I hope everyone is having a fabulous holiday season! As we count down to 2013, I’m thrilled to have Melinda Leigh guest blogging today about the best and worst things about being a writer!
If you haven’t read Melinda’s breathtaking romantic suspense novels, now’s your chance! She’s giving away a kindle or print copy of She Can Tell (winner’s choice) to one lucky commenter! So be sure to leave a note below!
The 5 Best things about being writer:
1. Working at home. I have the best possible commute: coffee machine to desk. It doesn’t get any better than this.
2. Every day is casual day. PJs and slippers is A-okay with my boss (me).
3. Flexible schedule. I can work anytime. I have the flexibility to be available when my kids or other members of the family need me.
4. I get to hang out with my dogs and cats all day.
5. I get paid to make up stories. Seriously, how cool is this? The overactive imagination that plagued me in my childhood has become a viable career. I’ve had plenty of jobs that I hated. Loving what I do is truly a wondrous thing that I appreciate right through to my soul every single day.
The 5 worst things about being a writer:
1. Working at home. Everyone knows I’m there. Can you…?
2. Every day is casual day. This is a particular problem during the final stages of writing a book, when it becomes all consuming. It’s 5:30 p.m. I haven’t showered or gotten dressed. My husband and kids are giving me the sniff test, and I realize all I’ve eaten today is coffee, 6 bowls of Frosted Flakes, and a Hershey bar.
3. Flexible schedule. I can work anytime, remember? Which is why I’m up at 11:00 p.m. still working. Being a writer means doing a lot of things other than writing a book. Promotions, web site maintenance, accounting, etc. Plus, I still have all the home/mom stuff to do. It makes for some long nights.
It’s a really good think I love writing because I spend a lot of time doing it.
4. I get to hang out with my dogs and cats all day. When I’m working 12 hours a day (like this week and probably next), sometimes my longest conversations are with my furry housemates. By the end of next week, they might start talking back. They’ll probably criticize my manuscript, especially the cats.
5. My overactive imagination takes unexpected vacations now and then, and sometimes it generates some truly awful story ideas.
So, there you have it. Being a writer is the BEST job in the entire world. It is. A day doesn’t go by, even the most frustrating one, when I don’t wake up and worry that the last two years are a dream and that someone is going to pinch me. Or, even worse, that I am currently writing the worst book in the world and it will bring my dream crashing down on my head.
Writing is also hard work, much harder than I imagined back in the days before deadlines and multiple projects and promotion and copyedits. I work 7 days a week. I have taken only a handful of days off in the last 6 months.
Are there things you both love and hate about your job?
Melinda Leigh is a fully recovered banker, wife, mom, lifelong dog lover, and second degree black belt in kenpo karate. She is the author of SHE CAN RUN, a 2012 Thriller Award nominee and a 2012 top 100 Kindle Bestseller. Her latest book, SHE CAN TELL, released December 4th. Find out more about Melinda at her website, on Facebook and on Twitter!
J.K. here … I can SO identify with everything Melinda says!!!
Thanks again to Melinda for blogging today! Be sure to leave a comment for her contest! And don’t forget about my December holiday contest–enter that one using Rafflecopter!
Great post and so, so true. My office is crowded as I type with my dog, my cat and my bird and they have never complained about my long hours spent in slippers and an old writing sweater.
My cats never complain either … though when I have to answer the door and am still in pj’s I’m always motivated to “dress for the office.” Rarely put that motivation into practice, though!
A friend once told me it was easier to tell the delivery man you work nights than try to explain that, even thought it’s past noon and you’re still in your pjs, you’ve actually been working hard since 6 am.
I love that!!!
This reminds of the Jewish notion of Heaven and Hell. The good man who loves the Torah and studies it day and night is blessed with an afterlife spent in a library where he can study the holy book for all eternity. The evil man who hates the Torah is forced to spend eternity in a library where he can do nothing but study the holy book for all eternity.
Nice twist, Steven.
Very true! I miss my days of F/T writing (also known as being on unemployment) and look forward to getting back to that life with an actual plan to make it viable. (It’s in the works!) When I do, though, I know I’ll miss having a schedule and seeing people other than my husband on a regular basis.
Sounds great. Thanks for sharing!!