OK, You're a writer with a day job,

[LongTomH]

How do you balance your work, homelife and writing? I'm also trying to maintain a relationship, which is really more important that anything else to me at this point.

I'm job-hunting and trying to revive my old dreams of becoming a writer (look for a post on some book ideas I've thought of!).

[DavidDvorkin]

1. It's a f*king nightmare

But one must achieve the balance somehow, if one is to write.

Lately, I've been taking my laptop to work and writing during my lunch hour. Knowing that I have one hour makes me not waste time and be productive. It helps quite a bit.

[tjdee]

2. Mozart didn't have to have a day job...but try just a little every day.

If it's an hour, half an hour...just so you're sitting down and actually writing.

I always wonder about Mozart, Shakespeare, and other past creative minds. I could be a genius if I could sit around all day doing just that, right? (Eh, probably not!)

It's not like they had to work retail all day and fit their creative stuff in the wee hours.

[DavidDvorkin]

3. Shakespeare had to squeeze his writing in

His real job was running a theatre company, including probably occasional acting. He wrote his plays when he could, to fill out his company's schedule.

The business side of running the company must have been a very demanding job.

[tjdee]

4. Yeah, LOL...not a good example...

I was trying to think of the old masters, and to make my point I used Shakespeare, even though I knew he was involved with the theater company. I used him because he was a writer, LOL. The only other examples I had were music/art guys.

Hmm. Did Spenser, Jonson, and Marlowe have day jobs? Might be something to look up. Maybe writers didn't have it as easy as musicians, LOL!

[DavidDvorkin]

6. Some of them may have had sponsors

Not a bad deal if you could get it. Okay, so you had to dedicate your brainchild to the rich guy and credit him as the inspiration for it all, but I bet the writer's contemporaries, who understood the game, knew better. Maybe the even chuckled over the fulsome praise.

But if you got hooked up with the right sponsor, you could have a comfortable life while writing away full time.

I wonder if Bill Gates would do that for me, in exchange for a shameless dedication?

[Cleita]

5. Somebody once told me to keep a journal if you are too

busy to do anything else. Just promise yourself to write in your journal ten minutes a day. When you find more time to write, you will be ready and probably have a little notebook of ideas to draw from.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

7. Maybe

that's the Universe telling you this is your time to concentrate on other things, and writing will be later?

[soleft]

8. T.S. Elliot worked in a bank

Remembering that helps me.

Also I have a desk job where I have lots and lots of down time, so when I'm in the zone I write a lot at work. It also helps with printing and copying.

I pretty much gestate material for several months and when it's ready, I sit down, start writing and don't stop til it's finished, which usually takes several weeks, during which time I ask for supreme tolerance from loved ones.

it's not the healthiest way to work, because it is an extreme rollercoaster once it stops and my brain always requires a month or two to recouperate, but it's just the way I work and I choose to accept it rather than fight against.

Right now I'm gestating a story I hope will be ready to go in a month or two. Usually I start doing some light research, again, the desk job with internet access in invaluable! Then a story outline starts to materialize - sometimes it helps to take a few days off when I'm ready to start the actual writing to get a jump start - so it's always good to save some vacation time.

I hope your partner will support you - make sure whatever their dream/talent/reason for living is - that you're there for them and hopefully it will come back to you.

[Shredr]

9. It's sooooo hard!

I hate to be discouraging, because, of course, it is possible.

I'm having trouble balancing work, passion (writing), relationship and life.

Something's always got to go.

For me, right now, it's working out.

I haven't, in months.

And I feel like a blob.

But I am getting writing done.

[DavidDvorkin]

10. I alternate

Work out 3-4 evenings a week, write the other evenings.

Well, that's the theory, anyway.

It helps that I've been married for decades. If I were single, or we were still working out the pattern of our marriage, I'd also have to choose between writing and exercising.

[Shredr]

11. That's so disciplined.

I wish I could discipline myself like that. I'd get a lot more writing done (and be in better shape). As it is now, I'm lucky to get some writing done. I'm trying to work the gym back in. Maybe alternate nights will work...

[wryter2000]

12. When I was really on

I got up an hour early to write, wrote on my lunch hour, and wrote for another hour when I got home.

Now, I work four days a week and write 5 - 6 pages each day on my weekends. I get most of a chapter done every week. I also write like heck on vacations.

An SO should be understanding enough to give you at least an hour a day to write. Eat take out or make frozen lasagne or things that cook quickly. Then, you can write for an hour after work, have dinner, and still have some time before bed time.

Let the house get messy.

[sybylla]

13. Having my own business helped.

I could write when things got slow, slow enough sometimes to devote entire days to writing.

The relationship thing is tough too. I've been married forever and my husband really has encouraged my writing. Rather than parking my backside on the sofa at night, I just parked it in front of my computer a little more and managed to get quite a bit done - even with kids. Of course it helps that my hubby is a homebody and we really don't get out much.

Dating would have made it much more difficult. If you ask for space in your schedule to write, your SO might surprise you by not only giving you the space but helping you find more.

Now I'm about to rejoin the ranks of the gainfully employed and fear that my writing will once again take the furthest back seat to everything else. It will help now that my kids are college age. It will give me more time in the evening rather than attending school/sport activities twice a week or more. And I've geared up my laptop for the lunchtime possibilities.

It's all about striking deals with yourself and the people around you. And being flexible doesn't hurt.

[deutsey]

14. I have a day job, a marriage, and three kids (7 and under)

It is very difficult for me to find time to write.

I get up early before everyone is up and either read or write (although lately I've been doing mostly reading). When I am writing, I also work in the evening after the kids are in bed.

I also choose to do my writing projects at times during my work/family life where I believe I'll have a little more flexibility to do more writing.

Like, for instance, the past few weeks at work have been extremely hectic (longer hours than usual, weekend work, etc.). I knew this would be the case, so I've postponed beginning the next big writing project I want to pursue until things stabilize.

It isn't a perfect system, but I manage to get things written. It's just a matter of prioritizing what I want to write and planning to do it at times in my life when I can do it.