If you’ve ever read a writing magazine, or friended writers
on social media, then it’s fairly easy to gain an insight into the writing
world and all that entails. When I catch glimpses of other published authors posting
constant updates about round-the-country book tours, school visits, library
talks, multiple launches, multiple guest posts, tv appearances, the #amwriting hashtags announcing
that another 5,000 words are complete, I get a little bit anxious (and envious)
about being tied to a full time 9-5 day job. I always like a challenge, but I
know it won’t be possible for me to be able to engage in the same level of
activity as some writers, at such a constant pace.
A friend said something to me the other week which resonated
with me – ‘Don’t focus too much on what other people are doing. Remember this
is your own unique journey, so just focus on that’.
The same friend let me read an article in Mslexia magazine
(Issue 66) titled, ‘Don’t give up the day job’, by Naomi Elster. This article upset my
friend a bit due to the fact she had given up her own full time job to pursue
creative projects and it made her feel a bit guilty.
I have to admit when I first started to read the article, I
felt an element of relief – here’s a
writer I can relate to, she understands the challenges which come from working a
full time ‘day job’ and writing. But I stopped identifying with her pretty
soon into the article and actually started to get quite annoyed. She wrote her
piece in reaction to articles from other writers who believed, ‘You can’t write
if you have to work too.’ Seeing as I’m living proof, (along with millions of other
writers), that yes you can, I’m not disagreeing with the premise of her article.
However, what she went on to do, in my opinion, was insult and condescend the
writers who have given up the ‘day job’, as well as devalue the writing profession. Her line, ‘We live in
a world with very real problems, problems that can’t be cured with an
appropriate sonnet’ seemed quite disparaging. It made me think, but
imagine the world we would live in if the creative arts didn’t exist? Books can
be powerful, educational and magical and provide many with a very important escape
from their repressed and limiting worlds.
The article continues with lines such as , ‘I doubt that any writer who isolates herself
in the proverbial ivory tower will ever create stories and characters that
anyone else can engage with- apart from another isolated writer, that is.’
This made me wonder ~ does she have an imagination- is she creative? If I gave
up my ‘day job’ tomorrow I certainly wouldn’t be sitting in a ‘tower’ locking
myself away from the world all day long, but even if I did, I know my
imagination would conjure up some three dimensional ideas for me. And a lot of
the time, if I’m in the middle of an intense piece of writing, isolation from
distractions is necessary. An ivory tower would come in rather handy…
She implies that working a ‘day job’ is the only way to
really live and experience ‘real life’. No, it’s not – being employed by a
company means being restricted to a 9-5 (or set hours), often getting bogged down
with repetitive tasks and surroundings. Don’t get me wrong, at times my job can
be varied and interesting– I’m in a client facing job so I get to interact with
new people every day, but elements of my job definitely drain my energy and
stifle my creativity. I do like the routine of a job,(though would prefer a more part time routine!), and get fulfilment from it, but I have a much more fascinating
and enjoyable time outside of work.
This writer then goes on to talk about how she had to spend
a lot of time at home during long term sick leave, saying, ‘When I did venture out the house, the only
people not at work were a handful of self-styled artistes who were permanently unemployed,
by choice, and seemed determined to be misunderstood’. She doesn’t stop there but goes on to say, ‘(I)…found myself writing affected
pretentious prose in a voice that didn’t suit me…’ (Implying this was due
to hanging around with these artistes
and attending too many spoken-word events). A helpful friend then told her, ‘Your writing just isn’t accessible anymore.’
She doesn’t specify why she was on sick leave, but I found this a poor example
of visualising what life would be like if she didn’t have a ‘day job’. Physical
or mental illness would clearly drain your energy levels, so few would be able
to write anything worthwhile during that time. I've also hung out with some great, inspiring writers who treat their writing as a profession by day, and by night, and certainly don't act like misunderstood 'artistes'.
As you can probably tell this article provoked a strong
reaction in me. This has made me even more acutely aware about how important it
is for writers to focus on their own journeys and what works for them. As this
writer is in a similar situation to me I thought she would be able to offer me
some invaluable insight and advice into managing a busy life. Instead, it just
made me realise how we are all very different in our approaches and that it can
be wrong to categorise writers as those who have a supplementary ‘day job’, and
those who don’t, as ‘work’ and responsibilities come in many different forms.
What is a good plan for you, won’t necessarily work (or be possible) for me,
and that is ok. It’s still nice for writers to share advice and tips, (and I’ll
certainly be picking brains on promotional aspects), but when any aspect of ‘advice’
starts to feel like pressure or judgement, I’m going to make a conscious effort
to tune out. And that applies to the pressures I tend to put on myself too!
Tune out, and write on...
