Broomeshtick • 5 reasons having a ‘day job’ helps your writing

5 reasons having a ‘day job’ helps your writing | The Creative Penn

There is a myth of creativity that if you could only have 6 months off work and write fulltime, then you would write that award-winning novel. It’s not true! When you have all the time in the world, you do far less than if you are under a deadline. The day job squashes your writing time into the hours you can spare – lunch hours, commuting time, hours when you would have watched TV, after the kids have gone to bed. Don’t wait until you have all the time in the world as that time may never come. Take advantage of where you are now and get writing!

I’ve absolutely found this to be true.

Give me two days to write and I’ll be unproductive. Give me two hours and I’ll somehow find a way to produce the goods.

To me, it just adds to my argument that the notion of a writer’s muse is simply old-fashioned twaddle. It’s a convenient myth that writers use to mask their insecurities and, in some cases, lack of skill.

Basically…

If you tell me that your sweet little kitteh has been hit by a car and you’re not in the right frame of mind to write, I’ll say fine, fair enough.

If you tell me that your muse is silent and you need that magic spark to ignite your very being, I’ll tell you to shut the heck up and get on with it.

Either way, check out this excellent post on Joanna’s excellent blog.