My Thoughts on Writing As a Job
It’s hard to write posts about time management. It’s hard to write posts about process, and how to get things done. Why? Because everyone is different. What’s manageable for me is not manageable for everyone. My way of doing things will not work for a lot of people because…well, they aren’t me.
So I’m going to throw some stuff out here, and it won’t ring true for all of you. That’s okay. It doesn’t have to. 😉 Don’t feel like there’s anything wrong with you. Or me. Well, there may be something wrong with me. Keep that in mind.
Jackie Ashenden was talking about time management on her blog, and that’s partly what inspired this. Also, the lovely Victoria James mentioned something on twitter. 😉 *shouts out*
I love to write, it’s my passion, so don’t take what I’m about to say the wrong way. I work writing like a job. Like a real job. No, not 9-5, that’s not what I mean, what I mean is, I don’t let myself say ‘eh, I don’t feel like it today.’ Because when I had jobs outside my house, that wasn’t a valid excuse.
*rings boss* Hi, I’m not coming in today.
Boss: Why?
Me: Can’t be bothered.
Boss: You’re fired.
Me: Oh, yeah you’re probably right.
*end scene*
See? See how that would go?? Not well, my friends, not well.
But in my mind, it’s okay to not feel like writing. And it’s okay that you make yourself do it anyway. You know what else I think is okay? Loving what you’ve done. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having moments of loving your work. I think you should. I don’t think it’s ego to feel a sense of pride over your accomplishments, or to be happy with what you’ve achieved. As a writer, we’re asking an editor or agent to believe in our books. We’re asking readers to spend money on them. It seems only right that we should, at some stage, like our work.
My other thought on writing as a job is that it’s okay to have goals. Heck, you should have goals. And aspirations. And you should absolutely reach for those goals. Aim high, aim in lots of places. Or don’t. The thing is, it’s your career. No one else is living it or working it for you, so they can’t tell you if your goals are right or wrong. They may have advice, and it’s good to listen to people who have experience in the industry. However, ultimately, you have to happy with your choices.
You’re not in a competition with your fellow writers. You aren’t. And that attitude, IMO, leads to a bitter and skeery environment. Someone else doesn’t have to fail for you to succeed. (unless you’re in the olympics or you’re like a…trial lawyer…there my analogy might fall apart.) Also, someone else’s success doesn’t steal bits of shiny from yours.
You can’t win the guilt game. That’s something Jackie was saying on her blog. You sort of have to learn to just exist with your guilt. I firmly believe that if I didn’t feel guilty about writing, I would feel guilty about *something*. I know because before I wrote, when I was a SAHM, I felt guilty all the time. Now I just feel guilty about different things. I can’t beat it, so I just can’t let it eat me alive. My writing is making it possible for us to buy our first house so…take that, guilt.
You really do have to manage your time. My husband’s schedule isn’t consistent. That means we’re in a constant puzzle game to see when I can work. This week he was starting work at noon a couple of days, so I decided to get up at 6:30 and meet my word count goal by 11:00. And I managed it. I’m tired, but I managed to get my words in before noon every day so far this week. (And it’s Wednesday, so…three days. Yay.) But I had to make that time. I had to remind myself “hey, you set a goal, get your butt in your chair and DO IT.
This goal setting game I play is how I beat the procrastination game. I was, way back when, a procrastinator. I wrote papers the night before they were due all through college. And when I got my first set of deadlines in a book contract I thought…I don’t ever want to do college again.
It sucked. I had heartburn, my work was never as good as it could have been, and I would spend weeks dreading the work and putting it off. NO, I vowed that would not be me for the rest of my life.
Now, I’m very competitive and easily fooled, so goal setting and fake deadline setting WORKS for me. Because if I don’t make them? I LOSE. I’m playing a game against ME and I want to WIN darn it all. Must win! Because I don’t like to miss deadlines, and honestly, my created ones work well enough to inspire that Under The Gun feeling.
I think the bottom line is, figure out your system that works for you. This is all working for me now, my goals make me happy now. It may change, and if it does, I have to be open to that change.
For now though..I have a word count goal to go hit. 😉
Comments
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Hey, thanks for the shoutout my lovely! And this is such an awesome blog post. I too was a procrastinator when it came to varsity. Did all my assignments in the last week before they were due. Was horrible. Funnily enough though, I never had this problem with writing. I’ve never put off writing – in fact, I felt guilty when I wasn’t writing! But yeah, the guilt thing. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. In the end, you just live with it. 🙂
Some really great points. I think if you intend to ramp writing up to a publishing level, making writing your career, you have to treat it like a job and not just a hobby. Or once you publish you’ll get a difficult wake up call 😉
I call em ‘personal deadlines’..and if I didn’t set them, my world would be a very unhappy place. As a SAHM, too, I’ve found treating writing time like a job is crucial – all too easy to cave and go play…but 1 day of that can lead to two and…yeah, bad. So I set those personal deadlines and divide the work into daily goals. Some days I’m writing in the morning, some days til long past midnight, but we make it work.
OMG, OMG you mentioned me, and I’m a day late reading your blog!!!! 🙂 I’m so thrilled that I must admit, that I had to read the post twice b/c I kept thinking about you mentioning me, LOL.
Great post. And the part about the guilt really rings true. I battle this a lot-and kids have a way of making you feel guilty for not spending 24/7 doting on them. I have to work on this. My dh told me the same thing, told me to get more selfish with my writing time. I like the idea of the word count goal. I think I may have to borrow that one. Thanks, Maisey 🙂
Jackie, I’m the same. It’s really not HARD for me to make time to write. But the fear of sliding back into procrastination is part of what drives me, I have to say!
Carolina, that’s very true. I think, inevitably, you change the way you do things post publication because you’re asked for things to be done in specific ways, by specific times, but you can definitely practice it beforehand. I used to do the deadline thing before I sold, and deadlines didn’t feel new and scary by the time I had them contractually as a result!
Kristina, it’s also easy for other people to not believe that WE HAVE TO WORK. Have to. Because we don’t have a boss to make us clock in, and so it’s hard sometimes for family and friends to understand “I have to work tonight.” But if we can, in our own minds, respect it as a job, other people DO start to follow. 🙂 Now, I am pretty flexible because that’s one of the perks to working at home. Except when it’s crunch time. Then I tough. And yeah, I feel you on the crazy schedule. But what can you do?
Victoria, heh! You’re silly. 😉 I find the word count goal really helps me because it gives me the drive to GET IT DONE. I was lucky enough to meet my counts quickly a few times this week, so that meant three hour work days! It’s better than toiling endlessly and then going Am I done yet?
[…] My Thoughts on Writing As a Job Maisey Yates on how she approaches the job of writing. I love to write, it’s my passion, so don’t take what I’m about to say the wrong way. I work writing like a job. Like a real job. No, not 9-5, that’s not what I mean, what I mean is, I don’t let myself say ‘eh, I don’t feel like it today.’ Because when I had jobs outside my house, that wasn’t a valid excuse. […]
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