Being a Writer With A Full-Time Day Job.

The pandemic hasn’t been easy on anyone, in varying ways, and in different degrees. I don’t pretend to know what it is like for some who have suffered greatly this past year. I can only speak from my own perspective, of someone who works a full-time job in radio and digital media who is also a published author and is aspiring to be a full-time writer! That being said, here is what I have learned over the last couple of years about being a writer with a full-time job.

Learn to tune out the noise

I am speaking figuratively here. I have worked in media for six years, which never sleeps and is always on. It’s astoundingly easy to get distracted by breaking news, viral content, and work-related inspiration that strikes suddenly. Media is at our fingertips and in our pockets now and for people like me who work in the media industry, it’s hard to ignore.

It takes discipline but in the end, it’s worth it. Designate your time for writing and your time for work, and “ne’er the twain shall meet!” As new writers, we need our day job! Don’t get fired from your money-making job because you were struck with inspiration and needed to write a scene. Or your manager sees you diddling around on your Pinterest mood board when you have a deadline. At the same time, don’t get swept up answering emails or scrolling through Twitter gossip when you should be writing.

Accept that sacrifices will be made

Before this past year, I still wrote, but not on a schedule. I would write in large swathes of time on a vacation or a rainy weekend. Maybe I’d have an idea randomly and I’d add it to my ongoing jumble of notes on my computer. I definitely wasn’t “manifesting” like I hear so many people talking about nowadays; I wasn’t acting like anything was going to come of it. I was treating it like a hobby.

Now, I write before work if I don’t go to the gym. I write after work, either way. Plus. I spend Saturday and Sunday writing eight to ten hours each day and taking the nights off to relax. Because of this, sacrifices were made. Of course, I recognize that the pandemic has made this, for lack of a better word, easier; I have absolutely nowhere to be. I do, however, say “I can’t” often to invites to do things even during the pandemic. Consider writing your job even though it isn’t yet; you wouldn’t skip out at 11 am on a Tuesday to go for drinks…unless you have that kind of job, in which case, why are you reading this article?

But also…prioritize self-care

If you are like me and have a desk job, this means that you sit for eight hours at a computer and then sit for another six writing your own work! That is too much stagnancy for the human body.

Look at any seasoned writer. They look like tired bananas, all bent over and smushy. I am fortunate enough to have been a personal trainer for a period of my life, so I have become cognizant of my posture. Practice. Good. Posture. Your neck, back, and shoulders will thank you endlessly. Exercise! Sedentary lifestyles promote muscle atrophy and stiff joints. I encourage everyone to build strong backs and cores; you need that to sit comfortably for fifteen hours straight.

Drink water. Stand up at least three times an hour. Bonus points: stand in the sun. Eat fibrous foods! Having a sedentary lifestyle slows down your digestion which in turn makes you tired, uncomfortable, and probably whiney. No one likes a whiney writer.

Self-care also includes activities outside the house! You don’t always have to say “no” to going out. It is extremely important to make sure that you have moments where you don’t think about your writing. It can become all-consuming, which is good, but take purposeful breaks from it.

Accept that it will take time

Writers are a strange combination of patient and impatient. We want to be published right this second and we want reviews and feedback immediately. However, we also have worlds, stories, characters, and histories in our heads that can only come out so fast and we have the fortitude to put it on paper over the course of months, year, or even decades. It’s a wonder we aren’t all insane…wait.

Having eight hours of your day designated for a job that has nothing to do with your writing can be frustrating. Of course, you’d write your book faster if you have eight hours a day just for writing. But how would you pay for rent, editors, your author website, covers, and marketing?

Happiness is a state of mind. If you go into work every day miserable, watching the clock until it’s time to go home and write, holding a grudge against any successful writers, that mindset which leech into your life and your work and you will enjoy nothing in life. Plain and simple. Accept that your job is one of the many forces supporting your writing and driving you towards your goals.

Hustle like you were born to hustle

If you think putting your book out into the world is the end of the road for you, you are sorely mistaken. You need to be growing the community of YOU the author, and you can be doing it in small snippets of time throughout the day.

• Engage with the writing community on Twitter and Instagram
• Create a social media presence that surrounds your writing
• Post on it daily! You can schedule things ahead of time for free on Later.com
• Become a sponge of knowledge. Listen to, watch, and read everything there is to know about publishing, query letters, finding agents, etc. YouTube is a great resource for this.
• Promote your book/story, it doesn’t happen automatically. Send it to friends, join BookSirens, run ads (but research how to run them efficiently).

Learn from your mistakes

You will make mistakes and your success will depend on how you react to them. Some mistakes are small. Some are huge. Some will involve your day job, some will involve your writing. Keeping an open mind and accepting that you are a human who makes mistakes and then grows from those mistakes will set you apart from everyone else, professionally and creatively. The person you will become when you succeed will be a vastly different person than the one who began this journey.

I am a full-time community manager and a writer of dark fantasy short stories and novels. My current project is a three-part short story series called “The One-Horned Heretic” with part one available on Amazon for $.99. I write on Medium mostly about writing advice, with the occasional one-offs on other passions of mine. If you’d like to follow along on my indie-writing journey, you can learn more about it on my website.