Insecure Writers’ Support Group: Writing Around a Day Job

 

It’s the first Wednesday of the month and so it’s time for another Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) post! In an IWSG post, we writers bring our writing challenges and problems out into the open to share with each other and try to offer solutions.

Making Time to Write When Working a Day Job

After four months, I finally returned to the work place of my day job yesterday! I had been teleworking part of the time during those four months and the rest of the time I was either in the hospital or recovering at home. It was so good to get back to my place of employment and see the familiar faces that I had missed during my time off. 

But with a day job comes less writing time. Generally, “day job” is defined by us artists and writers as a job unrelated to our creative and artistic work. When I was teleworking I was doing so on a limited schedule and so had more time to write, but since I’ve returned to my workplace and regular schedule I have less time. So, I have to be very thorough about using my writing time, especially on the week days. 

I can’t really say, however, that my day job is such as I defined it above. I work in a library and so deal with reading materials but they are, more or less, technical reading materials. The job also involves some writing tasks but they’re also technical in nature. Still, some interesting things happen at my library technician job but if I could write full-time I would do it. I don’t do it because it doesn’t pay the bills. So, I have to write around my day job. 

How do I write around my day job? One way is by using wait time after work. Wait time, for me, is time such as the hour’s window period between the end of my shift and when my train arrives. I’ll use that period to work on any writing related- activity in the work place’s cafeteria. Much of this work is limited to paper, pen and my smart phone. I don’t bring my laptop to my day job because of the long commute and so I can’t be lugging that computer around along with a backpack on the bus and train everywhere I go. Another way is when I’m on the public transportation. It’s too hard and awkward for me to write on a bus or city train but I’ll take care of any social media marketing or researching of sources on my smart phone.

Even though working around my day job in the above ways helps, returning to my place of employment will still likely slow me down in my writing projects. These include my upcoming short story collection which I had already gotten behind in during my stay in the hospital. I had said a while back that I’m aiming for an August release but now it may have to be September at the earliest. 

On top of that project, I have the author’s newsletter that I had intended to put out every month. However, until now, I had to put it on hold for four months because I had gotten ill. Then I have my weekly blogging to do. Still, I’m aiming to put out that super short fiction collection within the next three months and to get a newsletter out each month even if an issue has to be skimpy now and then which I apologise for in advance. If you haven’t signed up for my author newsletter then you can do so here.

IWSG Question of the Month

The July optional question for IWSG is: What would make you quit writing? My answer: if a loved one’s life depended on me quitting. But I do pray that things won’t go to that extreme. 

That’s all for this month’s IWSG. What would make you quit writing? If you have a day job, how do you write around it? If not, then how do you write around your daily life duties (e.g. cooking dinner; cleaning house; mowing the lawn) or “life” as many of us call it? Please feel free to leave your answers or any other comments in the box below.

Today’s IWSG is brought to you by these super co-hosts: Pat Garcia, Victoria Marie Lees, Chemist Ken, and Louise – Fundy Blue! IWSG was founded by awesome author Alex Cavanaugh, writer of the Cassa Series of novels! 

Until next time . . .