Work

Reader,

I apologize for the silence these last two weeks.  I was hired for a job, and started the day after my last post.  It isn't the most glamorous in the world, but it is money, and it is money now as opposed to holding out for a higher paying, more dignified position later on down the road.  This is the job I need, though I'll start looking for better once I build up job experience and clout.

It feels as if I've barely had time to breath, let alone write, in the blog or otherwise.  Technically I've had plenty of time to breath, but going from the mostly sedentary life of a student/writer to five and a half to 8 hour shifts of being on my feet all day long has required some adaptation.

In the meantime I'm becoming frustrated rather quickly, my blogs are going unread, my writing is as sedentary as my existence was pre-job, I have Thank You notes from two weeks ago still sitting next to the printer ready to be mailed, and my free time is devoted mostly to sleeping, eating, or relaxing.  I keep wondering if it will get any better, if I will become used to the job and gain more energy off work, or whether I should just push through the sloth and force myself to write and read in spite of the pain, exhaustion, and apathy towards writing.

Does working on your feet get easier?

How do you find time after work to do what you want?

Should I push through the bad feelings, or give myself the chance to become accustomed to the job?

Until next time (and I do hope it isn't two weeks out),
Rose

The Job I Need vs. the Career I Want

Reader,

This past weekend was a hectic one.  Between the death of my fiance's grandfather (may he rest in peace and forever enjoy the range up in the sky) and the plethora of graduates to celebrate one could hardly get a breather.  However it was also a fun weekend filled with family, friends, and loved ones. 

A wise woman said to the group of graduates at my party (bad paraphrasing aside), "Never forget the job you want just because you have the job you need."  I am not sure if she knows how important that is to an inspiring author.

You see, as a writer you participate in your dream career for years at a time without recognition, or pay.  You write, and you write, and write some more.  You write short stories, novels, whatever your heart and thoughts lead you to write.  All that while you need a job.  For me personally, I want a job that requires as little thought about it as possible when not on the clock.  I already have one off the clock job I don't need another.

Once you finish the writing, you begin the great revision process.  This alone could take months even years, as you polish your creation, your brain child, until it shines.  Still you are off the clock.  Still you need a day job.

Then your creation is finished, but are you?  Far from it.  Now you have to query agents in the case of a novel.  This baby that you've been working on for months, years, decades, you have to distill down to one page, 250 words.  Consider this your cover letter for your dream job (to barrow shamelessly from a comment over at Miss Snark's First Victim).  As you fish around with your query letter (probably five or six versions of the same letter tailor fit to each agent) you still need your day job to pay the bills.

The agent may ask for more pages, or even a full manuscript and you passed  the first hurdle, gaining representation.  You still need your day job.

The agent then works with you to find a publishing house that will buy the manuscript you slaved over off the clock.  You might even sell the novel, but chances are the advanced check won't be high enough to allow you to quite your job yet, you still need your day job.

So for me, and many other writers it's not a choice between the job we need or the job we want.  We are actively participating in both at the same time.  Sure our day job may shift, become better, or worse than what came before.  Some writers enjoy their jobs so much they might not quit it even if they were able to support themselves on just writing.  But those are few and far between.

Are you happy with the job you currently have?
Do you have the job you need, the job you want, or both?

Until next time,
Rose

Technology

Reader,

About a month ago I started receiving graduation announcements from friends and family.  It reminded me that I probably should have bought announcements.  Announcements are expensive, however, and I was not very impressed with the preview images.  Long story short, I decided to make my own.

Generally I take for granted everything technology has done over the past two decades.  Today, however, while I printed out announcements and envelopes I remembered back to a time when a beautiful card in a pristine envelope would be marred by my chicken scratch handwriting.  The more beautiful (and legible) I wanted my handwriting to appear, the longer each and every envelope would take.  The hours it would take writing each and every envelope, the mistakes, the whiteout, the wasted paper, all  have been made obsolete.

Similar advances have been made in the field of writing.  With word processors writers can delete, edit, and rearrange with a few clicks of the mouse, or taps on the keyboard.  The invention of the backspace is both a blessing, and a curse, as it distracts writers as they try to write, tempting their inner editors to take command, and squelching the creative muse in the process.  Yet the temptation of legible and savable work is tempting for many modern writers.

Add to this the plethora of new technologies out there, and a new writer can get lost fast.  No longer is it the choice between pens, papers, or typewriters.  Now you have your choice of computers: desktop, laptop, netbook, iPad, et cetera.   Word might still be the standard writing platform, but that doesn't mean that there aren't handfuls of writing programs out there for a writer to sift through.  These programs range from free to hundreds of dollars, and can have all the bells and whistles, or be minimalistic in nature.

With all these choices, how do you write?
Is writing on a computer too distracting?  If not, how do you cope?

Until next time,
Rose