the Giller prize, an extremely prestigious literary prize. It's also been optioned for a movie and has won international praise.

He didn't find his job too strenuous or too time-consuming. If you're too stressed out and too tired when you get home from work, get up earlier and write then.

Lots of people write under extremely strenuous circumstances. If your job leaves you so drained that you can't do anything else, it's not the job. It's how you are handling your job. If you do change jobs don't be surprised if you're still stressed out. Learn how to handle stress better. Believe me, I know all about not handling work stress, and yes, no matter where you go, you'll be stressed out.

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Yes you are probably right that people can learn to handle stress, but there are always going to be super-individuals that succeed at everything they do. I am not one of them.

nevada said:

Vincent Lam is an emergency physician who also does international air evacuation work and expedition medicine on Arctic and Antarctic ships. Emergency physicians work shifts of 12 to 16 hours, and are extremely busy. He managed to write a literary book that won the Giller prize, an extremely prestigious literary prize. It's also been optioned for a movie and has won international praise.

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I always wondered about that. Did he do the writing at the same time he was working? (Perhaps like a journal to record the stresses of his work, that eventually made their way into his short stories.) Or was it something he saved up and worked on during holidays? I know he workshopped his stuff at two of the writing schools here in Toronto (Humber College and U of T both cite him as an alum) and I believe both workshops were weeklong summer intensives. So that suggests he's a vacation writer. Or maybe at least a vacation editor.

I had two day jobs that were too demanding. One I loved, one I hated. For three years I worked for Planned Parenthood, doing sex education in public schools and doing pregnancy counseling. I loved that job. Worked 60-70 hours a week and never asked for overtime. Did not write ONE word in those three years. No regrets. I was doing something more important than writing.

The other job was a writing job--specifically writing really wretched content for a non-profit's newsletter and website. That job sucked my creative soul, so I quit after a year.

MeowGirl:
Is it possible for a day job to be too demanding in terms of energy and/or time?

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Yes.

MeowGirl:
Or is it simply a matter of improving your time management skills (is it possible to cram 2 liters of water into a 1.5 liter container)?

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I think that's possible if you have spare time outside your job. If you're not getting home until 11pm and then you're up and out of the door at 8am the next day, that doesn't leave a whole lot of time for anything other than eating and sleeping.

MM

I think that my job as a paralegal is so structured and demanding that it kills my creativity. I try to write when I get home but my mind is still stuck in a legal structured environment and it takes me forever to get into writing mode. Funny thing is, I have an art degree and always loved to write...late at night and on weekends I write a lot. I know I am in the wrong field working in the legal area.

I used to be a full-time medical writer. That meant writing/editing/researching and doing a bunch of organizational stuff from 8 until 5. I often brought work home and worked a number of full weekends (at conferences). There were many times I felt brain dead by the end of the day/week and couldn't even think of sitting back down in front of the computer. I wrote during my lunch break instead, and sometimes at work if it was a slow period (in the summer).

Now I stay home with two young kids, one of whom isn't old enough to entertain himself yet. It is WAY more difficult to write. I'm already up with the baby between 4:30 and 5:30, and the kids aren't in bed until 8. Between taking care of the kids and the housework/groceries/cooking, I'm exhausted at the end of the day. I also do some freelance medical writing, which sucks up ALL of my extra time when I'm working.

I've somehow managed to write two books in the last 4 years (one published last year, one to be published next Feb), and I've started a third. It can be done in small chunks; it just takes a while longer than it used to.

Well, yes a day job can be too demanding. I mean, after hours and hours spent at my desk, researching or editing or building a new world the LAST thing I want to do is write. I mean gosh! The stress of it after you're already tuckered from killing off adverbs and subverting sentences to a comma-free lifestyle...

*grin*

I guess this wasn't the thread to bring in my *retired from RL in order to write full-time* complaints was it?

The point is, that no matter how many creative projects you're working on, you will still find yourself sucked dry by the responsibilities of your 'day job.' I'll admit that I'm lucky because my husband has agreed--and encouraged me--to concentrate on my writing and leave the day jobs to him. But, I'm still up at 4:30 or 5 a.m. and frequently don't go to bed until 2 or 3 the next morning.

Meow Girl, it's not a question of time management for you or how stressful your day job is. It's a matter of how stressful your creative life is. You're cramming in the life experiences of three different inidividuals into YOUR day--the day job, the writing, and the music--so naturally you're going to be stressed. Take a deep breath, take a few days off and recharge those batteries and you'll be just fine.

((((((((((((((((hugs)))))))))))))))))

I think it helps if you take things "bird by bird," as well. If you look at the overall picture -- the goal of writing a WHOLE book -- it's daunting. Just thinking of the whole process involved -- and the writing of the first draft is the easy part, at least for me -- makes me too tired and frustrated. But if I think in terms of one section, one chapter, one scene, one description, it makes it much easier.

I don't think it's a question of a "day job" getting in the way of writing. I would love to have a day job or in fact any paid employment and have been looking without success for 15 months now. Some unthinking people believe I have "nothing to do" all day therefore I should be able to churn out 3-4 novels a year at least. However, like most people even those without the demands of young children and other family commitments, there are plenty of tasks that need to be done on a daily basis. Unless I want to live like a pig there is cleaning, meal preparation, ironing, food shopping, laundry, dealing with any correspondence (including email) walking the dogs... etc. It doesn't sound much but when I worked full time a lot of this was done by hired help. So - I would say that however you spend your time, writing needs to be fitted in like anything else. I do my best work late at night but since my cheap electricity kicks in at midnight, I'm tempted to do the ironing, hoovering... see what I mean?

My former day job (as a social worker) was very emotionally demanding - so much so that it sucked out all of my creative energy. After I quit my job I then had all this time to write out my emotions. But I could only do that after many exhaustive years of school & work, work & school. These things helped me in the long run, but I could not write & work & go to school. It was just too much for me personally.

I think full-time work, where you have to work for the good of a boss just to make a bare wage is not only the most fundemental robberies in our society, but yes, it totally hampers our creative growth.

It takes up so much time and yet we don't have a choice because we need to pay the rent.