The CHOW - Balancing Work/Life/Writing
Clueless Hack On Writing explores how to make it all work.
Disclaimer: I have a career that allows me flexibility with time and finances and a home life where one child is away at college and one is soon to follow. I also don’t have to rely on writing income or a second job to pay the bills. I know many others don’t have this luxury.
The challenge of the balance is real. There are 168 hours in a week. Forty of those (or more) are taken up by earning a salary to house/feed/clothe/provide necessities. Another 49-56 hours are taken by getting a good amount of sleep. Put in another 25 hours of getting ready (for work, for bed, for dinner) and 10 for just being in the car. Family takes time, maybe another 15-20 hours of quality time. Ok, we’re at roughly 145 hours. Can’t forget the miscellaneous (yard work, laundry, fixing the sink, paying bills), probably another 10. So that leaves us 13 or so hours to ourselves. Then there’s exercise, a beer after work with a buddy, and watching the big game. Crap, when was I going to write again?
Even when I began to think about writing as more than occasional stare at a blank page, the struggle to find space to put words to page was frustrating. Each day was a variation of this scenario:
Go to the gym at 6 a.m. followed by a grueling day at work. By the time I sat my butt in front of the computer, my creative meter was on empty
A germ of an idea appears in my head. I need to write. Inspiration is sometimes a rare thing and I need to harness it. But, I’m at work and my employer would rather I spend those hours earning that salary.
I need to work through edits or continue on my next Work In Progress. But I’ve got to clear up some debris in the back yard, wash cars, or be present for my family.
The worst is when your creativity explodes as you place your head on the pillow, or worse still, you wake up at 2 a.m. (that happened this morning).
What happens when you add writing into your Work/Life Balance continuum?
I struggled with this concept for a few years as I wrote and published Friends In Low Places and began work on Lose Yourself. But earlier this year, I came to grips with my problem: For me, writing can’t be a hobby.
Hobby (noun) - an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure.
Key word: Leisure time. Leisure time can be filled by other leisurely activities; streaming Netflix, playing or watching sports, endlessly scrolling Instagram, listening to music outside with a beer in your hand, etc.
Now, those are great activities and I still partake. But if I’m serious, writing is a priority that can’t be knocked off the list in favor of watching a rerun of The Office. I have to set a plan for how it plays in my life.
The plan
Take a look at my week to see what existing obligations I have (work, exercise, planned activities, general time with family)
I set a goal of how many hours I can realistically spend on my writing (Usually 14 hours for the week)
I write a set of tasks that I plan to accomplish in those hours.
I clock in and out and treat these as work hours.
I am flexible as to when I’ll do the various tasks throughout the week. So, if I don’t have any creativity, I may research or line edit or read a best practice (like in a newsletter). Or, if I’m feeling I’m on a roll, I may push a leisure activity to another time.
Give myself grace: If I don’t hit my goal, it’s ok. I’m human. I’ll work toward it next week.
So far, this has worked for me. I mean, heck, I have a newsletter! I am working toward releasing Lose Yourself in 2024 and I’m in the midst of my next first draft. And I feel positive about taking my balance in this direction.
How do you balance Work/Life/Your passion?
Side of Mustard
There’s been a great deal of news on the emergence of Artificial Intelligence and the impact on creative careers such as graphic design, communications, writing, etc. For the longest time, the adage was that it was hard to outsource creativity to machinery. You needed humans to express humanity. But look at the variety of Instagram posts of Harry Potter as directed by Wes Anderson art or memes of recently-coronated King Charles in a Purple Suit playing the guitar with the caption Formerly known as Prince, and you know we are in a whole new world. The publishing world is predictably in turmoil. With AI, a whole book detailing King Charles’s life could be written in a matter of hours using open-source internet. Or how about a murder mystery in the style of Ernest Hemingway? Where does that leave the creative community?
These questions are part of why I decided to take my writing path in this direction. I write because I enjoy it and I think I have some good stories to tell. With the publishing industry in flux, I am less interested in writing what is going to gain an agent’s attention in hopes of selling it to a publisher with the prayer that readers will buy it en masse. I’m more interested in telling my stories, sharing them, and hopefully, be self-sustainable financially. This also allows you to provide immediate feedback and join me on this journey. Thank you!
One good thing about air travel: Uninterrupted writing time. It’s no secret that access to social media, the internet, and email can distract you from focusing on a project. Many times, I’ve had to place my phone on the other side of the room in order to concentrate on the computer screen in front of me. But on a long flight, I’ve got five whole hours to let the words flow out of me. Just put the earbuds on to block out the screaming kids and snoring giant next to me and let’s start writing.
I have a 20-year-old! I’ve been letting that sink in for the last week. Twenty years ago, I was at the gym about to get ready for work when I got the call my wife was in labor. It was a day-long affair but at the end of the day, there was our boy. Now, he’s a man in college and moving toward his own future. It is exciting to watch this journey trailing a few car lengths behind. Happy Birthday son!
Keep writing, buddy 👍🏼