This is something many of us creatives struggle with: All I want to do is write/paint/act/sing, why can’t I do just that? Why am I trapped in a job that is NOT my dream/calling?
My creative career has, to date, been joyous little bursts in a long, slow burn, interspersed with crises and struggles and change. The only constant is the constant need for paid employment, and the desire to be free of that!
I’ve done the self-employed broke artist, the self-employed broke artist with a part-time job, the full-time self-employed business person getting by with flexitime to create on site. I’m a slow learner, and income didn’t ever match the ambition.
When I started writing, of course I jumped straight to the ‘when can I do this full-time?’ Six years later, a promotion and city-change in the day job along the way, I am finally on the cusp of being a self-published author. With a day job. This post on day jobs for writers by one of my favourite YA fantasy authors Cinda Williams Chima helped me make peace with the need for a day job. I hope it helps you too. I’ll revisit this subject again in other posts, it is a biggie for so many of us. Happy creating, and happy regular day job!
