Ep 163: How to Write When You Work Full Time
I love that today\u2019s theme comes from a newsletter subscriber who responded when I asked for ideas to address on the podcast or in articles. So this is a real writer with a real struggle\u2014a reality for many writers.\nThis person wants to know:\nHow to write when you work full time?\nThat\u2019s a tough one. It\u2019s hard to have any kind of hobby or side hustle when you work full-time. When you put in the hours at work and come home exhausted, how can you possibly devote your depleted brain and energy to a creative project?\nDon\u2019t Ignore the Ache\nI stayed home to raise our four children and we chose to home educate, so while I didn\u2019t work full-time in a traditional sense, I had my hands full most hours of the day. Writing was extremely challenging during those years.\nMy dream was to have an entire day at my disposal, no interruptions, no diapers to change, no activities to organize. But that wasn\u2019t the overall lifestyle we\u2019d chosen. I thought if I couldn\u2019t have the day to write\u2014and if, in fact, my reality felt like I had NO time to write\u2014why bother?\nBut I couldn\u2019t ignore the ache. I ached to write.\nSome days I felt hopeless. Some days I felt sorry for myself and didn\u2019t bother even trying. Most days I wanted that all-or-nothing writing life.\nSo a lot of days I didn\u2019t write. After all, I didn\u2019t feel like I had the energy; or if I started, I\u2019d only be interrupted. Why try?\nBut that ache wore on.\nAddress the Ache\nI couldn\u2019t go on like that. I had to address the ache. I suspect that\u2019s where a lot of writers are\u2014maybe the person who sent in this idea for a podcast.\nYou\u2019re feeling the ache, that soul-ulcer chewing away at your creative impulse. You\u2019re losing hope.\nHow do you write when you work full time?\nAssuming you can\u2019t quit, I hope you\u2019re feeling something else rise up in you\u2014something louder and stronger than the ache.\nVoice It\nIt\u2019s a voice, a determination within. A resolve.\nYou have something inside of you that must be voiced.\nA barbaric yawp you\u2019re ready to sound over the roofs of the world.\nI. Must. Write.\nThat\u2019s it.\nYou must write.\nYes, there\u2019s writing in you, ready for the page. You can\u2019t wait any longer.\nThere\u2019s a writer in you, ready to yawp, and you know it. You can\u2019t wait for the perfect conditions. You can\u2019t wait until you inherit some distant relative\u2019s fortune so you can quit your job.\nNo more waiting.\nYou must sound your yawp over the roofs of the world.\nYou must write.\nToday.\nLook for slivers of time and the occasional chunk of time here or there. Settle for less than the dream of a cabin in the woods. Whatever you can, grab it and write a few lines.\nWhere Will You Write?\nLet me tell you a story.\nJoseph Michael developed a Scrivener training course while he was working full time at another job. Scrivener is writing software, also an app, that many authors use because with it, you can manage longer, larger, more complex projects more easily than you can using Word or Google docs.\nBut Scrivener is a little confusing to most newbies; at least it was for me. So I grabbed his training course years ago when it was on sale and started watching, hoping to avoid bumbling around, losing important pieces of projects. I felt frustrated because I didn\u2019t understand the system, so I walked through his short training lectures and made sense of Scrivener.\nYears later, because of the success of his Scrivener course, Joseph Michael came out with some additional training on how to build courses\u2014a course about courses. I didn\u2019t buy the course about courses, but I signed up for a free introductory webinar, where he told how he recorded that early version of the Scrivener course.\nHe said he\u2019d drive to work. On his lunch break, he\u2019d head to the parking garage and record some of the Scrivener lessons\u2014right there in the front seat of his car, wedged behind the steering wheel. In short sessions, hidden away in the parking garage of his workplace, he grabbed the only free time he had to himself and, over time, created the course.