My Day Job

One of my (cooler) clients asked me, hypothetically, if they were to hire me on as an employee, what would I be looking to make as a salary.

For a simple question, it had my head in a bit of bind. I love working freelance, for the schedule flexibility, and the different types of projects that teach me all kinds of new things (I’ve learned a whole lot about golf in the last three weeks – I’ll probably never use this information, but it’s still always fun to learn new things). The downsides are no great mystery: irregular pay, no job security, no health insurance.

As I was contemplating the pros and cons of “real” employment, it suddenly occurred to me – this is my day job. I feel super blessed to get to write to pay the bills, but the ultimate goal is to be a novelist. If I’m going to waste time and energy worrying about something, it shouldn’t be the day job. Day jobs are for doing (and doing well), and then putting aside so you can work on the thing that you love. And I love writing fiction.

Because so few writers actually get to call themselves professional novelists, I’ve always assumed that I would have to do something else to pay the bills, but shouldn’t the ultimate goal be to just work on my novels? I know the odds are slim that my first novel makes me rich, rich, rich. But it’s silly to shoot for a goal so low as “finish my novel.” Odds be damned, I’m setting a goal of writing a damn good story – something that will get my foot in the door as a respected writer and then pry that door open far enough to let a sizable chunk of money fall through.

Ultimately it doesn’t matter if the day job is freelance or a salaried position. It’s a day job. Every hour I spend on it should remind me that I need to get back to my novel.