Between watching the Michael Jackson memorial and hitting a major stumbling block (only 336 words for the Challenge), I’m really drained. But before shutting the laptop down, I found this link off a Tayari Jones blog post.
10 Questions Writers Must Ask Before Quitting Their Day Job on the Writer’s Digest website is an interesting read.
Not that I intend to quit my day job. Although it would be nice to not to go work tomorrow since it’s technically early morning and basically “tomorrow” already.
These questions in particular caught my interest:
Do I really need to write full time to be successful?
I don’t think that this is true. I know many writers with day jobs and writers that don’t have day jobs as well. The writers without day jobs still have other responsibilities though like taking care of children, etc. So the real issue here is time management. You can make it happen either way.
Can I find affordable health insurance?
When I was in graduate school a few years ago, I didn’t work and I remember my health insurance was VERY expensive and limited. I remember getting sick and not going to the doctor because I didn’t want to spend money on the visit. That’s a bad feeling. I can only imagine how much health insurance is now.
What’s my plan for human interaction?
One thing about going to work is that I get to mingle with my co-workers, who I actually like and share my love of all things tecky geek. And since my office is in a main business district of Atlanta, there are always interesting people to meet during the day.
I think I would miss that if I didn’t have a day job. But of course, if I were a full time Novelista, I’m sure I would get over it and write in a cafe or bookstore (which I do anyway). That would be a nice problem to have.
You should check out the 10 questions on the Writer’s Digest website.
