The best-laid plans of aspiring writers often go awry when they begin working and start to realize that life won’t allow them the time that they need to get their words down. This is an all-too-common plight that potential authors face and, more often than not, it results in them stalling on their writing process or giving up on it altogether.
Of course, it is important to work to earn a living, but for writers, writing is just as important. It is fortunate, then, that there are ways for a job, even a full-blown career, to be balanced with penning a novel. It’s true, it can be done! To see how, read on.
Take a degree that teaches you to balance
Before you embark on a life of being both a worker and a writer, it would be beneficial for you to ready yourself for it by taking a degree that teaches you how to balance. By taking a low-residency Creative Writing master’s degree, you would afford yourself the opportunity to get used to having specific times to sit down and write, and you’d be able to get used to working around this writing time. Of course, as well as that, you’d also give yourself the chance to work with like-minded others in an environment that is designed to help your writing flourish, so it’s a win on all accounts.
Plan your writing sessions before starting them
If you’re serious about finding a balance between your job and your writing, then you can’t just be living without some sort of cohesion regarding where you devote your time and efforts. You have a set schedule with your working hours, so the time and effort you spend at work is non-negotiable. You do not have such structure with your writing sessions, however, which is why they are so easily thrown aside — to stop this from happening, do not live spontaneously and instead plan your writing sessions out for the day ahead. Of course, it is good to get things down when ideas come to mind, but having a daily plan will see you write smarter and more frequently.
Find time to jot things down at work
Depending on the nature of your job, of course, it could be beneficial for you find some time while you’re at work to jot some ideas down. Even if it means spending your lunch break tapping away on your laptop, doing this will keep your mind in gear in regards to your writing, and doing that is essential if you want to retain the motivation needed to become a career writer.
You need to work, but you also need to become a writer. It’s long been a problem that you and many other people like you face, but you need not face it anymore. When you take the advice above, you’ll be able to earn the amount that you need to live off while also being able to write your book while you do so.
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