Member-only story
The fact that many writers have day jobs is not new — most aspiring writers do (and many of the successful ones did, too, before they made it big.)
So to say I have a job isn’t all that interesting. Where people get hung up is when I clarify:
I’m not trying to leave it.
Because “escaping a job” isn’t every writer’s primary motivation.
I know that it is the main goal for a lot of aspiring writers, especially bloggers and freelancers, but for a lot of us (myself included) it’s not. (And to be honest, I’m always a bit surprised when folks are confused by this.)
Some writers aren’t writing in hopes it will “save” us. Rather:
- A lot of writers like their day job, and equally important:
- A lot of writers’ motivation for writing is simply: to write
PART 1: WORK
John Gorman is another Medium writer who not only has a day job, but isn’t gunning to ditch it. He and I once talked about this on a call and agreed.
Gorman wrote,
“I am so blessed, lucky and privileged to be able to do the things I love (write, play music) for a career, in the city I wanted… It didn’t have to be so hard.”
No, it doesn’t.
1. I LIKE working
In general. I like the transaction of value in exchange for value. Work, however you define it, is one of the most important things to human morale. The happiest times of my life (and my idea of “perfect happiness”) all involve work.
2. I like “the sandbox” of work
Work is play. Life is play. It’s all a series of experiments and learning.
3. I like the human interaction
Left to my devices, I can (and happily will) be alone for days on end. When I first started my business, I spent days on end with Top 40 songs as my only form of “human contact.”
But this isn’t how anyone is supposed to live. And while it feels good at the time, this isn’t where we thrive in the long-term. We…
