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

[Bukarella]

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!

[lucidzfl]

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.

[Maxinquaye]

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.

[lucidzfl]

Originally Posted by Maxinquaye

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]

Yep I have job. I'm lucky though. My job has periods of downtime, so I can do things like write.

[Maxinquaye]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Originally Posted by EclipsesMuse

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[DeleyanLee]

You mean surfing AW isn't a job? Rats!

[Hedgetrimmer]

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]

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]

Originally Posted by Ruv Draba

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

[CaroGirl]

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.

[EclipsesMuse]

Originally Posted by DeleyanLee

You mean surfing AW isn't a job? Rats!

If only we could get paid for it...

[Andrhia]

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]

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!

[Andrhia]

Seems like a lot of our day jobs involve writing, too. ^_^ I guess that shouldn't come as a surprise!

[CaroGirl]

Originally Posted by Terie

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.

[ChaosTitan]

Yep. I am a retail slave. Writing keeps me sane.