Consumed

This week has been an especially hard one for me.  My day job has consumed almost every waking hour since last Monday. I work in a theatre department and we had a  production going up yesterday.

Not a normal production either, a fashion show which is much more time consuming and stressful than a normal play to produce. Longer hours in a shorter amount of time, working with mdels who have no clue about the dedication required to put on a production, plus factoring in dealing with the designers who often promise clothes on one day and deliver them days later. Then the show itself is a day-long affair:  I began at 9am yesterday and did not stop until almost midnight.

Needless to say I have gotten no writing done in almost a week. Even if I had an hour here or there, I was so exhausted or distracted about the different components I was in charge of, that mentally I had nothing left with which to be creative.  Juggling teaching and writing is not that difficult.  Throw in a production and suddenly its like juggling chainsaws.  It’s going to bite you unless you pay attention only to the chainsaws.

These are the days when I most envy the full-time writers. I long to have my entire day dedicated to writing and all its attendant functions of promotion, social networking, marketing, etc. I know that full-timers have their own attendant issues, but you path to success as a writer seems smoother, more focused, more fun.  I’d love to be consumed by my day job if my day job was writing.

Today, after all the stress of the past few days, I’m taking the day for myself.  I don’t plan on getting out of bed except for the most necessary things.  My daughters are serving my meals in bed, except for dinner when they’re taking me out. I plan to read, sleep, and watch TV and re-charge. Since writing must be done sitting at a desk for me, I’ll start some of that at midnight.

For those of you who have the necessary evil of a Day Job, how do you cope with the time suck? Does your family life suffer?  Do you sacrifice sleep to get those writing hours in? ow do you manage to get it all done?

Filed under: Jenna Jaxon, Writer's life