Making Room, Making Time
Feb. 14th, 2014 01:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wyld_dandelyonIf I have a new year's resolution, it's making room. Getting rid of stuff I don't use or need. Getting my home writing office not only minimally set up, but pleasant and inspiring and efficient. Paying off old debts and refinancing the house to make room in the budget. But most of all, making time.
The conventional wisdom is you shouldn't quit your day job. In one of the best books on writing that I bought before becoming a single Mom, Nancy Kress writes that quitting your day job doesn't mean you will write more.
But I've had asthma and allergies since puberty. I've always had to guide my life around the fact that I run out of energy long before I run out of dreams. When I'm working full time, running errands, and taking care of life, that's often all I can do--and if I get sick, it's more than I can do, so even just a cold (even if I don't come down with bronchitis or a sinus infection) means I spend weeks trying to catch up on stuff like groceries, laundry, and dishes. You know--essential stuff you can't do without.
Adding the food allergies hasn't helped. I can no longer carve out a bit of extra time by buying fast food or convenience food--or even most restaurant food. This no wheat and no corn thing is really inconvenient.
The answer, to me, is obvious--if I can only do so much, and I want to write fiction, I need to choose to spend my time writing fiction, not letters and pleadings and the like. Regardless of conventional wisdom, I know that I do write more without a day job. I did while unemployed, even though a substantial amount of time was taken up trying to find employment and being depressed and worried about being unemployed. The next step, for me, is to make writing my day job.
And now, with my finances in order and Obamacare a reality, I can make this happen. Soon.
Wish me luck!
The conventional wisdom is you shouldn't quit your day job. In one of the best books on writing that I bought before becoming a single Mom, Nancy Kress writes that quitting your day job doesn't mean you will write more.
But I've had asthma and allergies since puberty. I've always had to guide my life around the fact that I run out of energy long before I run out of dreams. When I'm working full time, running errands, and taking care of life, that's often all I can do--and if I get sick, it's more than I can do, so even just a cold (even if I don't come down with bronchitis or a sinus infection) means I spend weeks trying to catch up on stuff like groceries, laundry, and dishes. You know--essential stuff you can't do without.
Adding the food allergies hasn't helped. I can no longer carve out a bit of extra time by buying fast food or convenience food--or even most restaurant food. This no wheat and no corn thing is really inconvenient.
The answer, to me, is obvious--if I can only do so much, and I want to write fiction, I need to choose to spend my time writing fiction, not letters and pleadings and the like. Regardless of conventional wisdom, I know that I do write more without a day job. I did while unemployed, even though a substantial amount of time was taken up trying to find employment and being depressed and worried about being unemployed. The next step, for me, is to make writing my day job.
And now, with my finances in order and Obamacare a reality, I can make this happen. Soon.
Wish me luck!
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Date: 2014-02-14 09:49 pm (UTC)Rogan: I have also heard the conventional wisdom. Now, admittedly, I didn't quit my day job so much as I collapsed out of it, but I have found that I too write more without a day job, though I do need to keep a schedule and routine. And now that my energy is a jealously hoarded resource, I'm glad that I have the privilege of being able to focus it on my art. Much luck to you!
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Date: 2014-02-16 12:09 am (UTC)Hi, Rogan! I've been noticing your efforts and hope to have time to read more of them soon. But I can't give up all of my writing (and submitting and bookkeeping and etc.) time to reading, no matter how tempting that will be.
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Date: 2014-02-15 11:07 pm (UTC)Got a pic or link?
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Date: 2014-02-15 11:13 pm (UTC)Have a few! :)
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