{"id":4444,"date":"2012-07-16T13:19:10","date_gmt":"2012-07-16T18:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/?p=4444"},"modified":"2012-07-16T13:19:10","modified_gmt":"2012-07-16T18:19:10","slug":"the-power-of-the-day-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2012\/07\/16\/the-power-of-the-day-job\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of the Day Job"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A week from today, I start a new day job.<\/p>\n

If you follow The Juggling Writer<\/em>, you know I’m a tech writer…and you know that while I talk about my day job on occasion, I don’t talk specifically <\/em>about where I work. So I won’t discuss that<\/em>, but…during the interview process for the new day job, I really stepped back and realized what I already knew: I like having a day job.<\/p>\n

Defending the Other Writing<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It’s no secret that before an interview these days, most companies see what they can find about potential candidates online. In my case, do a Google search and it’s clear that I do other writing on the side — so I had no issue being asked during the recent\u00a0 interview if the writing I do when I’m at home would interfere with the writing I’m paid to do at my day job.<\/p>\n

It’s a simple answer for me: no, the other writing won’t interfere with my day job; in fact, having a day job allows me to do the writing I want to do!<\/p>\n

The Chaos of Freelancing<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The few times I’ve freelanced following a layoff, I lost time for the things I enjoyed because I was always looking for the next project.<\/p>\n

Working with clients all around the world, my schedule was crazy. Guam is 15 hours ahead — California is 2 hours behind…and they all wanted my <\/em>time on their <\/em>schedules (understandably). There were emergencies that needed my attention “RIGHT NOW!” My life quickly became work and nothing but work.<\/p>\n

My freelancing life really did <\/em>end up being like these panels from a great Oatmeal strip about working from home<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Benefit of the Day Job<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A day job offers something many freelancers don’t have: a sense of security.<\/p>\n

Steady pay for a budget…health benefits that don’t leave you broke…it’s quite nice! Granted, many people hate their day jobs, but that’s not an issue for me — once I made the leap to technical writing, I’ve enjoyed what I’ve done at various places for years.<\/p>\n

Sure, there are days at work that I think, “I’d rather be writing,” just as I’m sure others at a day job think, “I’d rather be by the pool,” or whatever it is they like. But…when I weigh it all against each other, a day job helps my writing.<\/p>\n

By not having to worry about where my next paycheck is going to come from, I can budget and pay the bills…even have some money left over. A day job allows me the ability to write without chasing projects or writing stories I don’t really <\/em>want to write because I don’t have <\/em>to make a lot of money with that writing. When an offer comes along for something I don’t really want to do, I can pass because I don’t need the money that comes with that other project.<\/p>\n

I can write only what I want <\/em>to write on the side because <\/em>I have a day job.<\/p>\n

The Power of the Day Job<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A day job lets me work on what I want <\/em>to write, even if it doesn’t make enough to pay the bills. I’d rather be a happy writer than a desperate writer. With the things that stress the freelancers I know taken care of, I can write with a clear mind and not worry if the next thing I write doesn’t do as well as the thing that came before it.<\/p>\n

The likelihood of me making a HUGE <\/strong><\/em>pile of money writing fiction is slim. Even if I made more than I make at my day job, I’d stay at my day job and keep writing. I think the only <\/em>thing that would get me to leave a day job and write fiction full time would be repeated bestsellers — and that’s not likely to happen.<\/p>\n

I’m a realist, and I realize that the level of “enough” that a day job provides in pay and security lets me do what I love to do without worry: writing the best stories I can write.<\/p>\n

Looking at it that way, the day job is an integral part of the writer I am today.<\/p>\n

How about you? Do you like being out on the edge, or do you prefer the security of a day job?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A week from today, I start a new day job. If you follow The Juggling Writer, you know I’m a tech writer…and you know that while I talk about my day job on occasion, I don’t talk specifically about where I work. So I won’t discuss that, but…during the interview process for the new day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[23,59],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4444"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4444"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4454,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4444\/revisions\/4454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}