Evan Michael AndersonHow many #writers out there also have full time 9-5ish non-writing jobs? I'd love to connect with some of you and talk about your process on writing, networking, submitting, staying sane and present in your daily life, etc. 🙃
AmberJFrost@emanderson I'm active duty military, so 9-5 plus? It's certainly a challenge to keep up enthusiasm and get the words out, but part of it is building in writing time after the kids are in bed, and part of it is that my husband and I have dedicated 'parent prime' time. He takes Sat mornings so I have dedicated writing time, I take Sat evenings so he can play D&D. (we play together on Friday evenings and the kids get to watch a movie) Haven't sub'd yet, though.
Michael Valiant ✅ ⚔️🚀📚@AmberJFrost @emanderson I own a restaurant (small, and mostly family employees). I work Wed - Sunday in the restaurant, and because it is a family business, my wife and I work Mon-Wed ON the business.
Plus, we homeschool our 4 kids because we are suckers for punishment.
I write obsessively on Evernote through the day in bits and pieces. then try to find the energy for an hour or two most nights (and often fail)
I can't speak to 'sane' unfortunately
@Michaelvaliant Wowww. My youngest sister was homeschooled so I remember seeing a little bit of what goes into that and all I can say is wow. Bless you. The last few years I've started using my notes app pretty religiously. It's seemed to help train my brain to be in observation and writer mode throughout the day, not just when I'm sitting down to write. I use Google Docs for writing and just discovered the Google Keep notes app which is really great if you're a Google user.
@emanderson I am reading a lot - but a lot of those are audio books that I listen to while cooking. I take a lot of notes on craft ideas from the books I listen too; trying to pay attention to HOW authors tackle things, then apply that to one of my WIPs. Those are often the notes I take. (Evernote, but I'm looking at Obsidian). I use scrivener and Google docs word and spreadsheets (for keeping timelines straight) but haven't tried Keep yet
@AmberJFrost First, thank you for your service. Enthusiasm & drive can be hard for me too. I spend a lot of my day behind a computer, which is also how I write, so it can be hard to jump back in front of a computer when I get home. One thing that's helped me is recognizing that "writing" can happen in the form of thinking & pondering in down moments. Let my brain "write" in the background. I love that you & your husband create time & space for each other's hobbies and passions. That's so great.
@emanderson I frequently joke when I get thanked for my service by thanking the person for my paycheck... that doesn't work so well in an environment like this where people are from - well, anywhere!
I think that the only way for a partnership to work is that we make time to spend together, time to spend with the kids, AND time to spend on our own interests. I can't imagine a better person to spend my life with, and he's so incredibly supportive of my writing dreams.
Ricardo Victoria 🐢@emanderson 🖐️ lecturer by day, writer by night. Exhausted all the time.