On Balancing Work and Creativity

While visiting my parents over the holidays, I caught up with two of my old students over lunch. They’re both in their mid-20s, still trying to figure out what they want from adult life. You’re not alone, girls. I’m still trying to figure that one out, too.

Anyway, one of them asked me for advice in the form of the hardest question anyone’s posed to me in the last five years. Paraphrase: “How do you balance your creative work with the work you do for clients?”

My answer -- “You just have to make time for your passion.” — wasn’t necessarily wrong, but I’ve been thinking about that question ever since. It’s a deeply complex one. And for me, a freelance writer who also writes short stories, the two tasks use the same skill set. No ‘switch’ in my brain flips when polishing a story after turning in an assignment. As a result, after a long workday writing, the last thing I want to do is write even more.

But WHY do I do it? And HOW have I managed to continue doing it last four-plus years?

For me, the answer to the ‘why’ has two parts. First, I’ve been writing short fiction for twenty years. Granted, most of those early years were fan fiction, but they still count. All that writing made putting words on a page part of who I am. Even now, at this very moment, as I’m typing these very words, I’m scratching an everpresent itch.

The second part of the ‘why’ involves the nature of writing fiction, one I think applies to any creative art, whether it be music, painting, poetry, etc. Art allows us to react to the world, and for me, it’s a form of catharsis. I go on a trip - I write a journal and, later on, a short story the trip inspired. I see something on the news - I write a short story that reflects my emotions about the event, even if the story itself has little to do with what happened in real life.

The ‘how’ is an even harder question, especially when I consider that in the almost eight years since I published my first short story, I’ve never received a fan letter, email (To be fair, I did get a shout out on Twitter once or twice.), or any formal recognition. Heck, I can’t even get into a writing workshop. The money stinks, too - I think I’m up to 40% of one rent payment. On evidence alone, you’d think I’d hang up my short fiction hat and get back to the honest work of informing people about which college they should attend or how to earn a higher score on an AP Exam.

Well, the answer to ‘how,’ like the answer to ‘why,’ has to do with art. I was never good at painting, and I didn’t care much for playing music, although I admire people who can do either tremendously. Writing short fiction is the one art I can do somewhat well. I don’t think the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America would have let me in if that wasn’t the case. So, I continue writing fiction for its own sake. My stories should exist despite taking time away from efforts that could allow me to live a more comfortable life.

And this post should exist for its own sake, too, although I hope that it teaches someone something.