what do you do?
I have not been in the mood to write-let alone had the time to write- do to my professional activities for the last 3-4 weeks. Work has really sapped me and my time. For example; over the last three weeks I have worked late (8 PM or more), and then also worked weekends. Crazy client deadlines are the bane of my QA existence. By the time I get home its PBS New Hour on the idiot box and then I am ready for bed, where I read. It becomes escapism.
Every night I feel the stress of not writing, and obviously I don’t write, or I would have been updating my blog. Is this a problem? Do others experience similar? How do you handle the intense work demands, then to a lesser extent social demands, with the time to write?
I’m torn as half of me says “yes – you need to write at all costs.” But the other half of me that wins this daily debate says “deal with it tomorrow.”
And I should add that if I leave work lately on a good emotion, I am spent, and only want to sleep well. If not, I lament over not writing.
What makes it worse is I am taking on-line writing classes; and these stress stream-of-consciousness towards a better novel. How the hell do I stream my great idea of a novel when I have to deal with work demands?
As such, my wife & I have to pay bills. We have a mortgage, a bubble loan, and need manage $$$ to cover expenditures. So work always wins. But I want to write. Yet I am so tired…
Every little bit helps and not all writing is done on paper or computer. I have a feeling you’re still thinking about writing, formulating, plotting while working.
I also think writers are weird and like to avoid writing as much as doing the writing itself. It’s when life gets crazy and writing is the escape, that’s when we have it made!
Can you write during lunch breaks?
While I have deliberately always tried finding jobs that don’t require much overtime, at my last job there were projects requiring overtime and travel. It cut into my writing time, but I was able to say, “From 11 – 12 everyday, I’m going downstairs to the break room to write.”
If somebody came down to ask me a question, I kept the headphones on and didn’t acknowledge them. It cheesed a couple people off, but my time is my time, and if I’m giving my evenings and weekends to a project, the least people can do is give me an hour on lunch so I can write.
I’ve found the hardest thing to deal with is the exhaustion. It’s funny: when I used to work warehouse and factory jobs in the heat, I’d come home, clean up, and I felt energized and able to write.
But once I started working jobs that required more thought, I was mentally exhausted from work and office politics and didn’t get as much done. While I’ve written plenty of short fiction during the past 5 years, work on larger projects (novels) suffered during the 5 years at my last job because it was the first job that ever stressed me out. Being laid off was great!
When I find my next job, I’ll make sure to establish my lunchtime writing habit from the start. A couple jobs ago, I completed a novel over several months primarily on lunch breaks.
I hope you’re able to find some time to write. It can be easy to say, “Make time!” — there’s even some truth to that — but there are times things get in the way and it’s difficult.
For me, it’s always been getting up a little early, or writing on lunch breaks when I’m caught without much time.