(PC credit: #dungypicks)
Work. That boring four-letter-word of drudgery.
At work today (I’m a full-time writer) I was told by a newly-made writing friend: you’re very hard on yourself. You take your work very seriously.
Yes, I said to myself. I do have to take it seriously. It isn’t just my work, it’s my calling. I’ve worked various jobs before in my life, some for the sake of survival, some for passion, others to keep me occupied.
Writing, however, has not just been an occupation. It’s my main pre-occupation. To the Universe, my daily prayer is: teach me the lessons of love. And whether I enjoy it or not, my work, my writing is what teaches me the most lessons of love, in love, with love. As I write, I change the story, shape it, mould it. Even as it shapes me.
This line of thought made me very curious: what do my blog friends do for work? Is blogging your job? Is writing? Or do you have a ‘day job’ that pays the bills?
I’m exhausted today so I’ll keep it short. It was arm-day with my weights, and I revised about 10,000 words. A good work (out) day, I suppose.
So tell me, if you’re willing to share: what do you ‘work’ at? Or, like me, is writing your main job?
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This question is very important to me, so I’m glad you asked it. I find many younger writers–at conferences and literary festivals–who are under the impression that most creative writers (in the U.S.) can make a living as creative writers. I have my MFA in fiction, and after graduating I thought I’d go the academic route–teach as an adjunct before hopefully publishing a book or two and earning a tenure-track position as a creative writing professor. But I found I didn’t enjoy teaching enough to make it my career, and the book deals weren’t coming. What I knew I wanted to do everyday was write, even if it wasn’t always “creative.” So, I went to work as a writer. In the last 20 years, I’ve done internal and external communications and marketing writing for for-profit and non-profit organizations and for the last 13 or so have been a freelance and contract marketing and developing writer–mostly for higher education. What free time I have (outside of family responsibilities) I write what I want. I blog and was an editor for a literary journal for a few years. I read and review books and interview authors. Right now, I’m editing an essay anthology, so less writing and more vision/organization/editing kinds of tasks. ALL that said, I am not the majority breadwinner in my household and I have more flexibility than if I was. I learn a lot from my day job-writing that I apply to my creative writing and vice versa. But I do dream of being able to write for myself each day, but that will have to wait until retirement.
This thought resonated with me, “As I write, I change the story, shape it, mold it. Even as it shapes me.” It’s the way I approach writing.
My work history has always been some form of administration from late teens to the time of retirement. That included teaching from the 1970’s in addition to administration. Writing was just one of the things administrators and teachers do. But in retirement I decided to get right away from anything to do with the corporate world and went back to school to learn to write for the pleasure of writing. I enjoy the research behind each story and then fiddling with the story afterward doing just what your quote above says you do. Even after I eventually blog each story I go back to my original stuff and work it over again just for the fun of trying to express things better. Writing certainly does shape you.
If I hadn’t taken the leap and made writing my career, I would be a completely different person. It’s incredible to consider how much of an impact writing has had on my life and my identity, and I’m so grateful for the support and encouragement I received when taking my first steps. Otherwise, I may never have dared. It’s wonderful that you’ve had the opportunity to relearn the pleasure of writing without the nitty gritty and external expectations weighing it down.
Hi Damyanti! I know it exhausts you at times, but if writing is your passion and the job you love most, then you can take whatever life throws at you. I worked at WI DOC for 44 years, but was exhausted and tired of working remotely from my bedroom during Covid. It was time for me to retire and I haven’t regretted it in the almost five years since I left. Now my work is in keeping my apartment shipshape, taking care of the furry children, weeding in the garden, volunteering and helping friends when they need it and whatever else comes my way. I love it a million times more than the many spreadsheets and documents that I created at the paying job, but that job also gave me a pension and better life today. I can’t wait until I have another novel of yours in my hands, Damyanti. You are an excellent fulltime author!
That’s so lovely of you to say! Your current job sounds like an absolute dream. It’s wonderful that you’ve been able to leave the stress and exhaustion behind and fill your life with joy and contentment instead. And you’re right. As frustrating as writing can be, I wouldn’t give it up for the world. Thank you for making space for my books on your shelves!
I’m with you Damayanti, for me, writing is a calling, as well as one of the few things that takes enough concentration to stop the constant mind chatter. I’m fairly newly retired, but still as yet weighed down with other things to deal with. In fact I’d say my current novel is progressing more slowly than the ones I wrote when I was still working (in horticulture). But I’m settling down to work on it for a stolen hour right now!
I hope you managed to complete everything you wanted to in that stolen hour! I’m grateful that I get to spend my days writing, but I definitely remember when I had to sneak in little writing pockets during busy weeks. Good luck with the novel!
I moved from self-employed researcher to self-employed writer when the 2012 new government dumped a whole load of funding programmes (which might sound familiar to other researchers newly unemployed). After three years my pensions started coming in, so I had income… but if asked, I would still say I work as a writer. For tax purposes, I’m retired (but any writing income goes into the tax pot anyway) 🙂
It’s so sad to see funding programmes being overlooked and tossed aside, and money being rerouted from the people and causes which need it most. I’ve heard of a few conservation organizations that have had to shut down due to funding cuts. The self-employed journey can be hard to navigate, too. I’m still finding my way.
YES! 😀
I’ve read a good share of psycho-peeps (the famous guys with degrees like Freud et. al.) and maybe it was Piaget (or someone like that) who wrote that for small children there is NO DIFFERENCE between “work” and “play”. Maybe I’ve managed to stay child-like — IDK.
I think I actually CREATE meaning. I’ve already planned to write about that today (@ socio.business.blog 😉 ) … so I think it’s time for me to get to WORK (and/or PLAY or WHATEVER).
Please: Wish me (good) luck!
🙂 Norbert
I’m so grateful to have been able to shape my career around my longstanding love of books and writing, and to have brought my childhood dreams to reality. I love the idea of work and play being intertwined and maintaining the sense of child-like curiosity and adventure even in maturity. Good luck!
After 40 years, I am ‘semi-retired’ as a paediatrician and work one week, one week off, at the hospital. The week off is supposed to be for writing but gets eaten up with other commitments. So, although I have published 3 novels in the past, it’s slow progress at the moment.
But I find that working with patients and colleagues keeps my mind active and satisfied, supplies my subconscious with words, ideas, and experiences, and pays far better than writing.
Still incredible progress and achievements! It’s wonderful that you have two worlds for two different sets of needs.
Writing is my full-time job now. Prior to that, I was an administrator, faculty member, academic advisor, and program director in non-traditional higher education. I got out just before Chat GPT hit. Talk about dodging a bullet!
Thank goodness for that! ChatGPT seems to be running rampant in the education sector.
Retired – disabled and chronically ill – I spend a lot of time micromanaging ye olde body so I can write. Pain is a major deterrent, followed closely by other things that use energyI’d rather save for the writing (lunch, shower, cooking up a couple of quiches so I can have a quick slice for breakfast…).
If I wasn’t so positive that I want to write this last volume of the Pride’s Children mainstream literary trilogy, I’d just say the heck with all the rest, but I’ve made a commitment to myself, to the books, and to my readers, and I’m trying my best with what I have. Every bit has been a revelation.
Writing often feels like more of a need than a want, like a compulsion more than a hobby or chosen career. It’s incredible to consider how much power it can have over us and how it motivates us to push through our physical pain and other struggles in the aim of putting words on paper. I so admire your commitment and I’m cheering you on every step of the way. I hope it all comes together as beautifully as you want it to.
I have retired from paid employment but volunteer on a crisis line and listen and talk to people in crisis – including those at risk of suicide.
I am, as I have so often said, grateful to writers. You enrich my world.
And you enrich the worlds of so many others. You’re doing something so meaningful and important, and that’s incredible to witness.
Accounts. So boring!!
I was always terrible at accounting!
Hello Damyanti. I am happily retired. I worked for decades as a cataloguer in a large public library system. Work I thoroughly enjoyed.
It’s good to encounter another former cataloguer in the blogosphere. I worked in both an academic and a public library. Now I referee plants in my garden and write.
That was my dream for the longest time!
Writing fills my hours, satisfies me, brings cerebral joy through the research and wordsmithing, but I never burden it with the expectation of making me happy or my life meaningful. That is asking too much, isn’t it?
A lovely way of phrasing it, Jacqui. I do rely on my writing to make me happy and feel fulfilled, but both of those expectations can definitely act as burdens. Sometimes I do think I’m asking too much of it — yet I can’t help it!
I am also a writer but I find it difficult to maintain the discipline to write consistently everyday. I write in sudden bursts. One fine morning I would wake up and feel the urge to write and dash off around 2000 words. After that my enthusiasm would wane and I find it difficult to put pen to paper for days together. I also maintain a blog on which I write stuff every now and then. I read at other times. I am retired and have plenty of time on hand to write but disciplining myself is a problem. Currently I am working on the sequel to my first full length novel The Himadripuram Adventure. I want to complete it before year end.
I came across something which has been a real gift: “Discipline is the difference between what you want NOW and what you want MOST.” It has made it easy (ok, easier) to ask myself if I’m spending my time right.
It has been credited to Abraham Lincoln, but I can’t find a single original source which confirms it, and it doesn’t really sound like his writing, so I just assume it is a nugget of something polished in the waters and rapids of the internet until it shone.
Let me know if it resonates with you.
I get your point and the saying you mentioned certainly resonates with me. My ultimate aim in life is to be able to write at least one best seller before I take my final bow. That is the thing I want the most. I have tried several options in my life but I have hit it off with writing better than most. I am retired and trying to bring myself to write at least two hours a day but somehow the inspiration dies down sometimes. But for most part what I want now and what I want the most are the same.
Waning inspiration can be incredibly frustrating, especially when all I want is to get some writing done and the words just refuse to come. Or worse, when I write page after page, only to eventually trash them all. But any progress at all is better than none. I find that jotting down some notes in a journal or typing out whatever I have in my mind, no matter how rough, can be so helpful in building the habit and eventually being able to write even when uninspired. All the best!
Would love to say I’m writing full time (working on that). I’m actually in the IT industry and have been for almost forty years. Unfortunately, it’s becoming a four-letter word which means I need to start thinking about clearing the shelf.
I hope you manage to sweep away the dust and fill your shelves with something that brings you joy!