There was a fascinating article in The Washington Post on workaholics. I have always claimed to be such a person, but according to the article, workaholics don’t necessarily enjoy their work, they just can’t stop doing it. They work well past quitting time and weekends. The funny thing is their work isn’t necessarily any better than their non-workaholic peers. In fact, a lot of the time it’s not as good.
In contrast to that are “engaged workers.” These are people who work a lot—after hours and weekends—but they do so because they love their job. They enjoy what they do so much they don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t do more of it. That’s me!
I don’t see my work as a “job” necessarily. I’m a freelancer, an author, and, more recently, a publisher (yes, those are links to find out more). As the old adage goes, is it working if you’re having fun? But this work is all I do.
Many authors have another job—one which actually pays the bills. For some authors this means that, yes, they are working two jobs—one they do for the money (although this doesn’t mean that they don’t love this job as well), and the other they do for fun. The trick with this is scheduling.
If you consider that these authors are working two jobs, then by default their writing is done after business hours and on weekends. Is this a problem? Well, that depends.
The main point of the Washington Post article was that workaholics are less healthy than the average person. They have stress-related ailments among other complaints. On the other hand, engaged workers tend to be healthier than average (from the joy they find in their work?). This is great, but what about those with two jobs?
If you are working on your writing on your time off, when do you actually get time off? Are you taking any?
As a creative person, it is vital that you do so. You cannot use most of the time when you aren’t at your “day job” to write. To stay healthy and productive, you must take time off from both of your jobs. For creatives, that time off is vital, without it we simply cannot be creative. Our minds need that downtime. They need that stupid game you play on your phone, that mindless television show you watch in the evening, and most of all they need that time you spend either playing with your kids, going for a nice long run or a walk in the woods. You brain needs to not think about writing, so that when you sit down to write you can. Your creativity will be there. Your imagination will have had time to refill itself and your subconscious mind will have had time to work on your writing even though you were doing something else.
When I work with authors who are suffering from writer’s block there are two questions I ask first: Have you thought about what you’re going to write next and where your story is going? And when was the last time you got out and went for a walk or run? Usually, the answer to one or both of these questions is just what the author needed to get unstuck.
If you’re a planner, plotting out your book before you sit down to write will keep you moving forward. If you’re some who just writes by the seat of their pants, you still need to sit for a moment and decide what’s got to happen next in your story. Writer’s block can come from simply not knowing what you’re supposed to be writing.
If that doesn’t do it, then getting away from your writing may very well be your answer. The engaged worker in us—that drive we feel to get to work and stay there—will baulk at this, but your creativity simply won’t be there for you if you don’t take that time away from your writing and your day job.
Being a writer takes dedication, determination, and persistence. There is no one standing over you, no boss, telling you that you’ve got to get that book finished (unless you’re under contract and your deadline is looming). It takes an engaged worker. But don’t set it all aside for that all-important downtime.