CREATIVE WRITING, WHILE DOING ANOTHER JOB.

A thing that we don’t like to talk about, is the duality of our writing. Some of us make enough from our writing, but most writers still maintain a day job or have another way of keeping the wolf from the door. Maybe you are a homemaker, with a partner’s income? I am by no means denigrating the role of a homemaker; it is a vital role within a family. How else to keep writing and live a reasonable lifestyle? A rich relative? Sugar Daddy? I was wondering about the kinds of interesting jobs you do when you are not writing? If you would like to share.

I heard an interview, with an author whose book hit the big time. His book won the Booker prize allowing him to give up his day job and realize his dream of becoming a fully professional writer. Previously he had done a relatively mundane job, and he fitted his writing in around the job. Once he had turned a fully professional writer, he had all the time in the world to write. And that was where his problems started. It turned out, that it was the pressure of having to cram the writing into the rest of his working life, which gave him the inspiration to write. Meeting people at work gave him the material he needed. He said that the opportunity to work full time on his follow up novel was great, but he found working alone was unpressured, creatively sterile and uninspiring. It made me wonder if you remove the pressure of doing the second job, would that kill the goose which laid the golden egg? Do we need that pressure to maintain our creativity?

Of the full-time writers I know, there is quite a number that have other jobs, and I don’t see that as a contradiction in terms. Writing is a great thing to do but sadly, for many, it is not massively lucrative.

So what do you do when you are not writing? I’d love to know. If you have any thoughts, views, and stories you might like to share, on the blog, Facebook, or twitter, I would love to hear them.