Working and Writing Full-Time: Finding the Balance

By Karen Potter

In my writer's mind, the perfect writing day starts mid-morning, after a leisurely breakfast on the screened porch, watching the bird/squirrel and recently, large brown hawk activity in the woods behind my home. I imagine myself at the computer by nine, Josh Groban or Linda Eder on the CD player, my fingers on the keyboard...and on and on, creating with wild abandon until I finish up the day with a chapter or two of brilliance on pristine white paper.

The reality is much, much different. I'm a nine-to-six'er with half an hour of rush-hour traffic between my house and job. By my count, that's ten hours a day I'm not writing. And I'm not the only one. Most of the writers I know also work full-time. Ever wonder how they do it? I did, and so I asked.

And now I'm going to tell you.

1. You have to be organized. Get yourself a planner (I've said this before and I'll say it again). Get yourself a planner and learn how to use it. Write everything in it. Don't assume you'll remember that brilliant scene idea when you sit down to write. Take my word for it, you won't. Get some dividers and make one for each work-in-progress. Put your notes there. Put your best and worst ideas there. Record your progress there (your tax preparer and future biographer will thank you). Plan what you will write tonight, and tomorrow. It's hard to get to a place you've never been before without a map. Your planner notes are your map. Write everything down. You're a writer, remember? Then, as soon as you can, get thee to the computer and write. You'll have more time to write because you won't be stressing about where you need to be or when you need to be there. All will become clear when it's written down. Even more fun, use different colors of ink for work and writing activities. If you begin to use too much of one color, you'll know some balancing is in order. You can't fix what you can't see.

2. You have to be dedicated. This is the hard one because, frankly, some days we're more dedicated than others. It all boils down to this: How badly do you want it?

I was asked this question by a dear writer friend of mine once, and I'm embarrassed to admit that my answer was, "It varies from day to day." It wasn't until I decided I wanted it badly enough to put my posterior in the chair and write like I meant it that I really became a writer. There was a moment in there somewhere (I wish I'd had a planner back then, because for sure I would have written it down) that I became real, sort of like the Velveteen Rabbit, except with all my hair still on. I'd had a dream and I'd acted on it, and it came true. It was very cool, if you don't mind my saying so.

3. You have to drink a lot of caffeine and be prepared to stay up all night. Yes, yes, I know. I just threw the organization thing right out the window. But sometimes, for your art, you have to suffer. That's dedication. If you get a great book out of it, though, it is, if you don't mind my saying so, verrrrry cool.

To read last month's Writer's Life article, click here

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