I’ve been there. No, actually, I’m there now. I’m there with you when you start to feel like you should be at home writing when things start to get slow at your day job. I’m there with you when you get home and collapse on the couch when you meant to write out a few poems, the first 2,000 words of the novel that swims in your head during the day, or the pitch to the first magazine on your bucket list that you finally have the nerve to write.
I’m a writer with a full-time day job, and yeah, things get pretty frustrating at times. That doesn’t mean that balancing a writing career with a full-time job can’t be done. That also doesn’t mean that your full time job is the enemy.
One thing I’ll never do is tell writers who deal with this that they should “suck it up”, “just do the work”, “just hustle”, or any of the other dismissive catch phrases that us balancers hear a lot of these days. Doing the work and pushing through is a big part of success, but a big step toward success is also realizing the magnitude of what you are trying to do so that you can create realistic goals and measure your progress with realistic standards. No, you’re not lazy, crazy, and it’s not that you don’t want it enough. Balancing is hard, and there’s nothing wrong with saying that. The key is to not get so overwhelmed by the hardness that you stop.
In order to be successful at this balancing act, you have to learn how to be a master at managing your time and energy to get the most out of every minute that you have away from your day job. You have to employ systems and routines that help you to achieve this. And you have to start taking the advice you get from people who have never had this experience or who are far removed from it with a proverbial grain of salt. The formula that works for you might not be the formula that worked for your favorite writer or influencer.
I did a survey last month in preparation for this series to find out what types of content would be most helpful for writers with day jobs, and interviews with successful balancing writers were the top request. I listened to that, and I talked to 3 amazing writers who you’ll hear from each Wednesday this month. Here’s the line up:
Wednesday, June 14th-Finding Clarity and Direction in your Writing Career
with Kelly Rae Williams, Poet and Spoken Word Artist
Wednesday, June 21st- Systems and Routines for Writing Life Productivity
with Nailah Harvey, Author of How to Write Your First Book
Wednesday, June 28th- Tips on Balancing Your Day Job, Your Writing Career, and Your Personal Life
with Ashley Coleman, creator of WriteLaughDream.com and author of Love On Purpose.
There will be worksheets with each post to help you implement the advice from each of the writers and craft a strategy to live your dream writing life, excel at your day job, and still enjoy your authentic, best life.
It’s going to be a busy month, but one that I hope will be a gamechanger for you!
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